‘It will get to a point when the poor will begin to eat big men,’

Layi Olarenwaju, Ilorin

Director General Buhari/Osibajo Campaign Organisation, Rotimi Chibuike Amaechi, has revealed that the 2019 elections in Kwara and by extension Nigeria are between the rich and the poor.

Amaechi, who is the current Minister of Transportation, said this in Ilorin, Kwara State, at the inauguration of APC ward canvassers ahead of 2019 general elections in the state.

He added that the rich and thieves had ganged-up against the All Progressives Congress (APC) led government in the country.

“We are gathered here today to peacefully take over power from the rich and hand over to the poor. That is what APC stands for. We join the poor to say we must take power from the rich. We join the poor to say ‘enough is enough.’

“The elite and the thieves have ganged-up against APC. But they don’t have the power because they don’t have the number. The number is with the poor and the poor must rise to vote on that day.

“This election is between the rich and the poor. Now the poor have realised that they are tired. If at the end of former President Olusegun Obasanjo’s government we had $58 billion, where is the money now? How much did state governments collect? How much did the Federal government collect? What did they do with the money?

“When I was a student at the University of Port Harcourt, I predicted that one day the poor will rise. It will get to a point when the poor will begin to eat big men. What you are seeing in Kwara is a modern Tunisia. It was a poor man that started the Arab Spring in Tunisia.

Today, Kwara is leading the revolution to change Nigeria. Power must return to the poor. One problem we all have is that even we the poor are being deceived by them.

“Big men are in all the parties o! The difference between other parties and ours is that the big men in our party are all progressives. Other parties don’t care; they want to even collect what the poor is eating from them.”

Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, earlier in his address said the gathering was a demonstration of the people’s resolve to rescue the state from “those who have held it by the jugular, those who have pauperised our people, the pathologically-dishonest ones who govern by deceit.”

Mohammed, who is the leader of APC in the state added that: “We are inaugurating an army of well – recruited, tested and trusted canvassers, who will go from house to house in each of the 1,872 polling units to tell our people why they must vote for President Muhammadu Buhari and all the candidates of APC right here in Kwara State in the 2019 general elections.

“Gathered here today are 1,872 canvassers (who are) representing the 18,720 polling units. That is one canvasser per each polling unit across the 193 wards in Kwara State. We are also inaugurating today 193 ward co-ordinators, 193 ward secretaries, 193 ward women leaders and 193 ward youth leaders.

“These canvassers will be our victory army, the army that will dismantle the gargantuan edifice of corruption and mis-governance that has held our dear state down for too long. This unprecedented move is our most potent weapon against the enemies of the state and the oppressors of the people.”

He urged the APC candidates in the state not to entertain any fear against the backdrop of the recent Kwara State High Court judgement recognising the dissolved Balogun-Fulani-led executives of APC.

He said: “Please permit me to use this forum to assure all candidates elected on the platform of our great party: our governorship, National Assembly and House of Assembly candidates that the recent court judgment in respect of the state executive council of the party has not affected the validity of their candidature. They remain the authentic candidates of our great party and should go about their campaigns without any fear of being disqualified.

“While we have gone ahead to appeal this judgment, our candidates should not be distracted by the antics of the desperate opposition in Kwara State. I have read the judgement. The suit was not properly constituted. None of the candidates was joined as a party and therefore, the judgement cannot be binding on any of them. It is an elementary principle of Law that a judgment cannot be binding on a person who was not a party to the suit, just as a person who is not a party to a suit cannot benefit from the judgement. Do not panic. Do not be distracted.”

The minister also used the forum to reel out once again, the achievements of President Muhammadu Buhari in the last three and half years.

“President Muhammadu Buhari has delivered on his promise to revamp the economy, secure our country and fight corruption. This has made the work of our canvassers much easier, because they know exactly what to tell the people.

“No government in the history of Nigeria has achieved this feat. Even our detractors acknowledge this, though the lust for power often beclouds their sense of judgement.”