How I’ll touch my people’s lives — Kwara Accord gov candidate

Accord Party governorship candidate in Kwara State in the coming elections, Prince Ayorinde Adedoyin, in this interview by BIOLA AZEEZ, speaks on his plan for the state if he eventually wins the election.

 

What informs your decision to join the political fray?

I have been playing politics for sometimes underground. I have sponsored so many people, both in Lagos and Kwara and in some other states. And you become an influencer when you want people to work for you directly or indirectly, especially to push your cause like in industry, maritime and others like that. So, I cannot say I am new in Nigerian politics as we have been in politics all our lives. It is just that while some are doing it privately, some are in the public. Running a home, you have to be a very good politician. Even moving around with friends and colleagues, you have to be a very good politician.

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There are so many things that informed my decision to want to contest the governorship election.  One, you realise that in Nigeria and all over the world, the people that determine what happens to you, are those ones in the political space. You can sit in your home and say you don’t care but they determine what you use, even in terms of electricity and water. Their policies affect your own business, monetary aspect and even taxation. So, don’t you think that it is better that you too get involved? Because people who are doing it now don’t even understand what this is all about.

 

What has been the level of your acceptance by the public?

When we started, we were seen as one of those political parties. We were not even considered a party. Later, they started calling us social media politicians and later they pushed us to Igbomina party. And now, when they saw what we have done in Kwara Central Senatorial District, we are now seen as PDP, APC and the other parties. After December 25, 2018, we became the minor party that now gives the major party the headache. That means we have tried our best within the shortest possible time.

 

Can you give an insight into what you have done and what you intend to do?

One of the things that we want to do is to look at what actually affects people’s life, be it renovation of school, water and we have started talking to people. We realised that water is a major problem in Kwara State. We thank God for giving us the grace; in terms of repair or digging a new borehole, we have done more than 172 boreholes across the 16 local government areas of Kwara State. For that alone, I think we have done very well.

And also in some cases, it depends on what people bring and how we evaluate how important it is. We did electricity project somewhere in Moro Local Government Area, where they didn’t have light for almost seven months. We were able to restore power to that place. We have also touched schools like renovation and in some cases, we have helped pay salaries of teachers in schools.

 

You recently raised an alarm over an impending danger about youths. How do you mean?

We have to be realistic about what is to come, based on what is happening right now. I watched a BBC footage which talked about drug issue in our society. And I was shocked when they pointed to Kwara State as one of the main sources of supply. I tried to find out what is going on. We were shouting cultism before in the state as a big problem. But the main problem we have in Kwara, as at today, among the youths is drug abuse. If something is not done quickly, you can’t stop crime when the demand for drug is so high. But how can you stop that when you have a health system that is totally run down? We have four general hospitals or so and nothing is happening. I think it is about time we either encouraged the possibility of setting up something like rehab that can take care of this. Soon, I hope you won’t hear one boy or girl shoot the mother. It is getting that bad. We can pretend that it is not here but until it gets so close to us, when the damage comes, that is when people will now start talking. But based on the information I have, it is getting toward that now and something serious really need to be done.

 

If you become the governor, which of the identified challenges would you first tackle? 

I would still go back to what I’m doing first, because that is a more of priority to me. That is provision of potable water. It is a key thing. We can talk about agriculture, health. If we don’t have water, the two can’t work. Let me give you another example. If government decides today that they want to build mechanised boreholes in all 193 wards in Kwara State and pipe them, you have an IGR of about N1.9billion every month. If that can be done, one of the major problems is almost solved. Do we really need to dig that? We can repair most of these boreholes. If it is not for greed, I think local governments, even based on what they said they are receiving now, should be able to maintain the boreholes within the local government areas.

And we now look at health system. If you drink water, and you have issues, you will go to the hospital. The stress level in Kwara now, most of the time, you need to go and see your doctor. When they are not even available, what do you do? Most of the hospitals in Kwara today, I don’t want to say they are bad but that is the truth as at where we are today.

The truth is that Kwara people are not asking for too much. They are just asking for the basics, and it is not like we can’t afford the basics. How can a government say you are budgeting about N180billion a year for running cost, recurrent and capital. Now, you said you pay N2.2billion as salary every month, how is that possible? If that is so, why do you have to go and contract out most of the jobs you do.

 

Looking at your own credentials, what do you think make you the most qualified among other candidates?

What I will say is that I know what I can do. I know about two or three of the candidates. I don’t know all of them, and it would be wrong for me to judge and say I’m better than this person. Let me say that governance is not all about me alone. Governance is about group of people coming together to run the venture. I’m the one to lead but don’t let me lie to you, most of the work may end up being done by the people, who are with me.

But I will make sure I have some of the best of people, who have knowledge of what we need. We pool them together to form a government that can change the way we live in Kwara State by making sure that right things are done at the right time. So, I would not tell you that I am the best.