Ismail Omipidan
Issa Aremu, is the governorship candidate of Labour Party (LP) in Kwara State. He speaks on his chances and possibility of partnering with the All Progressives Congress (APC) this Saturday to comprehensively rout the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) from the state.
In Kwara, they say poverty walks on two legs. How do you intend to put an end to that sordid chapter of the people?
If you are not my friend and brother with passion for my dear state, I would have said you are uncharitable to us Kwarans. Poverty with one leg is bad enough. To say poverty confidently walks with two legs in a pioneer state of Kwara is sobering for me as a Kwaran. But sadly I agree that poverty facts are damning in my state. The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) in 2016 stated that 112 million Nigerians live in relative poverty in Nigeria which represents 69 percent of the country’s total population, estimated to be 163 million. The North-West and the North-East have the highest poverty rate with 77.7percent and 76.3 percent respectively. The North-Central is the third with 67 percent poverty rate; Kwara State, which is within the North-Central, is 76 percent. Thus poverty in Kwara was above national average of 67per cent. Poverty numbers however don’t tell the stories of the poor. Income poverty means hunger and anger. The great late Democracy hero, Chief MKO Abiola once said ‘I know the type of music that goes on in the stomach of a hungry man. It is very unpleasant’. First our party believes that you cannot appreciate mass poverty until you look at the distribution of the state resources. Mass poverty ‘with two legs’ is inconceivable unless we appreciate the opulence of the few sit-tight ruling PDP few elite in the state. General Yakubu Gowon created Kwara state in 1967 together with 11 others that included present day Lagos, Rivers and Kano. The respected humble and modest General recently visited Ilorin on commercial flight. On landing he sighted a private jet which reportedly just brought Governor Fatai Ahmed from Abuja. The respected General and statesman curiously sought to know the cost of the parked chartered flight. He was told it was some 4 million naira, enough to pay some working folks minimum wage of 18000 per month for some 200 months, at least for five years. As a frequent traveler, I have never seen my Governor Fatai and my Senator, Dr. Bukola Saraki in a commercial flight in a state with such mass abysmal poverty. Yet I have seen my Emir of Ilorin, His Royal Highness, Alhaji Ibrahim Sulu Gambari, Oni of Ife and many other emirs, late Justice Mustapha Akanbi, Adeshina ADB President, and former Governor C O Adebayo in commercial flights from Abuja to Ilorin. Some of their aides also shuttle in private flights and audaciously travel business classes in a debt ridden state that put school children on Okada motorcycles every morning. Kwara budget is almost N200 billion. There is enough for the modest need of 3 million modest Kwarans but just not enough for the greed of the ever privileged and indulged PDP chieftains in the past 16 years.
Our first task is to ensure resource distribution justice. The 1999 constitution says welfare and security of all is the primary purpose of governance, not just welfare of few state officials. We will put an end to the existing state capture by PDP ruling cabals. We will aggressively pursue full employment policy through state led industrialisation in partnership with the private sector. Kwara already missed the 2015 MDGs global train because since 2000, elected governors were not on duty. We must be enlisted on SDG 2030 and put an end to poverty. There was once a Kwara State under selfless leaders like late David Bamigboye, Ibrahim Taiwo that produced rice, cotton, sorghum, that had industries.
Jobs cannot be created where there are no industries, how do you hope to industrialise the state? What are those specific things you will do?
We have a 5-point agenda inspired by our manifesto. We call it 5-Ps dealing with People, Prosperity, Popular participation, Partnership and Peace. The Yoruba have a saying: Ise Logun Ise, work is the antidote against poverty. We will reindustrialise Kwara. We will build industrial parks! One industry in each of the 16 local government areas, CBN, Federal Ministry of Industry and Bank of Industry, BOI, had initiated a number of sustainable industrial policies. Kwara must partner with Federal Government to promote value addition to our abundant natural resources. Presently Kwara government is currently in a partisan war of attrition with the Federal Government just to perpetuate personal rule of one leader. Statesmanship, nation building must give way to brinkmanship
An average Kwara person sees the government as too elitist. How do you hope to change the narrative?
It’s not just the perception. PDP government is government of exclusion, far from elitist in terms of development but like a cult of personality in mis-governance. There was a state capture by one person, one party here until the last presidential/ National Assembly elections. One person and some of his proxies put over 3 million faithful folks under foot, but we have already changed the narrative in my campaign. Labour Party logo is inclusive of people: Papa, Mama, Pikin! Kwara wealth to all Kwarans not few ruining elite, I was diminished to hear somebody talking of Saraki political dynasty. The respected late Dr. Olusola Saraki never talked nor envisaged ‘a political dynasty.’ His remarkable political achievements were earned through mass popular participation not through elitist ascribed entitlements. We are happy that LP in Kwara is part of the liberation movement in Kwara State. We are the game changers.
Do you believe in PPP? Do you think there are variables that make it feasible in Kwara?
Of Course the critical ‘P’ deals with ‘partnership’ for development and political liberation. We exhibited political partnership when we campaigned and voted for President Muhammadu Buhari on account of his friendly labour market policies that increased minimum wage to N30,000, payment of arrears of Nigeria Airways workers criminally denied by former President Obasanjo, bail out for wage defaulting governors. The president is also committed to reindustrilsation and diversification which is the basis for sustainable mass decent jobs for the jobless youths. Even at the weekend governorship election now we are open to partnership with progressive parties whose missions compliment our party’s ideology of Democratic socialism, humanism and social democracy.
With all these your lofty ideas, why did you choose to run on LP platform? Why not APC or PDP? Do you think you stand any chance at all? Who are your backers?
I deliberately declared my intention to run on July 18th which is Nelson Mandela Day. We are no political jobbers seeking for elective offices. We are concerned about the liberation of our people from oppression and empty arrogance, from exclusion. Certainly we cannot partner with PDP because in Kwara it symbolises greed amidst mass need and mass poverty, infrastructure decay and state capture. Indeed the task to be done is to terminate PDP rule. In place, we replace poverty with prosperity, fear and intimidation with peace, solidarity and live, state of harmony to replace state of fear, vote counts to replace ballot stuffing and ballots snatching. Once we achieve this the winners are Kwaran 3 million plus compatriots not just me.
Twenty years of democracy in Kwara State needs quality control this weekend. O do pin (LP slogan) + O to ge (APC slogan) will produce liberation in Kwara State. Our backers are the good people of the state of harmony. Our campaigns are also unique and revolutionary: people to people, work-place-to work- place, schools to schools. Market men and women, tailors, artisans, workers, people living with disabilities, youths said they never saw candidates at their workplaces before asking questions and uplifting the spirit and raising hope. In place of glossy posters, personalised jingles and Facebook text messages, we danced with our people at workplaces on the streets. Our people don’t need ‘charity’ financed by stolen funds. On the contrary, market women need patronage of their goods, improved market access. Indeed in many local government areas that I visited, our people in spite of deprivations were in high spirit to put an end to bad governance, offered prayers to us and even materially supported us. With them we have collectively ensured good governance during this historic campaign. Even the so-called ‘good boys’ abandoned terror tactics to extort monies to dance with us as we raised hope that solution to unemployment is not through drug abuse and violence but education and decent work.