Wole Adedeji, Ilorin
Senate President Bukola Saraki has said the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) would resist efforts by desperate politicians to annex Kwara State to the South West using the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC).
Addressing PDP supporters at the campaign flag-off of Hon. Rasaq Atunwa; the party’s governorship candidate in Bode Saadu of Kwara North Zone, Saraki said the election would be a referendum between the true owners of the state and strangers.
He dismissed arguments by the APC that the election would be a battle between the rich and the poor, saying the real reason he suffered while in the ruling party at the federal level was actually his cries over the continuing dwindling of the fortunes of the masses under the party.
According to him, the election would be all about the future of Kwara, her customs and tradition as well as her place in the North of Nigeria.
His words, “Those who say they don’t want us in Kwara, we will not give them our votes. Kwara belongs to Kwarans. This election in Kwara is all about our history, our tradition, our future.
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“Kwara belongs to us and we will never, we will never, we will never, succumb ourselves to go anywhere.
“We are here to start the journey into a new chapter here in Kwara State. Four years ago we were in the other party. We went round the country campaigning.
“We said we would have a better government and better security. But today it is very clear that we have worse security situation. We have serious hunger in the country.
“We have no jobs for our young people. That is what we have to vote for a party that will handle the security challenges we have not only in the north east alone but now in several other places.”
Re-echoing Saraki, Prof. Suleiman Abubakar, former National Planning Minister under President Goodluck Jonathan and now Director General of PDP campaign said there was no way the party would allow Kwara to come under the leadership of the APC National Leader, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu.
His words, “The election in Kwara State will be between those who are natives and those who are strangers; it will be between those who want Kwara to remain in the North and those who want to sell us off to the South West; those who want to take us back.
“But Kwara is in the North and no one will take us to anywhere else. We will not allow anyone to take us to the South West. Wwe will not allow anyone to take us to Tinubu.
“That is why today we are saying ‘no to Tinubu, no to Buhari’. We have nothing against Buhari but he is not in charge.
“Tinubu is in charge and we don’t want an absentee president and that is why we are saying no to these people.
“We can say this loud and clear with our PVCs when we come out to vote against them.
“We have a gubernatorial candidate who is well-versed in the art of governance unlike the other man.
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“I knew him very well when we were in the old PDP together and he was never attending our meetings.”
In his own comments, Governor AbdulFattah Ahmed lamented that the three and a half years of governance by the APC has brought hunger to Nigerians unlike the 16 benevolent years of the PDP.
In his welcome address, state chairman of the PDP, Engr. Kola Shittu, tasked party canvassers to intensify efforts at selling the PDP to residents of the state as a far better alternative to the APC.
He said, “With this flag off we have started work, we are going to reinforce our door to door campaign and tell our people that with a PDP government hunger will be banished in the land.
“This is very important and i want our canvassers to be going round selling our party by educating them. Some party leaders and candidates in Moro local government have defected to the PDP.
“Their House of Assembly candidates have even stepped down for our own candidate.”
