What INEC must do to give Kogi credible poll —Dep gov candidate

Honourable Aro Bamidele is deputy governorship candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the November 16 election in Kogi State. He speaks on how his party intends to change the story of Kogi from a debtor to a wealthy state with SANYA ADEJOKUN.

The governorship election is just days away. Are you feeling the fever already?

We are grateful to God that He started the process. People thought the journey would not be easy, but I am grateful that God has been with us and when you have God, you have the majority and I can confidently confirm to you that my father in heaven who started it will bring it to perfect completion. I want to tell you that victory is on our. You will come to celebrate with us.

 

What is the basis of your confidence?

I am sure of what I am doing. I am a politician. I was in the Sixth National Assembly. I ran in an election and I know what it takes to win. I have equally lost an election. So, I know what it takes to lose. One thing you need to understand is that there are so many variables you put on the table when you are going into an election.

One, you have to look at the environment. Is the environment conducive? And you have to look at what is the mindset of the society. I want to tell you that in this particular situation, every Kogi person and even Nigerians in general have made up their minds. They are tired of the Yahya Bello-led government. Bello’s government has failed and everybody knows that he has not performed. Everybody knows that Bello has thrown Kogi State into debt, humongous debt that if not carefully managed, generations upon generations to come will continue to pay. In this type of situation, all you need to do is to bring people on board that have what it takes to salvage the situation and that is why PDP as a party decided to bring its first 11. PDP, as a party, decided to bring the person of Mr Musa Wada who retired from the Nigeria Ports Authority (NPA) as managing director of one of the subsidiaries.

That he was managing director of a NPA subsidiary confirms that he is a manager of human and material resources and he has the resume to pilot a difficult situation in which Kogi State has found itself.

I equally want to tell you that I will be joining him to find solutions to the problems of Kogi State. I have been in business for over 20 years. So, we have what it takes. Don’t also forget that the confidence is coming from the fact that we have the people with us and when you have the people, you have God with you. The people of Kogi State have rejected Bello. Are you telling me now that civil servants that have not been paid their salaries for 44 months, or pensioners that have not been paid, that don’t have money to buy drugs to sustain themselves will go and vote for Bello? Are you telling me that farmers that cannot go to farms because of insecurity and kidnapping will vote for Bello? Are you telling me that traders whose turnover has plummeted to zero and are not able to make any profit will vote for Bello? The name, Yahya Bello, is synonymous with failure. Those are where I am getting my confidence from.

Although the November 6 governorship election is partisan and among political parties, it is primarily an election between Bello as a person and Kogi people.

 

Bello is said to be close to Aso Rock. Don’t you think that he will ride on the popularity of President Muhammadu Buhari to win the election?

Is the Presidency greater than God? I am telling you that I have God with me and you are talking about Presidency.

 

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) is expressing worry about possible outbreak of violence. Are you not also worried about violence?

Let me tell you, Bello was able to do what he did in the last election, but I want to tell you that the people of Kogi are determined this time round. They are determined and ready to protect their votes.

In terms of violence, I am calling on the Inspector General of Police (IGP) to do the needful. I am calling on the Director-General of the Department of State Services (DSS), National Intelligence Agency (NIA) and every governmental security agency to beam their searchlight on Kogi State. I am equally calling on the IGP to give an order to restrain former aide de camp of Governor Bello to leave Kogi State. He has been redeployed out of Kogi State. What he is still doing in the state is a mystery. I urge the IGP to ensure that the man leaves the state immediately.

I equally want to tell you that the people of Kogi are determined to do the needful. If they think they want to rain violence on the people 0f Kogi, people will rise up to reject their violence.

 

Are you then assuring that PDP will not be involved in violence?

We are law-abiding citizens. PDP has been ruling Kogi. We have been having elections in Kogi. For you to know that PDP as a party does not believe in violence and we don’t encourage thuggery, former governor of the state, Captain Idris Wada, was the one that disbanded thugs in Kogi State. He publicly declared that as a governor, he would not arm anybody just to win election and if as a politician since he would not arm his own child with a gun, he would not give guns to other youths to fight for him. I, therefore, want to dissociate PDP from thuggery and I call upon the IGP  and other security chiefs to do the needful on election day.

 

You accuse Governor Bello of owing salaries and pensions, but the government said it has paid. What is going on?

How can you tell me that government is not owing salaries when someone just called me to complain that she was being owed 44 months arrears of salaries? The governor collected N20 billion and another N30.8 billion but squandered it all. Do you know that Bello does not have any single infrastructural project ongoing in the whole of the state? He went to Kabba town last week to inaugurate a road that does not exist. He was commissioning a road at 3:00 a.m. How can you be governor of a state who is contesting election but cannot visit local governments to campaign? How can you be governor of a state and be moving in your own state and missing your way?

To know how terribly inefficient he is, he was going to one particular community called Alu in my federal constituency recently to attend a function and he missed his way. He was already in Ekiti State when they redirected him through GSM. Imagine the governor of a state that has ruled for three years and cannot locate a community in his own state.

We, as a government, come January 2020, will pay salaries of workers. We are going to pay pensioners and the welfare of civil servants and the people in general will be our major duty. It is ordinarily an anomaly for any employer to boast that he is paying salaries, because it should be taken for granted.

 

Aside paying salaries and pension of workers and retirees, what are your plans for the people of Kogi State?

The first thing we are going to do is to work on the education system. Whether you talk about security, agriculture, health or whatever, every sector of life has its root in education. Knowledge must go into people and this knowledge will permeate people in different areas. If you want to be an engineer, you must start to acquire knowledge. If you want to be a medical doctor, you will first go to school. We will try to redefine education. We will do that by making sure that we guarantee conducive environment where people can learn and have what it takes to develop themselves for their future.

We will equally make sure that we pay salaries promptly and we will give scholarships. We will then move from there to train people in the areas of their individual interests.

We will embark on mechanised farming. We will do a lot of things, including touching the health sector. We will use every available means to ensure that hospitals are working. We will put all the needed human resources in place. We will also go into areas that other governments have not harnessed. Kogi is a state that is full of potential. We will try to generate more income for the state through tourism.

And let me promise that we will not be a government of excuses. We will not tell the people of Kogi that we were not able to fulfill our promises because Bello left a lot of debt. We are already aware that Bello is owing money. All we would do is look at what is on ground, look at how to generate money to do what we are supposed to do. We know what we want to do. We have a covenant with the people that we are going to perform. We have a covenant with the people that we are going to do new things.

In Kogi, we can decide to go into tourism by making the place beautiful and bringing in investors. We can even go into irrigation farming and fishery. We are also going to work on the waterways. We will venture into water transport.

Kogi State government can generate a lot of money from water transportation. For example, we may decide to put ferryboats on the river as means of commercial transportation for those travelling to the Eastern parts of the country but are wary of insecurity along the highways. It will take just about two or three hours from Muritala Bridge, from Shintako to get to Agenebode or Onitsha. We are going to explore all these to generate income. So, we know what we want to do and we are ready for it.

 

All these things you mentioned will cost money. Where will the money come from?

We will go into partnership with private sector investors. For you to know that we are serious, the first thing we are going to do is to develop short, medium and long-term plans for the transformation of the state. All these goals cannot be achieved in four or eight years. Lagos State, for instance, did not start its journey yesterday to be where it is today. Somebody started by drawing the plan and I want to assure you that one of the first things we will do after taking office is to do a road map for the state. We will not plan the state’s development based on our time in office. We will draw a plan for between 20 to 30 years so that the master plan of what we want Kogi State to look like, of how we are going to solve the problem of Kogi, of how to improve the living standards of the people will be put in a roadmap, such that even if subsequent governments come and they want to move the state ahead, they will follow the roadmap because we are going to do something unique and genuine.

 

Talk is cheap and politicians make promises. How will the people hold you to your words?

I am making these promises on my own honour. I am saying all that I have said on my own honour. And I have a personal track record. My principal also has a track record. Why do you think that people are trooping out to welcome us wherever we go? Have you watched some of our rallies? Do you see what is happening everywhere? I was in the Sixth National Assembly representing a federal constituency. We have 34 wards in that federal constituency and if you go there today, you will still see the projects that were executed during my time in the Assembly.

So, my people know me and I know them. My people trust me and I trust them. They believe in me. My word is my bond. And don’t forget that the people of Kogi know what to do. You cannot deceive them and go scot-free. If we tell people we will pay salaries, if we tell people we are going to perform, if we tell people we are going to do things differently from Bello but we fail, four years is just ahead when we will be kicked out and we are aware of that. That is why I said that we are not going to give excuses for failure. We will not use Bello’s failure as excuse for our own failure. We already know that he created problems, but we are ready to solve the problems.

 

Are you sure that fear of violence would  not prevent people from coming out to vote on November 6?

We have educated our people and they are aware that their lives are not in the hands of Bello. This is the fight of their lives. November 6 is their day of liberation. They are aware that their lives were not created by Bello and they are aware that he cannot take their lives. It is only a situation where people are not determined that they will be cowed into not coming out to vote. November 16 is not only an election day, but also a day of liberation in Kogi and I pray the law enforcement agencies will do the needful, because when people want to liberate themselves but the constituted authority refuses to do what is right, it might lead to revolution. I am calling on the law enforcement agencies to do the needful so that Kogi people will not be pushed to the wall and begin a revolution.