The Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, has said this year’s election in Kwara State will not be determined by issues of good governance and the improvement on the social well-being of the people.
A statement by the minister’s Special Assistant, Segun Adeyemi, quoted Mr Mohammed while making remarks in Ilorin on Thursday, at a sensitization forum for APC Women Leaders across the 16 Local Governments of the state.
According to him, out of desperation to retain power, the political oligarchs in the state have now resorted to playing the regional and religious cards to hoodwink the people.
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“In this season of politics, everything goes. We are therefore calling on our people to beware of those who are trying to sell snake oil to them.
“The issues we are concerned with here in Kwara have to do with good governance and better life for our people. Our problem is not ethnicity, it is not religion, it is not even gender.
”These elections will not be determined on the basis of ethnicity, religion or gender. The main issues here have to do with how our state has been governed in the past 50 years, 40 of which have been dominated by them.
“What has happened to the commonwealth, which has been cornered by them at the expense of the people.
“Where are the roads and other infrastructures to justify the huge resources that have accrued to the state? If you follow a path for so long, and it leads you nowhere, won’t you try another path? These are the issues,” he said.
Mr Mohammed dismissed as absolute lie the claim that some people want to take Kwara to the Southwest Geo-Political Zone.
“I can speak for myself. I am a bona fide and proud Kwara citizen. My father and mother are from here. No question about that. Our gubernatorial candidate is unquestionably a proud Kwaran, from right here in Ilorin, and there are no questions about his origins. So who is the stranger here?” he queried.
The Minister recalled that at the recent launch of the PDP campaigns in the State, the party bigwigs claimed that President Buhari was the cause of the under-development in the state, while ignoring the fact that the Ilorin-Jebba-Mokwa road, which they took to Bode Saadu where they launched their campaign, was rehabilitated by the Buhari administration.
“That road was impassable during the time of the PDP, the same party they are now touting as the one with the magic wand,” he said.
Mr Mohammed, who challenged the PDP government in Kwara to account for the several bailouts funds they have received from the Federal Government, said the state government could not pay workers’ salaries despite receiving bailouts and Paris Club refund.
He said the oligarchs who are doling out their personal funds to help offset workers’ salaries in Kwara are actually returning some of the commonwealth they have looted, hence their questionable benevolence should earn them nothing but public opprobrium.
The Minister tasked the women, whom he said are the closest to the grassroots, to go out and counter the many lies of the PDP.
