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AbdulRazaq’s achievements’ll earn him second term –Fagbemi

  • ‘Muslim-Muslim candidacy’ll not stop Tinubu from winning 2023 presidency’

Prince Sunday Adeniran Fagbemi is the chairman of All Progressives Congress (APC) in Kwara State. He had at various times been the state secretary of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and state chairman of Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN). In this interview with STEPHEN OLUFEMI ONI, he speaks on APC’s chances in the 2023 general election, among other issues

 

Congratulations on your one year in office as Kwara State APC chairman. What has been your experience so far?

It’s been good, it’s been challenging, but we thank God for giving us the grace to unify our people and ensure that the state of confusion that we met the party in is now rectified.

We have been able to weather the storm and there has been steady progress. The party is going on well and there is no undue influence from the government on the party and the relationship between the government and the party has been very cordial.

What is the situation with the crisis that rocked Kwara APC, even before Mallam AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq assumed office as governor in 2019?

 

Well, everything is calm new, we are trying our possible best to make sure that everything is normalised. In any organisation, there is no how there won’t be one thing or another since interest has to come to bear.

What is rocking the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) is worse than what is happening in APC. Even at the national level, they cannot get themselves. In Kwara State, there are some people, who by all means, want to be governor.

So, there is no rope you can use to bind them not to ventilate their ambition. Some have gone to take tickets in Social Democratic Party (SDP), New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP) and PDP, but then there are others that have come into the party to join us that are much more than those people that appeared to have left.

That notwithstanding, we are trying to make sure that there is unity within the APC family, not only in Kwara but also at the national level.

What is being done to bring back the aggrieved ones, particularly those that have defected to other parties?

We are still not relenting, efforts are still ongoing to make sure that we get our act together and remain  united as a family.

So, I can confirm to you that we are not complacent as efforts are ongoing in that direction and we pray it will yield fruitful results. We are trying our little best, it is only God that can crown the efforts with success. So, we will not relent, we will keep on engaging them.

 

It was a clean sweep for the APC in Kwara State in all the elections held in 2019. Do you think the feat can still be repeated by the party in 2023 going by the number of defections from the ruling party?

 

If not, why not?

We are hoping for the best because the work that the governor has been doing since his administration came on board on May 29, 2019 is speaking volumes among the people.

Kwarans have tested different administrations and they know which one is best suited for them, the one that has the interest of the populace at heart and those that are just out to milk the people. The rots they left behind are being gradually cleared and everyone is now convinced that Kwarans have never had it so good.

Are you basing your conviction of winning in 2023 on the governors achievements?

Definitely, because people have been able to compare this administration with the last one they had and all the people that were aggrieved before as to governance are now seeing different light. As you can see, the Governor has demystified governance by his humility, his performances.

You can also see that in the area of education, lots of things have happened and when we are talking of infrastructural development, so many things have happened too. Also, in the area of health, in the area of roads, and even in the we

fare of the civil servants, they are now taking full salary instead of the one that was nicknamed ‘gerigedi.’ That was percentage payment of salary instead of full salary during the last administration. You can see in terms of employment, in one fell swoop, the AbdulRazaq administration took in over 4,000 teachers at SUBEB and this is unprecedented.

One striking thing is that it is not only just taking these teachers, but also the fact that you don’t need to know anybody before you are employed now as was the case before.

This is an era where meritocracy is being celebrated rather than the one that was happening before in the last administration where letters of employment were distributed at their party’s ward meetings and given only to people who had godfathers without necessarily being qualified.

 

Now, people are seeing that the son of a nobody can become somebody thereby giving a lot of hope to the people. And it has also given a lot of relieve to parents who have laboured to train their children without having jobs for years.

And you can also see that the era of people not being paid their pensions; people who have spent all their lives to work for the government, is gone and gone forever.

We can see also that violence has been reduced to almost zero level because the youths who were being used as thugs are now gainfully employed. Kwara was once a pariah state in the sense that the counterpart funding in Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC). SUBEB was not paid by the last government, leading to the state being blacklisted by UBEC. This administration rectified the situation.

Now, in SUBEB for example, over 600 schools have been reconstructed and renovated since inception of this government because the counterpart funding that was not paid by the last administration was paid by this administration.

You can also see that our health institutions are now being revitalised, they are no longer mere consulting clinics where goats and so on were residents. Now, we have renovated more than 80 per cent of health institutions all over the state.

There is no ward in Kwara that is not enjoying that. If you look at road infrastructure, our farmers before now couldn’t bring their products to the market because of bad roads.

But now, there is no local government that at least two roads are not being constructed. Some have been completed while other are ongoing. All these things are countless. What then is delaying our victory? Nothing!

This is a governor that is full of selflessness, commitment and having a covenant with the people of Kwara and he is taking Kwara and Kwarans to greater heights.

The PDP in the state said it is warming up to come back to power in 2023 and has gone ahead to pick its gubernatorial candidate from Kwara North that has long been clamouring for the coveted seat. Don’t you think this will affect the chances of your party?

The traditional rulers from Kwara North have come to the state capital here to say that even when one of their sons was in power, they remained alienated from development until the coming of the AbdulRazaq administration that Kwara North has had it so good. Water, roads, classrooms, hospitals and so on are being done in Kwara North by this administration.

So, picking somebody from a zone is not really the issue. We are talking about developmental efforts

in Kwara North as well as other zones. So, all over the state, there is no concentration of development in any zone now. It is equal opportunity for all. And their children in Kwara North have had better bargains and things to show for being part of this government.

Recently, Etsu Patigi, the highly revered monarch of Patigi Emirate, and that is part of Kwara North we are talking about, said they are going to vote en mass for Governor AbdulRazaq because of the things he has done. Ditto for Yashikira, Gwanara and so on.

All of them know that what PDP wants to do is government by deceit but the peoples’ eyes are already wide open. They know that nothing good can come from the PDP stable. In any case, it is the constitutional right of the governor to seek reelection for second term and he has done well in the first term.

So, why should he be denied the opportunity to continue the good job he has started, especially when they know that these people have had the opportunity for 16 years without anything to show for it?

Are you then saying that your party is fully prepared for the 2023 elections in the state?

We have already put our hands on the implement of development, we are not looking back. We have all our candidates ready. We have put all the structures that will do the campaigns in place and ensure that we win the elections. We are fully ready and prepared.

But some APC members are insinuating that the party’s primaries in Kwara State were not free and fair; what’s your take on that?

I think that question will be better directed to the national leadership of the party because we did not conduct the primaries.

There was a committee that was sent from the national headquarters and when they came, they met with the stakeholders where they gave their briefs. Before the commencement of the primaries, all the aspirants were allowed to address them.

There was no rancour or bickering before the primaries. And after the primaries, they congratulated themselves. I was not at the primaries because I was not a delegate, though I went there and left before the primaries started only to ensure that the place was peaceful. I addressed all the contestants and the people that came and I left the place.

And from the report that I got, everything went on well, there was no delegate that was teleguided. So, after the election they announced the results and they congratulated themselves. After that we started to hear a lot of things. Even if there were irregularities, as a senior lawmaker and a statesman, there are processes to be followed.

I don’t believe it should have become a subject of press and so on if they had felt truly aggrieved about it. For instance, we have the appeal committee they could have taken the matter to.

And the governor was also not at the venue of the primaries; only the delegates and the contestants were allowed into the premises. So, how could the governor have teleguided the delegates? I don’t know.

What’s your reaction to the allegation by the opposition PDP that the APC leadership in the state is planning to use security agencies to clampdown on some of their members ahead of the elections?

That was their modus operandi when they were in power, that was what they were doing, and so they expect others to do the same. We are not like them, that is the difference between us and them.

Let me tell you, on the eve of one election when I was the state chairman of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), they clamped down on me and my secretary, Barr Edun, saying we wanted to burn the office of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) office in Ilorin; that we wanted to kill some people.

Because of those unfounded allegations, we were taken away and incarcerated for over a month until the elections were over. So, it is, therefore, not surprising that they are alleging that kind of thing because that is their brand of politics. Ours is different. In our own case, we are civilised

Kwara APC is working for the presidential aspiration of Asiwaju Bola Tinubu; what do you think are his chances in the election going by the Muslim-Muslim ticket adopted by your patty?

That is neither here nor there. First and foremost, we should not promote ethnicity or religion beyond the purview of the constitution, we are Nigerians. Religion is a personal thing between one and God.

This is not the first time that such thing will happen in Nigeria. During the time of Chief Obafemi Awolowo, he was a presidential candidate and Chief Philip Umeadi was his running mate, both of them were Christians and no eyebrows were raised.

During the time of Chief MKO Abiola, a Muslim, and Babagana Kingibe, also a Muslim, no eyebrows were raised. Come to think about it, the propagation of this thing is the handiwork of mischief makers, particularly the opposition PDP.

What we want now is not hunger; it doesn’t know religion or tribe. Security does not know religion or tribe, poverty does not know religion or tribe. If these are the people that will lead us to the Promised Land, where everything will work well for the interest of Nigerians, why not give them a chance?

I’m a Christian, ordinarily I would have preferred to let a Christian be the running mate or even the presidential candidate, but who knows what time it might be for a Christian- Christian ticket.

So, if we cry too much now, by the time that time comes, others will do the same thing. So, I don’t see anything so serious about religion and I want to say that the Muslim-Muslim ticket will not prevent Asiwaju Tinubu from winning the presidential election in 2023.

Some people, particularly the opposition, are using the current challenges in the country to campaign against your party. Will that not affect the chances of APC in the 2023 general election?

What challenges?

Insecurity is all over the world. It is an issue now. During the time of Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, were there no security challenges? During the time of Umaru Ya’ardua, were there no security challenges? During the time of Goodluck Jonathan, there were security challenges.

Nobody wants insecurity because under the atmosphere of insecurity, there can hardly be any meaningful development. Also, when we talk about economy, the economy all over the world now has nosedived and it is not peculiar to Nigeria.

Do we talk of the COVID-19 challenges that took more than one year and held the whole world spellbound? So, what are people talking about?

The question is, when last did Nigeria experience the kind of infrastructural development as being witnessed under President Muhammad Buhari? Even the road from Abeokuta to Lagos, the Ibadan- Lagos expressway, the Second Niger Bridge, among several others, being constructed by the Buhari administration. Were there no governments before him?

I think one should not hold President Buhari’s government responsible for this insurgency which had been happening long before he assumed office. As a matter of fact, security issue is a business of all, not just the government.

When you see some people who are being kidnapped here and there, by the time you go to the root of it, you will see members of their families behind the whole thing.

This is not a conventional war that can just end like that, it is like guerilla warfare that people will just pick arms and go somewhere and start to create security problems. In short, I don’t see how this will affect the success of APC in the 2023 elections.

What is your admonition to politicians and the political parties as campaigns kick off in earnest?

First and foremost, politics is a call to service and it doesn’t require violence like the late Alhaji Ibrahim Waziri said then. His own philosophy then was politics without bitterness.

So, when we are talking of politics without bitterness, there must be a way and manner to go about our campaigns. There should be no hate speech, abusive languages should be eschewed, and every campaign must be issue based. Tell the people what you have to offer rather than castigating or blackmailing another person or resorting to violence.

The time of thuggery is gone. The children of politicians are not trained as thugs, we take our children to developed countries to go and develop themselves and now you want to use somebody else’s children to act as thugs.

Thank God, INEC has given criteria on how campaigns should go and nobody should think about rigging or hacking.

Anyway, APC is a peaceful party, we are in government, we don’t want peace to be disrupted. We want to enjoin all politicians to go about this thing peacefully, knowing full well that it is only God that gives power and He gives it to whoever He wishes.

So, let everybody go and sell themselves to the people in a peaceful and orderly manner.

What’s your advice to Kwara electorate?

We shone our eyes in 2018 and 2019 and we decided to choose a new government because the one in place then was not helpful to the people.

So, now they should continue to stand by APC, there is no alternative to APC as of now. For progress, unity and tranquility in Kwara, they should vote APC, they should not bring back that government of deceit that will only take their money away without anything to show for it.

 

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