Kwara APC Guber Candidate, SYD Meets Journalists, Roll Out Agenda

The speaker of the Kwara State House of Assembly and gubernatorial candidate of the ruling All Progressives Congress(APC), Engr. Yakubu Danladi- Salihu recently had a parley with the members of the Correspondents Chapel of the state Council of the Nigeria Union of Journalists( NUJ), where he rolled out his academic credentials and his agenda for the people of the state. He was accompanied by the APC deputy governorship candidate, Hon. Seun Ogunniyi Adato. Excerpts:

​I am from Aliyu Suro Aliyu family, the son of Alhaji Salihu Aliyu from Kwara. I’m from a royal house. I started from an humble beginning. I attended Baruten Local Government Education Authority Primary School, Gwanara. From there, I proceeded to Government Secondary School, Gwanara, where I started my JSS 1-3. From there, I proceeded to St. Anthony Secondary School, Ilorin.

​I proceeded to Kaduna Polytechnic, where I studied Electrical Engineering, National Diploma. After my National Diploma, I got admission for HND in Electrical Engineering, Power System option. After my HND, I proceeded for NYSC at the National Water Resources Institute, Kaduna.

​ After the NYSC of a thing, I proceeded for my degree again in Electrical Engineering at Federal University of Technology, Minna. I worked briefly with Federal University of Technology, Minna.

​After I resigned from the Federal University of Technology, Minna, the people of Ilesha Gwanara State Constituency, called me to come and contest for the State Assembly seat. Their intention was, House of Representatives seat is coming to Baruten Local Government because of our zoning between Baruten and Kaiama. Danladi come and contest for House of Representatives. I said no, my capacity is that of House of Assembly, let me stay at the Assembly. We started jokingly.

By His grace, I contested the primaries, God guided me, I won the primary. And after primary, God guided us, and I emerged victorious.

​ In May, 2019, stroke June, before our inauguration, God called. And with the support of the leader of the party, our major stakeholders from Kwara North, Kwara South, Kwara Central under the leadership of Malam AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq, and with the support of the remaining 23 Assembly members, I was, nominated as the speaker of Kwara State House of Assembly on June 11, 2019. And by His grace, God guided us, God guided me, with the support of my colleagues.

They stood by me, that is the 9th Assembly. From 2019 to 2023, we have one of the most peaceful state Assembly in Nigeria. There’s a cordial relationship between the executive and the legislature, between the legislature and the judiciary, and things move smoothly.

​ I can say, most of the projects going on today, we are not new in this administration. Most infrastructural, human capital, whatever this government achieved is with the support of the Kwara State House of Assembly. We do the appropriation.

​The executive do the implementation. So, virtually all projects done in Kwara State, across the 193 wards, 16 local governments, the appropriation comes from the Assembly.

The last time I had an engagement with the BBC, I said I am the most experienced governorship candidate in Kwara State. I have my reasons for saying so. Among all the people contesting for the governorship, there is none that spearheaded the budgeting of the entire state. I spearheaded the budgeting of the entire state for seven years. And in and out, we know every sector. We are not new to what is going on in all sectors of Kwara State today.

Despite being the speaker, I enrolled for an MBA programme in Revenue Management at Kwara State University, Malete, which I successfully completed. I did not stop there, I also went for a Master’s degree in Peace Conflict and Security Studies at Al-Hikmah University, Ilorin. And by His grace, I’m also running my PhD in Al-Hikmah University.

​So, my aim of coming, why people called me, if anyone that know my state constituency and where I come from, there are infrastructural decays in Ilesha Gwanara State Constituency.

When I came on board, most things, virtually all our communities, you will hardly see a potable drinking water. The first thing I did is, how do we solve water problem? How will I solve our water problem in Ilesha Gwanara State constituency as a member representing it, that is my primary constituency, then Baruten Local Government, Kwara North, and the entire state as a speaker. I can say that during my first tenure, I drilled close to 210 boreholes across

Baruten Local Government. And I can tell you, the issue of water in my state constituency is a thing of the past. By His grace. There is no community, there is no settlement in my state constituency where you will not see the project of SYD.

Aside that, we know from Ilesha Gwanara, the 33 km road, we know how we suffered; a journey of 30 minutes, you spend 6 hours during rainy season. During drying seasons, you spend close to four hours. We look at it, that how will I solved the problem of our people?

By His grace, the road now through the partnership of Malam AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq and the budgeting we are doing, the road has been completed, 33 km. If you go to education sector, state intervention are there, personal interventions are there. My personal interventions that I have done in my state constituency and in Baruten Local Government, which we have two honorable members, and my own colleague, Honourable Mohammed Baba has done wonderfully well in that, while as a speaker, I have to assist him in that side to see what do we do to achieve what we needed to, and where we needed to be.

I personally did 28 blocks of classrooms across different communities in Baruten Local Government. If you talk of health or basic health centers, I did 18 basic health centres across my constituency, apart from the ones I used as a speaker to facilitate to my state constituency, to Baruten local government, to Kwara North senatorial district, and Kwara entirely.

During my first tenure as the speaker of Kwara State House of Assembly, we see security as one of the most important priorities .

If there is no peace, there won’t be development. We collaborated with the NSCDC in Baruten to train 300 vigilantes.

I’ve done lot of empowerment programmes for my people. So, that’s why I move freely in Baruten Local Government, in Kwara North. When we came on board, the whole of Kwara North senatorial district, there was no single federal

institution or federal establishment. Apart from police stations, civil defense, military, we didn’t have even the federal primary school.

​We were able to bring Federal Science and Technical college Gwanara. Now you see people from Kebbi, people from Jigawa, people from Lagos in the school today. And the narratives have changed. You see charity begins at home. The school I attended, the primary school that I attended, to the glory of God Almighty, is my dad that established the school. Governor AbdulRazaq has transformed the school to a modern school.
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You see, we have from a rural area. I’m a typical rural person. There is no local government in Kwara State that does not have a rural area. I will tell you since 1999 to date the north senatorial district has not produced a governor. By God’s grace, I’m not just contesting for governorship, by God’s grace, I will be the governor of Kwara State. And I will be the first governor from the typical rural area to be the governor of Kwara State.

I can tell you, Kwara is in safe hands. We know where we are yesterday. We know where we are today. By God’s grace, is God Almighty that know where we are heading tomorrow. Let us believe ive in God, believe in SYD. Believe in SYD/ Adato ticket, believe in APC.

​Adato is a complete gentleman, a very humble and hardworking person. He’s also a legislator, he knows much about budgeting. See, a state you want to govern, you must know the budget.

​So, you must be ready to say this is what I am budgeting, this is what I want to do. Across the 193 wards, there is no ward across 193 wards of Kwara that I have never been to. I have been to all the 193 wards across the state, I have been to the 16 local government through my honorable members empowerment, oversight functions. So we have touched, I know the problem of our people. I know the problem of the rural areas. I know the problem of urban areas.

You see, I attended schools in the rural and urban areas. I stayed in, I grew up in the rural area, I stayed in urban area. So, there is no one that will come and tell me he knows the rural area better than me or he knows the city better than me. You see, when we came, we looked at it that there must be this, rural urban renewal. We have to introduced township roads across the state. With the support of Malam AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq, we nominated some roads.

In our state, every honorable member nominated roads in our state constituencies.

​In my own state constituency, I nominated our Emirate Palace road and Ilesha, there is a road; ring road Bonaboko in my constituency.

In the other constituency, Babaporia, the Emirate roads in Yaskira, there is a road in Okuta, Emirate Palace road down close to the border there has also been tarred. See, there are lot of interventions. Where we are yesterday in Baruten, where we are yesterday in Kwara North, where we are yesterday in Kwara State, things have changed.

If you look at it in terms of our civil servants, which we are part and parcel of, we know what we faced We know, you, the media houses, you know what you’ve heard when a lecturer would turn to a bricklayer, a lecturer will turn to an Okada rider for him to survive. But now it’s a thing of the past. When some people are saying they want to re-secure or rescue Kwara, what are they rescuing Kwara from? Is it from this infrastructural development that is going on to take us backward or we want to move forward? Malam AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq has laid a foundation that none of us, we are as Kwarans, we are not praying to go backward. We will lay on that foundation. President Bola Ahmed Tinubu laid a very good foundation for Lagos. This is what we lack in Kwara. And today, every other governor that come, built on that foundation.

Today, Malam AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq has laid a good foundation, has set the pace for us to build upon . And I am part and parcel of the foundation laid to put on your blocks. It will be easy. By the time we reach to the lintel level, somebody will come and roof, by God’s grace. And Malam AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq has done wonderfully well. We also thank President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, the Jagaban of Borgu . It shows that he’s truly the Jagaban of Borgu . Kwara North has been agitating for governorship.

It’s not that we don’t have competent people. When some people will be talking about competence, capacity, this and that, we have lot of competent people. I am a very young person, very competent, and has the vision and mission to move Kwara to the next destination. I thank the leadership of the national APC for giving us the ticket for the governorship in Kwara North Senatorial District. People of Kwara North are appreciative. I also thank His Royal Highness, the Emir of Ilorin and all our Royal Highnesses and our religious leaders for believing in equity, fairness, and justice. So, it’s a thing of joy that equity, fairness and justice, peace will come down to Kwara. People of Kwara are happy that where there is under development, the governorship has been shifted to that place.
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Yes, people will be saying, can he do something in Kwara central? Ilorin is the state capital. Anybody that is flying in to Kwara must land in Ilorin, there must be development in Ilorin, there must be development in Kwara Central, in Kwara South, and Kwara North. Our internal roads, we know our internal roads, we move around. We have a lot of internal roads, Malam AbdulRahman has done so many through interlocking. We know most of these roads. We are homeboys. We know, I have my own template. These are roads that are going to be done by God’s grace. If you go to the rural areas, we know if the rural areas are developed, food prices will reduce in the urban cities because transportation of our goods will be easier. Our farmers will benefit.

​And again, this urban rural migration will drastically reduce.

​And, we, I want to tell you that we, the SYD/ Adato ticket, we are not contesting for governorship, Inshallah, we’ll be the governor and deputy governor of Kwara.