Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, has said
the time has come to retire the political oligarchs who have
appropriated Kwara State and its resources to themselves to the
detriment of the people.
The Minister made the remarks while addressing the mammoth crowd that
attended the All Progressives Congress (APC) presidential rally in
Ilorin, Kwara State on Monday.
“It is time to retire those who have held Kwara State down and made
our people and our state very poor. They have been deceiving the
people. They have been blaming the federal government for their
failure.
”When they can’t pay workers’ salary, they blame the Federal
Government. When they can’t provide infrastructure, they blame the
Federal Government. They forgot to tell the people that Mr. President
has graciously approved bailouts and Paris Club Refund for states,
including Kwara. Ask them, where is the money? What did they do with
it?” he said.
Mohammed warned that voting the present crop of leaders in
Kwara State into power again is like giving them another licence to
embark of a looting spree, and urged the people to be wary of their
Greek gift under the guise of offsetting workers’ salaries
“With elections approaching, their leader, I said their leader, NOT
the state government, suddenly brought out 2.5 billion Naira from his
kitty to pay workers. Where do individuals pay state workers? Where
did the money come from? It is your money that they have been keeping.
They have brought out some of it because they are desperate,” he said.
The Minister said the Buhari Administration has executed various
infrastructural and social development projects in Kwara, listing them
as including the rehabilitation of Ohan and Moro Bridges on
Ilorin-Igbeti road; Construction of Patigi-Kpada road and the
rehabilitation of Ilorin-Jebba-Mokwa road, which used to be a
nightmare for motorists.
He also listed the roads being rehabilitated or constructed to include
the Ilorin-Kabba-Obajana road; the Ajase-Ipo-Offa-Erin Ile-Osun state
boundary; Kaiama-KIshi Road; Offa Bypass in Offa as well as the
dualization of Michael Imoudu Ganmo/Afon junction road Ilorin
In addition, Mohammed said about 50,000 Kwarans are benefitting
from Tradermoni and Marketmoni, 9,886 homes in Kwara State are
benefitting from the Conditional Cash Transfer that gives 5,000 Naira
monthly to the most vulnerable while the Anchor Borrowers’ Programme
has seen the number of rice farmers in Kwara grow from 5,000 to
30,000.
He, therefore, urged the people of the state to vote for President
Buhari, APC governorship candidate Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq and all
other APC candidates in the forthcoming elections.
The mega rally was attended by President Buhari, National Chairman of
the APC Adams Oshiomhole, National Leader of the APC Asiwaju Bola
Tinubu, former Osun State Governors Bisi Akande and Rauf Aregbesola,
Ministers of Transportation as well as Interior, Rotimi Amaechi and
Abdulrahman Dambazau respectively, and the APC governorship candidate
in Kwara State, Alhaji Abdulrazaq Abdulrahman, among others.
