AbdulRazaq has reneged on all promises —PDP chair

Chief Kola Shittu, a former Commissioner for Works in Kwara State and one-time member of the House of Representatives, is the chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the state. In this interview by BIOLA AZEEZ, he speaks on activities of the state governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq as reagrds his promises before the 2019 elections.

HOW will you assess the performance of Governor AbdulRahman  AbdulRazaq in his first 100 days in office?

The ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) government has not performed well. I have criteria for making my assessment and from this I can say the party has scored 20 per cent. The criteria are based on their promises to the electorate before and during the elections.

They promised to offset the salary arrears of workers within 100 days in office. They promised to offset the salary arrears of local government and SUBEB staff and this has not been done. Secondly, they promised to give agricultural loans to farmers within 100 days, which has not been done. Thirdly, they promised to buy a tractor for each of all the 193 political wards in the state to help their farming needs, which also has not been met. In addition, they promised to construct rural roads within 100 days. This promise to rural dwellers has not been met. They promised massive employment for the youths in the state within 100 days, this is also not yet a reality. The issue of minimum wage promised to workers is also yet to become a reality within the first 100 days, despite the receipt of lots of money from federal allocations and Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) in the state.

It is a surprise that in the 100 days under review, a government has not been formed; no commissioners, no special advisers. That means the State Executive Council (SEC), which is the governing council, is not in place. This is not good enough. Aside all these, the APC government in the state has worked against the constitution by taking certain illegal steps; all the cases are in courts. These included the suspension or dissolution of all the local government councils; the dissolution of the state Local Government Service Commission and other legally constituted commissions like the Kwara State Civil Service Commission, Kwara State Independent Electoral Commission (KWIEC) and the House of Assembly Service Commission. Things like these are not good enough and, based on these, my view is that they have performed woefully and they need to sit tight.

There is an increasing clamour to end the Saraki dynasty in the state. How feasible is this?

Those who are saying this do not know what they are saying and are not educated. In fact, I don’t understand that particular statement. Put an end to the Saraki dynasty, how? The Saraki dynasty is a dynamic dynasty. Members of the dynasty can be in one party today and be in another tomorrow. Are they saying that they want to exterminate the Saraki family or they want to prevent any party Senator Bukola Saraki belongs to from winning elections? I don’t understand what they mean. I am not related to Senator Saraki by blood but I am in the same party with him, so if an end must come to the Saraki dynasty, are they saying they will bring an end to me as well? I realised many people use language that they do not understand its meaning. The truth is that Senator Saraki may lose an election today, he could win another  tomorrow; that is politics and that is the culture. Those who are talking about putting an end to one dynasty or the other are not very educated. All that matters to us is how the masses will enjoy the dividends of democracy and that is paramount.

Having worked closely with Senator Saraki, what are his attributes that endear him to you?

The Dr Saraki that I know is a fantastic human being. I can authoritatively speak about him without fear or favour because when he was the governor of the state, I worked closely with him for four years in his second term. I know the way he reasons and how he puts people in mind. I can boast about it that the man laid the foundation of a new Kwara, whether in terms of infrastructure, economy or commerce and what have you. He is a man of vision and he has tremendous capacity for governance.

How did those attributes help him as the president of the eighth Senate?

That is what played out while he was at the Senate. There is no president of the Senate in the history of this country that was able to manage the Senate for four years without the vast majority supporting him. There is no Senate president that attended plenary as Bukola Saraki did. He is youthful; he has the energy and capacity. As a matter of fact, even his colleagues at the Senate, in their valedictory speeches, commended him. He is very hard-working, visionary and intelligent. If I may add, he has the capacity to lead this country. He is a fantastic human being. Aside from being philanthropic, he has a lot of attributes that you might not see unless you come close to him. He was chairman of the Nigerian Governors’ Forum (NGF) and you saw his leadership role then.

All his attainments were not strange to us; we expected it. This country will do well if it has him as the president. He showed his capability in Kwara: he built a university where and when nobody expected he could. He invested in road networks; renovated sporting arena and the stadium complex. In the health sector, he performed wonderfully well; he brought the health insurance scheme to the state. In agriculture, he started with the Malete integrated Youth Farm and later brought Shonga commercial farmers. If we begin to talk about what this man did and could do, you will be overwhelmed. What this new government needs to do is to build on all that Saraki had done and move on.

Will you accept if you are called upon to render advisory services to Governor AbdulRazak?

Criticising his administration is a form of assistance to the government. We have been advising them with the way we have been talking. Usually, only a vibrant, constructive and critical opposition will do any government some good. People around him will just praise him and possibly mislead him. I said it in some fora before that I don’t know the governor from anywhere but I respect his experience. He is a businessman from the private sector. I am a professional in the private sector and so we have a lot in common. There are ethics in the private sector and he would naturally not want things to go bad but, as I said earlier, his problem will be his advisers. He has to be very careful with the people around him. We will continue to criticise his government constructively and that will be enough to render any advisory services to the governor.

Will you subscribe to the idea of having your party men invited into the governor’s cabinet in the interest of the people?

There is nothing wrong in that. When a party wins an election, the governor is there to govern over all, regardless of political party affiliations and religious inclinations. He is not governing over his party members alone; he is for all. A wise governor will look at every corner where he can get good hands to work with him to actualise his dream for the state. That is the bottom line of good governance for the people to enjoy the dividends of democracy. The result at the end will speak for the governor’s achievements, as no one will ask which person did it from his party or from another party. Success is the goal towards good governance. In short, I support the idea of carrying everyone along in the scheme of things.

As a politician, what is your dream for the people of the state?

I want a peaceful and meaningful life for the people of this state. That is why, in any position that I find myself, I let my work prove what I wish, whether as party chairman or as a commissioner, a position that I have held before. Tomorrow, I may be the governor of Kwara State, a minister of the Federal Republic of even the president of Nigeria, the people of Kwara State must enjoy the dividends of democracy, meaning good education for their children, good food, good shelter and general peace of mind.

What advice do you have for the elite who did not like to participate in politics because they believe it is dirty?

I hear the insinuation that politics is dirty. The truth however is that politics is not dirty; it is the people playing politics that are dirty. My advice to other professionals out there is that if we leave politics to the wrong people, they will attain heights in governance and they will be the ones dictating our fate. Personally, that is why I am still in politics. I have many friends who ask me, ‘what are you doing in politics?’ The best way to approach the challenges in politics is by coming in to sanitise the system. By the time we have a good number of professionals in politics, all these riff-raffs in the system will become marginalised and they will find their levels. That is what happens in the advanced countries; they don’t leave their fate in the hands of riff-raffs to manage. We shall one day reach the Promised Land by doing the same thing in Nigeria. It may be rough at the initial stage, but as time goes on, things shall take the normal shape.