Kwara PDP Reacts To Newspaper Report That Listed Gov AbdulRazaq Among ‘Diaspora Governors’

Kwara state  PDP on Friday reacted to the story published  by  the Punch Newspaper which had  Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq listed among   Nigerian Governors who have been running their respective  states from ‘diaspora’, submitting that this was a vindication of its earlier assertion that the  governor  has relocated Kwara state capital to Abuja since his emergence as Chairman of the Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF) .

The party in a statement  made available to Team@orientactualmags.com by the State Publicity Secretary, Hon Olusegun Olusola Adewara, described  Mallam AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq’s chairmanship of the  NGF as a curse rather than blessing to the people of Kwara   while alleging willful dereliction of duties.

 The statement noted that this was a direct contrast to ‘when Dr Abubakar Bukola Saraki served in a similar capacity and turned our state into a tourist attraction for most Nigerian governors including heads of many African nations, apart from using the position in question to facilitate juicy federal appointments for the people of the state, including Professor Oba Abdulraheem as  Chairman of the Federal Character Commission’ .

 Kwara PDP  also alleged that the governor and his media handlers had made an attempt to divert attention from his ‘absence’ at home submitting that this is condemnable.

 To rent private jets for such trips  since May 2023, the state government has since  spent N4.5 billion, the  party also alleged .

‘In a bid to deceive Kwarans that he is always around, Governor AbdulRahman and his media handlers have devised a strategy to always chatter private jets daily which will convey him to Kwara from Abuja to enable him  take photographs at desired locations and after the photo spree, the chattered Jets return him to Abuja where he will spend the  night. It is these photos that his media handlers would then share around to hoodwink the public that the governor is around.

Our party is not bothered  that the governor has a phobia about staying in Kwara but we are bothered about the negative implications on the Kwara treasury as it is estimated that more than N25 million is required for anybody to chatter a private jet from Abuja to Ilorin.

 If it is true, that over N25 million is being expended daily on private jets to and fro Abuja by Mr Governor. It is safe to say such is reckless spending of Taxpayers’ money as it means from May 2023 till date, the governor may have succeeded in using N4.5 billion Taxpayers’ money to rent chattered jets. This price is too huge to pay for Kwarans whose only crime was reelecting AbdulRahman as governor.

Our party, therefore, urges Governor Abdulrahman to consider the suffering masses and return home to face the serious business of governance which he had sworn to uphold  during the oath taking ceremony.

To  further validate the media report in question, Kwarans recall how recently, the hopes of thousands of Muslim faithful, including our revered royal fathers, the Sultan of Sokoto, HRM, Alhaji Sa’adu Abubakar III, and the Emir of Ilorin, HRH, Dr Ibrahim Sulu-Gambari, were dashed with the governor’s inexplicable absence from the Islamic Public Lecture that took place last week. Governor AbdulRahman who incidentally flew to Ilorin on a private jet went to the Emir’s Palace to pay homage to the Sultan – a good gesture many participants of the programme mistook to mean the governor was ready to honour the two royal fathers by joining them to attend the lecture as he  had promised during his visit to  the palace.

Regrettably, it was unknown to them that the private jet that took the governor to Ilorin was still running at the airport waiting to convey him back to Abuja. Hence, the state royal reception that is usually adorned to such Sultanate entry to our state was practically absent with only the Emir and a few private individuals left to shoulder all welfare arrangements for the entry and exit of the Sultan’ the statement submitted.

While responding to the newspaper report in question on Wednesday night ,the Government House, Ilorin had called it a faux pas.

  AbdulRazaq’s Chief Press Secretary, Mr. Rafiu Ajakaye asserted in a statement made available to  Team@orientactualmags.com that the governor has never been absent in the state for two weeks at a stretch.

‘A report in the Punch newspaper listing Kwara State Governor and Chairman of the Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF) AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq among some purported absentee governors is a faux pas, which we deem to be one of those moments in human imperfections. 

This is particularly so because the report merely parroted a statement made by an opposition party without any attempt, even by the account of the story, to verify the claim. We do not believe that the Punch newspaper or any credible medium should have fallen for such in this age of fake news and disinformation. 

A check of some photographs of activities of the governor in the last seven days before the misleading report was published would have condemned such a copy to the bin. Apart from the earlier low-key official activities of the governor in the last one week, the governor joined the Emir of Ilorin, Dr. Ibrahim Sulu-Gambari to host the Sultan of Sokoto His Eminence Saa’d Abubakar III in Ilorin, the state capital, last Friday, November 3. The governor is currently in Ilorin today, November 8. 

This has been the trend of his activities despite his added responsibility as the chairman of the Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF), which expectedly require that he joggles his time as he takes on more national roles like the task of leading his 36 other colleagues.

Despite his huge schedules, the governor, for the record, has never at any time travelled outside of Ilorin for two weeks at a stretch between 2019 and now. Never. 

We hope that the Punch Newspaper will henceforth do independent checks of any claims by opposition elements and not adopt the same as its own report without due diligence that it is known for’ the statement had submitted-Team@orientactualmags.com
Do you have any information you wish to share with us? Do you want us to cover your event or programme? Kindly send SMS to 08059100286, 09094171980. Thank you