Kwara state PDP gubernatorial candidate, Alhaji Shuaib Abdulahi Yahman, has good intentions for residents and citizens of the State of harmony, Hon Mahmud Hassan Babako, has said.
Babako, who was the Moro/Patigi/Edu PDP House of Representatives candidate in the 2019 General Election, in an interview with Team@orientactualmags.com on Friday , asserted that Alhaji Shuaib Abdulahi Yahman joined the 2023 Kwara state gubernatorial race for good reasons , urging electors in the state to vote for him in the upcoming guber election.
‘We hope Kwarans will give us the mandate to be in charge because by the time Alhaji Shuaib Yahman takes over, they will see the difference themselves. He’s somebody that has integrity, he keeps to his word and he doesn’t promote sentiments or support cheating. If we take a look at it, I need us to listen to our people, does the present government have listening ears? Do they even care about the welfare of the people? But it seems to me that our Governor’s aides and the people around him have not been telling him the truth. Greed doesn’t allow some people to say things the way it is, people are really suffering, there is hunger and there is unemployment.
I want Kwarans to believe in us and give us the chance to lead them, they will surely see changes and they would ask where has this man been before? he said.
Babako, an indigene of Shonga, Edu local government, and a one-time member of the Kwara state House of Assembly Service Commission, said over the years , Alhaji Yahman had been known for showing concern for the well-being of others, citing the establishment of the Government Secondary School, Shonga.
‘Yaman has been supporting Kwarans right from his high school days. Yaman was the person God used to bring to fruition the first government secondary school in Shonga; it was my own father that told me this. He said Yaman as a person has been a man of vigour as a young man. Back then, as a youth corps member, he was the one that prepared and delivered the welcome speech when Adamu Attah visited Shonga.
The man was moved by his charisma and was even surprised to see such a man in the village. He there and then asked him to request for whatever we wanted in Shonga, and Yaman announced it. That was how the first government secondary school came into existence. Yaman is someone who gives all his time to the people’ he added.
The former PDP reps candidate also submitted that it would be incorrect to say that the two administrations preceding the Abdulrahman Abdulrasaq administration which were controlled by his party; the PDP left without recording achievements.
‘What I want to clarify however, is the insinuations that we handled things badly during our time. People say we were bad but they cannot dispute the fact that things weren’t this bad during our time. Kwara state was a home to all during the two PDP administrations; compare the prices of foodstuffs and other items to what we have now.
Even most of what the present administration is enjoying now , we were the one who built them; the aviation college, the airport, the metropolitan square, IVTEC even Kwara state University; all these are achievements of the two PDP administrations.
What we do ask them is that the current administration should just point to one thing that had been done since the APC-controlled administration came on board.
Even when my Principal was speaking during a radio programme a few days ago, what we took note of is that the present regime had taken over the functions of the local governments.
Painting of classrooms should be done by the Council Chairmen, even those classrooms are not newly constructed, they only go there and work on what we had done before.
When our party was in power, contracts were given to indigenous contractors, contractors who are from Kwara state, not aliens, so money was well- circulated. The economy was better and there was no capital flight most of the contractors that we have now are not known to Kwarans, Kwarans no longer benefit from their sweat, people are hungry.
Thirdly, when you compare things in respect of the way things were done ,you would notice the presence of government when we were there. If you drive by the Government House, Ilorin now, hardly will you notice the presence of anyone, governance is now taken as something else.
The present administration has not allowed governance to resonate with people or even government officials , the SAs, Commissioners, and others. What we see these days is only one person carrying the load of a multitude. During the Abdulfatah Ahmed administration, indigenous Young people were empowered through so many platforms including rural road projects, they are more like indigenous contractors. These things made Kwara lively. Governments offices is now more or less like a ghost house, you will not see signs of government; you won’t believe anything is going on there, people can go there and see things for themselves.
It is also preposterous to say that we left infrastructural deficit ,that is not possible, except the person is not from Kwara. Okay if this administration is saying they inherited infrastructural deficit or what have you, they should come forward and tell us their own achievements.
What have they actually done for Kwarans. There’s nothing. We have just caught some of them. Some of the things we did during our time are some of the things you can still point to as infrastructure projects. Take for instance, the University in Malete, you can see metropolitan square, all the roads we are plying these days are roads constructed by the PDP government. Most of what the present administration is doing is one kilometer road, interlocking, among others.
I need someone to just name one road that they constructed. The so -called College Road that they did in Tanke is not even up to a kilometer and in less than three months, you can see more than eighteen potholes there. That’s just within three months; that shows the quality of the road. You can’t even compare us to them’ he said.
Babako also said the Saraki and Abdulfatah Ahmed administrations were somewhat tolerant.
‘We can’t really compare what happened during the PDP era to what’s happening now. If I may take you back, I was also part of people who stood as candidates in 2019 general election, I got party nomination, so I know what we went through, I know what our leader went through. How this same OTO GE people dealt with us that time with different propaganda. You know, they embarrassed us, they shouted at him at the airport, we also went to Baruten where we had a lot of experience, even in Patigi.
We had different issues with this same government and at that material time, this man was the Senate President, the 8th Senate President so he had everything available to bring all those people to book. He had the power because he was in government. He was the Senate President as at that time, he felt it’s politics so he didn’t do anything, he just ignored them . I was expecting this administration to do the same thing’ he submitted.
Commenting on the situation that obtained in respect of public water supply systems in the state before the PDP was voted out of power, Babako argued that contrary to the impression created by the current administration, necessary steps were already taken by the Saraki and Abdulfatah Ahmed administrations to get things done.
‘You see, former governor of Kwara state, Alhaji Abdulfatah Ahmed was the one that laid the pipes that this government is capitalizing on that water is running. Governor Abdulfatah laid those pipes, they came on board and then all they do was to connect them so you can’t give the credit to the current administration. If we had not made arrangements for the pipes, water will not run. It was towards the end of Abdulfatah’s tenure that he got those pipes, so the credit should be given to us, not them’ he averred- Team@orientactualmags.com
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