From Olanrewaju Lawal, Birnin Kebbi
The gubernatorial candidate of the peoples Redemption Party(PRP), Alhaji Abubakar Udu Idris, has rejected the plead by the governorship candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party(PDP)General(rtd) Aminu Bande that he should ‘collaborate’ with him ahead of the 2023 general elections.
Idris made the rejection in Birnin Kebbi, during a one day public forum on policy document unveiling, organised by the Kebbi state Civil Society Forum(KECSOF) tagged; “Covenant with citizens”.
Bande, ,while responding to questions from participants, had proposed to PRP and SDP governorship candidates present at the public forum, to team up with him and promised them that, they would be included in his government and given important positions, if elected as the Governor of the state.
According to Bande,” I want my brother here, whom I apologised to for not reaching out to him earlier , to confuse him not to come out to contest. You should now collaborate with me and if we get elected, you shall be part of our government where you shall help us to reform civil service base on your experience “.
While responding, PRP Governorship candidate, Idris, rejected the call, stressed that his party, is the only oldest political party in Nigeria without godfather and was formed with ideology to rescue Nigeria .
He said: ” at this point, my party could not marge with any political party. Because we are the oldest political party in Nigeria without godfather or, a group of co- founders. Our party is about the people and we have ideology which is quite different from other parties”, he said.
Idris also explained that, in the first 100 days of his government if elected as governor of Kebbi state, he will restored good governance in Kebbi state.
” After restoring governance in the state, will shall revived the state civil service, which is in a comatose state due nepotism, favoritism and stagnation due to lack of professionals, absence of core professionals in the service. Because without the right persons at the right places, there will be no productivity”.
He noted that, the best way to fight poverty is to give local governments autonomy and monitor their financial dealings, revive moribund industries to create jobs, create skills acquisitions centers for youths and the girl-child to discourage teenage girls street hawking, empower their parents with revolving loans for them, to allow them to go to schools after knowing what they could make in a month from streets hawking.
In his remarks, General(rtd,) Aminu Bande, the PDP guber candidate, in his presentations, told the audience that, if elected as the governor of the state, he will bring his military experience to ensure security of lives and property.
He also assured that his government would give the local governments financial autonomy stressed that, poverty and crime are correlated, adding that, fighting insecurity with endemic poverty will be of no effect.
Bands, pledged to fight corruption and ensure even distributions of state resources for progress and developments in the state.
In his contributions, Social Democratic Party gubernatorial candidate, Alhaji Atiku Maiahu, in his presentation, promised to fully integrated the youth into his government.
He explained that, his government will allow independence in the activities of the arm of government including ministries and agencies to ensure productivity, adding that, his administration would focus on the security, education and agriculture if elected into office.