Stephen Olufemi Oni, Ilorin

Former Speaker of the Kwara State House of Assembly, Rt. Hon. Razak Atunwa, has chided Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq for castigating former Senate President, Dr. Abubakar Bukola Saraki, who described his administration as lacking “focus, blueprint, or manifesto that can guide it towards serving the interest of the people”.

Atunwa, in a statement personally signed by him, was reacting to a statement issued by Mrs. Bola Olukoju, the State Commissioner for Communications who in her government’s response to the former Senate President’s comment on the last weekend local government polls raised several allegations against the Saraki and Abdulfatai Ahmed’s administrations in the state.

The former Speaker, who also served in the House of Representatives and was the 2019 PDP Gubernatorial Candidate, said: “The Kwara State Governor who runs the state on impulse has not been able to execute projects, programmes, or policies which could present him with a lasting legacy because he has no blueprint or manifesto that could guide him to serve the people better.

“It is somewhat disappointing that a State Commissioner could only list the payment of salaries as the achievement of a government that has been in office in the last 64 months. Indeed, when there is nothing significant to boast of, any mundane achievement will become significant to a non-performing government. A Government that receives over N14 billion every month from the Federation Account, in addition to the usurpation of Billions of Naira of Local Government funds, should present meaningful and lasting projects on its scorecard. Laying of paving stone over a road less than one kilometre and resurfacing a small number of 100 metre roads is quite uninspiring”

“It is difficult to expect good governance from a governor who has no respect for democratic institutions and will rather castrate such institutions than allow them to function. He has rendered the State House of Assembly ineffectual, put the State Executive Council in limbo, ensured the State Security Council does not sit, relegated the Council of Traditional Rulers to the background, and destroyed the party on whose platform he was elected.

“A government which does not hold the statutory State Executive Council meetings, an administration that is run through WhatsApp messages between the commissioners, and an elusive, absentee governor cannot achieve much. It is a dysfunctional government. The cabinet members do not have the platform and the freedom to present ideas and debate them at a council chaired by a focused, experienced, and well-intentioned governor. Contracts are awarded through WhatsApp messages and commissioners are equally informed through the same medium.

“I challenge Commissioners in Kwara State to make public how many times they had attended the State Executive Council since they were appointed commissioner. I was a commissioner who served in several ministries and I know how vibrant and constant our meetings were. As a commissioner, you must be ready to debate and defend the memo in which you have proposed your plans for your ministry. It was invariably quite rigorous sessions. Those who were part of that cabinet and who are now members of the governor’s party will attest to this fact.

“Every right-thinking person in our dear state knows that there is no basis for comparison between the administration that Dr. Saraki headed for eight years and even that of his successor, Dr. Abdulfatai Ahmed, and this non-performing, directionless, and regressive government that is in Kwara State today. More than 5 years after taking over, the present government has not been able to commission one single project. What we have is a small number of incomplete and poorly executed projects.

“One can easily list numerous meaningful completed projects, policies, and programmes that the Saraki administration initiated and executed for the benefit of the good people of Kwara State. Let us remind the present government that the establishment of the Kwara State University, reestablishment of air passenger routes to and from Ilorin International Airport, construction of the new passenger terminal where the Governor and his commissioners fly from, the establishment of the School of Nursing, Oke Ode, construction of the ultra-modern Banquet Hall where the present government has been holding important state functions, construction of the new Executive Council Chamber where the cabinet meeting of the government should be holding, Ilorin Metropolitan Square where the Governor took his oath of office in 2019 and 2023, the Kwara Advanced Medical Diagnostic Centre and the first flyover in Kwara State located at the Post Office junction, all happened under the Saraki administration.

“It is not only uncharitable, but also not dignifying for a government whose attempt to construct just one overhead bridge in five and half years has only produced an abandoned and dangerous edifice to be denigrating the Saraki government that successfully initiated and completed the construction of 35 major road projects, tarred and expanded 417 Kilometres of road, established the International College of Aviation, built 10 major residential housing estates, redeveloped two major markets, was the first state government to complete the National Integrated Power Projects (NIPP) by re-energizing the Ganmo Power Project from 90 MVA to 150 MVA with an installed capacity of 300 MW, provided electrification projects in 375 rural communities and initiated the Rural Community Health Insurance Scheme in partnership with the Dutch government and the Pharm Access company, among many other key projects too numerous to be itemized in a press release.

“Many of these projects were commissioned by Presidents Olusegun Obasanjo and Umaru Yar’Adua between 2003 and 2010. The plaques are all over the place. Anybody who cares to fact-check will see the numerous projects the Saraki administration executed.

“The Abdulrazaq government sadly made Kwara State one of the few states where former President Muhammadu Buhari, a president elected on the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC) like Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq did not visit to commission any project in his last four years in office. We have seen other governors elected at the same time as the incumbent Kwara State Governor who had severally invited former President Buhari to commission projects in their respective states. There is no doubt that the incumbent President Bola Tinubu, the APC leader, may also not commission any project on behalf of the current Kwara State administration, except if this press statement forces the governor to change his ways and buckle up.

“The press statement claimed that the results of the local government elections held at the weekend indicated that the government has won the trust of the people. This is another warped interpretation of the anger expressed by the people before, during, and after the LG polls. It is a repugnant and obnoxious statement. This government must be playing the ostrich to pretend that they did not notice how the people expressed their anger by rejecting the candidates fielded by the ruling party. The commissioner and others like him must have a faulty sense of interpretation of political situations to think that the elections signify anything but a total rejection of the APC in Kwara State.

“Governor Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq should look at the substance of the message by Dr. Saraki, not the messenger in giving a correct interpretation to it. That message is devoid of partisanship. It is a reminder to the Kwara State Governor that the people are set to reject a government that is only focused on protecting parochial and selfish interests.

“Dr. Saraki was not the sponsor of the APC chieftains who came out on social media to publicly reject the imposition of unpopular candidates by Governor Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq on the party members. That is what you get when a governor decides to single-handedly select candidates in 16 LGAs and 193 wards. That is why there are court cases filed by aggrieved APC members. However, at no time has any PDP member gone to court to challenge the choice of candidates because the leadership usually consults widely and builds a consensus in selecting candidates for elections.

“The press statement referred to hiring crowds to support the former Senate President during the CCT trial. It should be noted that Dr.Saraki left office as governor 13 years ago and has gone on to serve our country as Senate President. He is widely acknowledged as the best to serve in that position. People have seen his demonstration of capacity, competence, and courage.

“It is an irony that while the commissioner for communications claimed that the Kwara State government cared about the welfare of the people, yet in the face of starvation staring the people in the face, the governor still kept rice donated by the Federal Government in the store and watched the people as they go about hungry. It was only when the government was desperate to get the people to vote during the last weekend polls that it started distributing bags of rice and fertilizers.

“That is why even the APC leaders could not jubilate after the manipulated results of the LGA polls were released at 2 am, the certificates of return hurriedly given that same night while the oath of office was administered very early in the morning the following Monday.

“My message to Kwarans is that they should continue to remain firm, resolute, and devoted in their bid to hold the government accountable and responsible. The voice of the people has come out so loud that the deaf heard them. The people will not continue to tolerate the poor performance and selfishness from those they voted to serve their interests.”