A chieftain of the All Progressives Congress in Kwara state, Kayode Ogunlowo, believes that the disaster rocking the State chapter of the get together might result in defeat in 2027 until President Bola Tinubu intervenes personally. Adedayo Akinwale brings the excerpts:
How did you end up in Oke Kura Jail?
My ordeal shouldn’t be hidden from those that have been following political occasions in Kwara State. It was purely politics that landed me in jail. It stays a painful reminiscence for me as a result of it was the identical authorities I went by way of hell to help through the main elections that ultimately had me remanded
Are you able to clarify additional?
In the course of the 2019 APC main election that produced Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq, I used to be chargeable for coordinating Offa Native Authorities Space. When the train ended, we have been instructed to not announce the outcomes regionally however to maneuver the election supplies straight to Ilorin. The folks of Offa resisted and threatened to vandalize my automotive if I refused to announce the end result. Out of worry, I contacted the then Minister of Data, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, who reached out to the Police Space Commander. It took the intervention of an armoured automobile to evacuate me and my colleagues to Ajasse-Ipo. At Ajasse-Ipo, when the outcomes have been ultimately collated, it was surprising that Governor AbdulRahman, then simply an aspirant, couldn’t safe as much as 10 votes in some wards in Offa LGA. In the meantime, figures confirmed that different aspirants like Professor Shuaib Oba AbdulRaheem and Alhaji Shuaib Yaman had 200, 110 votes and above. Regardless of that, the directive we had was clear: AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq should emerge because the candidate, whatever the precise votes. Wanting again, I consider what occurred to me in Oke Kura Jail was merely God’s means of rewarding the position I performed in 2019.
What was your first day in jail like?
The day I bought to Oke Kura, I broke down in tears. If anybody had informed me that my political journey would someday lead me to jail, I’d by no means have believed it. However Alhamdulillah, I’m right here at present to inform the story.
On the time you have been remanded in Oke Kura Jail, which political get together did you belong to, and what’s your affiliation now?
I used to be a member of the APC after I went to jail, and I stay in the identical get together at present.
There was a viral image of you with Dr. Bukola Saraki someday in the past. Are you able to clarify that?
That image was taken after my launch from jail. When myself and two others have been remanded, you don’t anticipate me to return out and begin singing the praises of the very one who orchestrated it. He was behind my ordeal. And I’m not his solely sufferer; many revered group stakeholders have been intentionally introduced down beneath his management.
You’re an Igbomina from Kwara South that’s ravaged with safety disaster, what’s your evaluation of the scenario presently.
It’s very dangerous. It’s so dangerous past description.
Because the Olupo of Ajase-Ipo rightly lamented, worry has gripped your entire group. Households are relocating to neighbouring cities looking for security, and even some conventional rulers who fled needed to be persuaded to return. That’s the grim actuality confronting Kwara South at present.
On the day the Governor visited Baba Nla city, why have been Senator Lola Ashiru, Hon. Ismail Tijani, and Hon. Tunji Ajuloopin absent from the journey?
Frankly, Kwara South doesn’t have efficient illustration. From the very second insecurity started in our zone, with circumstances of bikes being snatched, residents attacked of their houses, and farmers assaulted on their farmlands, our representatives ought to have been proactive.
They must have recognized that with bandits being flushed out of neighbouring states like Kogi and Niger, Kwara was the subsequent doubtless goal.
Senator Lola Ashiru and Hon. Ismail Tijani, whose Ifelodun constituency has been hardest hit, ought to have acted swiftly. As an alternative, they waited till just some days in the past, after a number of lives had been misplaced and properties destroyed, earlier than issuing a press assertion. That isn’t illustration.
In my group, persons are saying it overtly: these politicians solely bear in mind us throughout campaigns, once they come round with cups of garri and luggage of unrefined rice crammed with stones to canvas for votes. However now, when the folks actually want them, they’re nowhere to be discovered. What is going to occur when the subsequent election comes and there aren’t any folks left in these communities as a result of they’ve fled for security?
Up till very lately, neither Senator Ashiru nor Hon. Ismail had moved any movement within the Nationwide Meeting about this insecurity. Not less than I commend Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq for ultimately visiting Baba Nla, assembly the Olupo of Ajase Ipo and different conventional rulers, although even he acted late.
What would you advocate as an answer to the safety challenges?
One of many key steps is to empower our native vigilantes with extra superior weapons. Giving AK-47 rifles to Miyetti Allah members won’t resolve the insecurity in Kwara South. It could be far more practical if such assets have been positioned within the palms of native vigilante teams who know the terrain and are immediately dedicated to defending their communities.
For those who have been requested to grade the efficiency of Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq to date, what rating would you give him?
I’d fee him 6 out of 10. There are various important areas of governance he has not touched in any respect.
The chairman of the Progressive Governors Discussion board, Governor Hope Uzodinma, lately introduced vital critiques of wages within the public sector of the state whereas Kwara continues to be crawling, as chairman of the Nigerian Governors’ Discussion board, shouldn’t Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq be main by instance? What’s your take?
What is occurring in Kwara is a wake-up name for each the elites and the youths of this state. The allocations that come into Kwara are large, but, sadly, there may be little to indicate for it by way of tangible influence. The current administration in Kwara State lacks accountability and transparency within the administration of income and expenditure. No one actually is aware of what comes into the state’s coffers or how it’s being spent. Fortunately, organisations like ENetSuD are making efforts to demand and monitor this info. However the actuality is that this: the situation of Kwara at present doesn’t justify the ₦110 billion acquired in six months.
A while in the past, I prompt that Kwara might accomplice with the personal sector to determine its personal airline, similar to Akwa Ibom with Ibom Air or Enugu with Enugu Air. Such an initiative would generate income for the state, create jobs for residents, and even assist handle the excessive value of air journey. As an alternative of pursuing revolutionary, income-generating initiatives like this, the federal government prefers to spend ₦33 billion on renovating Kwara Resort, a challenge with no actual return worth, besides as a possible conduit pipe for mismanagement and embezzlement.
Do you assume the APC can win the 2027 election in Kwara, because it did in earlier years?
I’ll say sure and no. Sure, Kwara is conventional stronghold of Asiwaju. He’s beloved right here. Aside from that, he’s proven sufficient influence within the lives of the folks. For instance in Kwara South, regardless of the safety challenges, Asiwaju would win. The President has appointed fairly plenty of illustrious little children of the Senatorial District in important juicy positions on the nationwide degree. So, we can pay him again. Kwara Central too may also ship Asiwaju. He’s seen as one which’s nearer to them than anybody else among the many different frontline hopefuls. The President has been a buddy of Ilorin Emirate for lengthy. He’s maintained a robust and shut cordiality for instance with the Emir. And he’s additionally appointed little children of the state into good positions. We additionally learnt that he’s additionally reaching out to important political stakeholders, even throughout get together divides. I’m not nevertheless positive of Kwara North. They’re all the time unpredictable, and so they have their sentiments too. They’re additionally nearer to the core north by way of socio-cultural formations than the remainder of the opposite two. However the bulk of the profitable votes are all the time from the larger zones of Central and South. So, the north is sort of dispensable.
However you’ve solely talked concerning the Presidential elections, what concerning the normal outlook for the APC within the state?
Effectively, to be frank, with the end result of the latest native authorities election and the present scenario within the state, solely God could make APC win the gubernatorial contest in 2027. Though Kwarans are totally conscious of how federal interventions are impacting the state, they’re additionally conscious of the interventions of Asiwaju (President Bola Tinubu) on the safety scenario of Kwara state. However so far as the governance of Gov. AbdulRahman AbdulRazak is anxious, nothing a lot is altering. Added to that’s the deep disaster throughout the get together itself. Many get together members have informed me personally that they’re simply ready for the election season to get nearer. They may now not settle for the governor’s unilateral selections. Reality is, most people you see round him at present are solely ready for the best time to detach. None of them is actually with him. In truth, for a very long time now, ward conferences throughout the state haven’t even been holding. That tells you the actual state of the get together in Kwara. The probabilities are risky for the opposite elections other than the Presidential, however it’s not that they’re not surmountable. It could take loads of effort to show the tide towards the APC. A significant effort is the direct intervention of Asiwaju himself and the APC nationwide management within the affairs of the state earlier than it’s too late. They’ve to indicate greater than a passive curiosity within the scenario of the get together in Kwara state.
