
The Kwara State Chapter of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) has expressed disappointment with the Senate President, Dr. Ahmed Lawan over his blanket commendation for the State Governor, Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq on his performance in the last 32 months while describing his understanding of what constitutes good governance as “too low, warped, pedestrian and archaic”.
In a statement signed by the Publicity Secretary, Tunde Ashaolu, queried Lawan to explain what informed his judgment that Abdulrazaq has performed well when he did not inspect any completed or ongoing project embarked upon by the Kwara State Government nor any policy initiative of the government.
“Maybe other considerations except for concrete and verifiable policy, Programme or project informed the opinion of the Senator from Yobe North, it is strange for a politician of his caliber to make such a blanket statement. The Senate President is simply promoting mediocrity and that says something about his integrity as a politician.
“It must be that the Senate President has a low sense of appreciation and understanding of good governance or efficient service delivery by the executive arm of government to the people. He spoke like a man with a low standard and he shouldn’t equate the low standard in his state to that of Kwara. The Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq administration must be rejoicing that they were able to easily pull the wool over the face of the Senator. The Senate President did not come out better than a local government chairman in his judgment as expressed in his statement on Saturday.
“Kwarans will disagree that the current government under whom the education sector, health services, infrastructure, urban sanitation, rural and community development, and welfare of civil servants have all collapsed and in a poor state is doing well.
“Except he will invite the number three man to Commission the patching of potholes on roads and the plastering on school buildings that the government-funded at exorbitantly inflated costs, Abdulrahman has nothing to show for the huge allocation from the federal government, the improved internally generated revenue made possible by his predecessors, the huge funds from intervention agencies and the money that the COVID-19 period brought into the state.
“Abdulrazaq is not only the least educated governor that Kwara State ever has, but he is also disorganised and weird in his style of governance. There must be something wrong if Lawan who has been in the National Assembly for almost 23 years believes it is good governance to have a governor who does not hold executive council meetings and runs government through WhatsApp. Something is wrong with Lawan’s sense of judgment and standard of service delivery in governance.
“This same governor refused to implement the National Minimum Wage Act passed by the National Assembly and assented to by the President until two weeks ago when he introduced a haphazard system in which many categories of workers were short-changed. He has equally disorganised his party and remains clueless while security threats that are consuming the neighbouring Niger State are spreading to Kwara without taking any measure to stem it.
“To further educate the Senate President, we will inform him that if he chooses to know, he can be taken on a tour to verify 200 solid projects initiated by the Saraki and Ahmed administrations in their 16 years in office. We will just mention four of such projects that he saw but refused to acknowledge as he drove into Kwara State from the airport last Saturday. First, the Ilorin Airport where he landed had been abandoned and was not in use when Dr. Abubakar Bukola Saraki, Lawan’s predecessor as Senate President, became governor. His administration undertook the reconstruction and also made special arrangements with Overland Airline to operate daily flights to and from Ilorin. It was part of the Urban renewal and reawakening of commercial activities in the state. The administration however got a refund from the Federal Government. The Saraki government built the Cargo terminal which was to be used for the export of agricultural products as well as the Kwara Aviation College through which many pilots had been trained for Nigerian airlines. The Geri Alimi to Eyenkorin road the road on which Lawan drove from the airport into town used to be one narrow road until the Saraki administration dualized it. The Ahmed administration also built the Geri-Alimi diamond underpass along the same road. The flyover at the Post Office Road has also been constructed by the Saraki administration. However, since Senator Lawan was not interested in facts but sheer political sentiments, he did not see all these projects and if he saw them, he did not bother to ask relevant questions.
“Also, last month, Borno Governor, Babagana Zulu visited Kwara State University, Malete, and was praising Abdulrazaq for the quality of facility in the institution. It was embarrassing for the Kwara State Governor because the praise was meant for the Saraki administration which established the university and provided all the enduring facilities there. The Abdulrazaq administration has not as much added a single brick to the school.
“We can tell Lawan and his ilk more. However, we will stop here since we know people like him are only interested in politics. Development does not matter to them. A man occupying a high office like Lawan should rise above petty politics. He should be a statesman not a common third-rate, provincial politician”, the PDP stated.