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How do you intend to win election in a state practically controlled by a dynasty?

We intend to win
the election simply by connecting with the people of the state. The
people are yearning for positive change. They want an improvement in
their lives; they want restoration of their dignity as Kwara people.
They want economic, social and political liberation from a hegemonic
few; so these are the things people are yearning for and these are the
areas we are connecting with people and these are the basis upon which
we will win the election.

You work and reside in Lagos, how connected are you with the common man in Patigi or Shonga?

Well, most of my
life has been in Kwara State. I went to secondary school in IIorin and
even after secondary school, I spent my holidays in Ilorin. A lot of my
childhood and personal friends and family all live in Kwara State.
Don’t forget that my father worked as the Solicitor-General and
Commissioner for Justice, so I am very in touch with people.

What strategies do you have to counter the massive followership of the Saraki dynasty?

Election is about
the true test of the popularity of people and in a free and fair
election, we (the Action Congress of Nigeria, ACN) will clearly dispute
that assertion of the Saraki’s supposed multitude supporters. What we
have is a situation whereby we are offering the people what they should
be getting all these years. We are offering them free qualitative
education, free medical services to a certain class. We are giving
people the opportunity to earn a living and giving them the power to
believe in themselves to uplift themselves economically because this is
the key. If you take out electoral malpractices (a lot of which we have
discovered in past elections) and then take out the use of state
instrumentalities of suppression and bribery, the Saraki factor is
nothing in Kwara politics.

How will you assess the eight years of Bukola Saraki’s administration?

I will say it’s not
good enough. The last eight years of Bukola Saraki has not done enough
to give the people of Kwara what they need, what they deserve and what
is their right. He is one of the better PDP governors but he is only
better amongst a very, very bad lot. In terms of overall achievement I
won’t score him high at all.

Do you think the split between brother and sister will be in your favour?

Split or no split
between them has absolutely no concern for me. I am concerned with
delivering to the generality of the people of Kwara. It is what the
Kwara people need at this time that we are concerned with, not what
happens between a brother and a sister or a father and a son.

What are your economic plans for the state popularly referred to as a civil service state?

There are certain
disadvantaged areas in the state. The first thing that we will do is
bring in some activities by establishing some government presence
because at the moment the government is still the largest benefactor in
any society. So we’ll bring government presence to generate some
micro-effect and to create jobs and a few more bread winners and that
will begin to give a boost. We already have a proposal in contemplation
where we will set-up some high employment generating activity in each
of the three senatorial zones and we will do this within the first six
months. That creates employment; which is the key to boost morale. As
more people have jobs then we’ll have the trickle-down effect which
then enables the government to plan its activities because in the short
term, people are seeing things and earning income.

One of the touted projects of the outgoing administration is the Shonga farms. What will your policy be on the project?

The jury is still
out on Shonga farms. Any agricultural policy must have three things for
it to be successful in my view. One, it must boost food production for
the people of the state. Two, it’s got to create employment and three,
generate revenue for the state. Those are the three criteria on which
any agricultural policy must be judged and the Shonga farms fails
woefully on all three. It is a total waste of money. Foreign investment
as I understand it, is that the foreigner brings in the investment and
that is not the case with Shonga farms.

What they’ve done
is that they pay them (the Zimbabwean white farmers) to come and then
we are paying them to repatriate proceeds of the investment. That is
not foreign investments and it defeats the essence of the agricultural
policy. The produce of Shonga farms are not available for the benefit
of the local community. Till date the government has not given a proper
account of how much revenue has been earned from the Shonga farms since
its inception.

So what will you do with Shonga farm when you become governor of Kwara State?

We will certainly
have a good look at it. It will be foolish of me to say we will abolish
it or discontinue all together. We will not throw away the baby with
the bath water. In other words if the project can be salvaged to make
it genuinely meaningful and beneficial to the state and its people, we
will look for ways of salvaging it and that must be the first priority
because a lot of money has gone into it and we won’t want to waste
that. But if it turns that it is just a total drain on the state’s
resources and it is something that is bad for the morale of the people
then we may just have to cut our losses. But then again, it will be
subject to a thorough review.

What is the crux of your Kwara content policy?

Kwara content
policy is our initiative to ensure that government patronage would
first be given to Kwara people to enhance employment generation. In
other words when there are big projects to be executed by the state
government we will look for capacity from Kwara people.

When there is no
capacity the contractor that gets the project will be conditioned to
employ local people and must set about a credible programme where our
local people must be trained to transfer technology which will
ultimately generate such capacity in the state. All contracts will be
made public, so local labour, skilled and unskilled, can show interest.
There is nothing new to this scheme; it’s akin to the local content
policy in the oil and gas industry. That is one of major ways we
believe we can develop local capacity because as long as certain
calibre of jobs necessarily go to certain people because there is no
local capacity, we will never develop our local capacity.

Given the ethnic politics between Offa and Ilorin, aren’t you at a disadvantage as an Ilorin indigene?

At this point in
time, what Kwara needs is not where anybody is from, it is who will
salvage the state and take it to the next level, giving it a giant leap
in its development. It’s a fair and sensible argument and I respect
people who make it because there is a sense of fairness and equity in
it, but we have got to look at the circumstance of the state. What
Kwara needs is proper economic development at this time. Though being a
state since 1967, Kwara State has not truly developed to its potential.

Kwara need not be a
civil-servant state. So what people are looking at is who can propel
its growth and I think it is secondary nature where anybody comes from
at this time.

What’s your
take on the controversy over your emergence as ACN’s candidate with
support from Lagos and the party’s lack of internal democracy?

There is nothing
that says I as an individual cannot aspire to an office and secondly
there is nothing that says anybody that wants to support me, should
not. The questions we should ask is, did I go through the right
process? Yes I came into the party on the back of strong support from
almost everybody in the ACN simply because the party has certain
attributes they want in their candidates and immediately I expressed
that interest they saw that this could be a good guy. But unlike you
have in other parties there was never any time we said there will be no
primaries in Kwara, or which the rules were changed for me, nor were
any candidates forced to step down. What happened was that immediately
we got into the race, we attracted massive support from the general
public and that was the ground swell that we took to the primaries. A
few people who clearly will leave the party if they didn’t get their
way, left at the end of the primaries but the party remains very
strong. My message to those few who have left is always that, we still
want them back and that we will welcome them with open arms.

Why do you want to sacrifice a successful career for the murky waters of Nigerian politics?

Because the
country needs it. We all have to get out of our comfort zones. It is
not enough for us to be comfortable. For example, look at what is
happening now in Lagos where kidnapping is growing to be a norm. This
thing started four, five years ago in the Niger Delta and nobody spoke
up because it wasn’t a major concern for us here. We can’t just sit in
our comfort zone and not be concerned with what is going on. We have to
see what is going on in the states and country has a challenge and we
have all got to come out and salvage it. For me, leadership is about
sacrifice, it’s not about personal gain or aggrandisement. It’s not
about seeking attention; it is about trying to make things better than
the way you have found it and that’s why am in this race.

How are you financing your campaigns?

I have realised
it’s a very expensive business and it is particularly expensive in
Kwara State given the fact that money has been the determining factor
all these years, but this is where one draws on the goodwill that has
been built over the years and this has increased the number of people
who supported our course, who believe that Kwara cannot go on
continuing in the current condition that it is. There must be change
and from these people we get support financially, logistically and so
on but I do agree that it’s a big money venture and we are giving it
all we’ve got.