Choice of Kwara APC Governorship Candidate Will Be Rigorous, Transparent – Minister

The Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, has said
the choice of the APC Governorship candidate for Kwara state will be
made through a rigorous and transparent process, as the party is set
to win the state’s governorship election in 2019

The Minister, who is the leader of the APC in Kwara State, stated this
in Ilorin on Wednesday, at a parley organized for the APC governorship
aspirants in the state to present their vision and mission for the
state.

He described as unprecedented the parley that saw 12 of the 13
governorship aspirants under the auspices of the APC present their
manifestos to the state APC stakeholders at a well-attended and
well-organised session in the state capital.

”This parley is one of a kind, perhaps unprecedented in the history
of our dear state. It signposts our determination to conduct a
transparent and hitch-free primaries, to do things differently from
the past so that we can move our state forward and raise the living
standards of our people. After all, governance is all about the
people,” Alhaji Mohammed said.

He said all eyes are on Kwara State because of the level of interest
that has been shown in the governorship ticket of the APC in the state
and the fact that the party is set to occupy the seat of power in the
state in 2019.

The Minister said the parley will go down in history as the first time
any political party in Kwara State will be organising such a forum as
a platform to analyze the vision and mission of its aspirants.

Explaining the process, he said each aspirant was required to present
his vision and mission to party stakeholders, in an open, transparent
and organized manner.

”If you become the Governor of Kwara State under the APC flag, what
can the long-suffering people of our dear state expect from you? How
do you intend to ensure that the government serves the people rather
than just one man? How can what has become a one-man rule be
transmuted to majority rule for the betterment of the people? The
answers to these and other questions will give us an insight into your
plan of action for the state,” Alhaji Mohammed said

He said there is no favoured candidate among the governorship
aspirants, adding: ”We have not and do not intend to predetermine who
our candidate will be. Whoever emerges will do so through a rigorous,
transparent process. So let’s all keep an open mind.”

In his remarks, the Caretaker Chairman of Kwara APC, Hon. Bashir
Bolarinwa, said the parley marked a radical departure from the past
when past chief executives of the state were determined by just one
man.

“You will agree with me that we are today laying a foundation that
will become a benchmark in assessing the future chief executives of
Kwara State. As you are aware, this is a clear departure from the ‘Mo
fun e’ (I gave you) hegemonic system that has only succeeded in
producing governors that are not only disconnected from the people but
exhibit unbridled loyalty to a single man because of how they got to
office,” he said.

The aspirants who made presentations at the forum included Oba
Abdulraheem; Dele Belgore (SAN); Saliu Mustapha; Ishaq Modibbo Kawu;
Tajudeen Audu, Yakubu Gobir; Lukman Mustapha and Moshood Mustapha.

Others were Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq; Abdulfatah Yahaya Sarki;  Shuaibu
Yaman and Hakeem Lawal.