Rasheed Kashamu
My legislative agenda is centred on youth empowerment, ICT, Micro, Small & Medium Enterprises. Our people are very industrious and are predominantly into agriculture, timbering and cow skin businesses. I intend to see how we can help them to improve their businesses through strategic and constructive legislations. I also intend to see how to champion legislations that will make our traditional rulers part of the local security arrangements”.
What motivated you into joining politics?
“I grew up seeing my late father living for others and then he ventured into politics. So, I learnt from him that politics and governance give one a formal and bigger canvass or platform to touch many lives through the various policies and programmes that are churned out daily”.
And how has the journey been?
“The journey has really been good but not without the usual intrigues, twists and turns. But in all, I have been particularly fortunate to have a father who impacted lives in our community, state and even beyond. So, I have had the tremendous benefit of drawing from his enormous goodwill”.
How do you intend to sustain the lofty legacies left by your late father, Senator Buruji Kashamu of blessed memory?
“That’s a herculean task without a doubt but if you ask our people back home in Ijebu, they will tell you some of the modest things that my siblings and I have been doing to sustain the legacies of our late father in terms of philanthropy, service and impact”.
“It is one of the reasons that informed my joining politics and running for political office. That was why the theme of my campaign was ‘Legacy’. My other siblings are doing other things to sustain the legacies of our late father.”
I Want To Fill A Vacuum In My Community – Rukayat Shittu
The 26-year-old Kwara State House of Assembly member-elect, Rukayat Shittu says her desire to fill a vacuum in the society inspired her to vie for the parliamentary election.
Speaking exclusively with LEADERSHIP in Ilorin yesterday, Shittu said:”I was inspired to run because I saw a vacuum in the society that needs to be filled and having served as Senate President at the Congress of NOUN Students at the National Open University of Nigeria (NOUN) and having been groomed by Kwara Must Change, I believe I have the capacity to fill the vacuum and bridge the gap between the older and younger generations.
“As young people, we don’t have to be outside and throw stone inside. We can’t continue to be condemning what we don’t understand; we should get in and learn. Going into politics was a learning adventure for me and I have been blessed to embark on the journey.”
The lawmaker-elect said she would focus attention on delivering on four key areas for her constituents: “I will strive to give my constituents adequate representation, through participatory engagement. I shall carry out effective legislative advancement of bills and motions to address issues of importance to the society. I will engage in executive oversight to ensure projects are adequately executed through a transparent and accountable manner and I will carry out consistent constituency outreach to support our people with empowerment and facilitation of projects.”
Shittu, an online reporter who contested the parliamentary election under the banner of the All Progressives Congress (APC), was declared winner of the seat of Owode/Onire constituency in Asa local government area of the state, having scored 7,521 votes to defeat the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Abdullah Magaji, who polled 6,957.
The elated house of assembly member-elect said she felt privileged to be pronounced winner of the election in Owode/Onire constituency.
She expressed her gratitude to the APC leadership in the state and the electorate for giving her what she described as a rare opportunity.
Muhammad Adamu Oyanki
Muhammad Adamu Oyanki has been declared the winner of the State House of Assembly election for Doma North Constituency on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
Oyanki defeated an incumbent state lawmaker, Musa Ibrahim, in one of the upsets in the just-concluded Governorship and State House of Assembly Election in the state, to emerge victorious.
At the age of 25, he would be the youngest legislator in the 7th Nasarawa State House of Assembly in the coming weeks.
Oyanki was born on 21st of June, 1997 in Doma, the headquarters of Doma local government area of Nasarawa State.
He attended Nigeria/Ghana international school for his secondary education and Nile University, a prestigious private multidisciplinary institution located in Nigeria’s capital city, Abuja, for his first and second degrees respectively.
Oyanki holds a bachelor degree in computer science and an MBA in Project Management.
In an interview with LEADERSHIP via phone yesterday, he said he became interested in politics right from his secondary school days when he was made the hostel prefect.
“The need to be responsible for others and be there for them gives me immense satisfaction,” he said.
According to him, during his university days, he was the vice president of the students’ representative council and rose to become the president of the council later. He said he is the current president of the Nile University Alumni.
Oyanki told our correspondent that time is ripe for the youths to take over the leadership of the country, even as he urged them to take more interest in politics..
“Political leadership affords young people with the passion to serve the country the opportunity to entrench progressive change in the system.
“You need to first of all believe in the country itself, and that effecting a positive and progressive change where everything works is possible,” he explained.
Oyanki intends to initiate bills on the right of youths to education, basic healthcare services and other incentives that enhance their standard of living.
He also expressed concern about rising insecurity, especially herders/farmers clashes in his home local government area of Doma.
“A bill to set up a ranch and grazing area for herders will go a long way in checking the menace,” he said.
