A former Governor of Kwara State, Dr. Bukola Saraki, has called on the Presidency to stop attacking personalities because of their hardliner stance over the inability of the present Peoples Democratic Party-led administration to stop the challenges of insurgency, kidnapping and other vices, but rather confront the problems currently bedeviling the nation.
The former governor, who now represents Kwara Central in the National Assembly, also assured Nigerians that the All Progressives Congress-led government in 2015 has the capacity to proffer solutions to many of the problems confronting the country and restore the needed peace and development to the nation.
The APC leader in Kwara State, who spoke in an interview with journalists in Ilorin, the state capital at the weekend, also expressed the confidence that APC candidates will sweep all the elective posts in the state at the forthcoming general elections even as he pointed out that he has no anointed candidate among all those aspiring for various elective posts in the state as they would all face the test that would produce popular candidates for the party.
Saraki said: “The level of insecurity and impunity is a thing that can be done and corrected by the APC led administration. They are not things that we are fabricating. When you make comments they attack you, but that does not change the issue. That is the way they operate. Address the issues and if you are not capable of doing them step aside.
“As a country if a scorecard says a government has not been able to provide security, then honestly that government should be voted out”.
Continuing, he said, “I always say to people it is not about Jonathan, whoever is the president now whether he is a Muslim, Christian; from the north or south and he is running a government like this then the person has to go. If tomorrow the president becomes born-again then it is a different ball game. But we must talk about issues and that is on ground”.
On the forthcoming elections in the state, the Senate Committee Chairman on Ecology and Environment said, “We are very prepared. We are waiting for them to bring their candidates. Until we see their candidates I will be able to tell you more. Let them cross that bridge first but we are ready and going ahead to sell our party and candidates to Kwarans”.
He added, “In this trying time, it is not a time for trial and error. It is a time for tested hands and when the time comes Kwarans will compare and contrast the candidates but I can tell you that APC; our party, Insha Allah, will sweep all the polls because we stand by our people all the time”.
The ex-governor explained that “The key issue is that until other actors and actresses in the political space are ready to play a consistent politics of being with the people, not for selfish reason of when they are seeking election the people will not accept them. People are wiser than they think; people appreciate those who are always with them and that is the difference between APC and other parties. That is why come 2015 APC will win resoundingly”.
Senator Saraki also noted that “The only time you see the PDP doing anything here is only when the president or his wife is coming to Kwara that it holds rallies. It sums up what Kwara PDP is all about. It is not about the people at all. They should go and station their party either in Abuja or Bayelsa.
“I know that Kwarans are cleverer and wiser, they can see what some of us have been talking about. Otherwise, how do you explain when people have opportunity to serve, they give up such opportunity for selfish ambition like is going on now. For me we are confident here and we have made our point that Kwara is no go area for PDP”, he said
The Senator also said that his recent victory at the Supreme Court in the last election was a vindication of his testimony that he has the support of the people even as he regretted his inability to reconcile with his opposition in the case, Alh L.A.K Jimoh, before the final judgment.
His words, “It is unfortunate, we tried before then to find ways internally to have prevented the case from getting to the apex court. It is not because we are weak, but part of our own mechanism of carrying everybody along. A lot of people will bear witness to the series of meetings we attempted to have at that time with the other person to find a way out. The judgment has put the case to rest. Again, it is to tell you that majority of some of those things are propaganda and hype.
“The case was a baseless case and I think that is why the Supreme Court judges in their comments they were very tough and hard on the lawyers”.
He particularly noted, “I think the case was propelled further by the comments of President Goodluck Jonathan when they went to see him. He then said that very soon the seat will become vacant. Sometimes, the president seems to forget that the executive and judiciary are two different arms of government. The president’s comment during the visit of some members of the Kwara state PDP to him gave them the impetus to pursue the case to the Supreme Court”.
He also said that “At the end of the visit to Abuja they all came back jubilating that very soon the seat will be vacant. That the powers of Abuja will make it happen. There is no power of any Abuja, the power is here with the people”.
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