Former member of the House of Representatives and 2019 All Progressives Congress (APC) governorship aspirant in Kwara State, Hon. Mashood Mustapha has said Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq will win the March 18, 2023 governorship election with a landslide.
He said he and other progressives in the state would support AbdulRazaq to emerge victorious at the election, noting that the governor merits a second term because of the giant strides of his administration in all sectors.
Mustapha spoke with newsmen in Ilorin, the state capital on the sidelines of his 60th birthday prayer.
“We are going to support the governor to emerge victorious at the poll. And by the grace of God he will win the election with landslide. After he has completed his second tenure there must be realignment of forces. That is what some of us are advocating,” he stated.
Mustapha added that: “I urge Kwarans to vote for APC, my party in the forthcoming election. I told some Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) friends to come and vote for us.”
He hinted about his intention to retire from active politics, saying that it is time to allow young people to lead while he and the likeminds offer guidance and direction for them.
Mustapha disclosed that part of his plans is to become a community leader and statesman, who will only focus on helping the needy and vulnerable people in the society.
He said : “I think people like us should resign and take the back seats; allow the young ones to take possession. We will guide them and they lead us and we will be able to use what God has given us to help the needy.
“I want to be a community leader. I want to retire to Ilorin. I told my children that in the next 10 years, I don’t want to run around again. At 70, I don’t want to be in Abuja or Lagos. I want to be in Ilorin, sit down, listen to people and try to help them. That is my desire and prayer”.
When asked about his view that politicans above 65 should quit active politics, Mustapha said, “Even judges retire at 65. Civil servants retire at 60. What are we doing? This population is for younger generation. We have younger people more than the older people.
“So, if we continue to remain on board until we die, when would it be their turn? Some of them would be very old. Because if you have longevity of life like 90 and 95 year-old, and the younger ones would be like 75 and 80 year-old, so what remains for them? Let us leave the stage for them.
Let the young men take charge and let us be in the background and watch them. Give them advice and admonish them and it would be a better society. Like we used to say, tomorrow is to the youth and tomorrow has come today.
“I’m going to take a back seat. I want to see how we can actually achieve progress. I want to see what I can add. Apart from being partisan, what I can do as Moshood Mustapha, as somebody God has created from Kwara State and who God has blessed in my own small way that I appreciate a lot from Almighty Allah. What I can do to bring everybody on board so that there will be rancour free exercise in terms of politicking.
“I don’t want a situation where this one will say because I belong to this party, they don’t want to greet themselves”, he noted.
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