Kwara State governorship aspirant under the platform of the People' Democratic Party (PDP), Hon. Isa Bio Ibrahim, a former Minister of Transport and Sports, told The Guardian how he plans to right the wrongs in the 'State of Harmony' if he gets the people's mandate to lead at the 2015 General Elections.

Former Minister of Transport and Sports, Hon. Ibrahim Isa Bio, is a funny man. A meeting with him will leave you with no other impression. He was in his elements recently as he held court with his Campaign Coordinators from all the 16 Local Government Areas in Kwara State in Ilorin.

Using the analogy of his humble beginning to sketch the importance of education, how it has changed his destiny and could be used to change that of millions of Kwarans and Nigerians for good, Bio told his audience who were amused by his sense of humour: "When I was a child, it took the grace of God for children to be educated. Then in Gure, the Emir, will throw Massa (baked rice) and any child that could outrun the others to catch it will be sponsored to school. More than four decades after, many children in Kwara State are still denied education despite our enormous resources and development in areas of technology and other spheres of human endeavor.

"If am elected governor of Kwara State, education will be my major priority. That is why I admire late Chief Obafemi Awolowo and the people of the South West of Nigeria. Chief Awolowo was a visionary leader. He saw the importance of education long before any other person and that was why he made education free and compulsory. This is a legacy that nobody can take away from the Yorubas. If you have education, you have everything. Poverty is low in the South West today because of education. A Yoruba man is a government worker, self-employed, business man or artisan. With education, Awolowo made Yorubas the leaders of Nigeria. I want to emulate him, achieve what he achieved and even surpass it".

Bio recalled that Kwara used to be more educationally advanced than most states in Northern Nigeria. ‘‘ Before now, Kwara was the most educated part of Northern Nigerian. You see Kwarans working in the civil service in Sokoto, Adamawa, Borno, Kaduna, Minna, Bauchi and other parts of Northern Nigeria as expatriates. Today, we are no longer the front runners.

"It is because of this that I am throwing myself up for the job, and if it pleases God, I will make it. We must put God first; we need God-fearing leaders, not commercial leaders. Not leaders who are crazy about private jets. I am a rural man, once I eat pounded yam with my people, I am fine. I will not use Kwara to support affluent lifestyle; I am a man of the people. I may not be rich but I have the fear of Allah."

About this time four years ago, Bio resigned as Sports Minister to contest the PDP ticket at the primaries for the gubernatorial ticket. With teeming supporters in all the senatorial districts, Bio was coasting home to victory in the PDP primaries and many had started addressing him as the next governor.

But on the eve of the party primaries, something dramatic happened. All the aspirants were invited to the Government House and instructed to drop their ambition and back the anointed man for the position, incumbent Governor Abdulfatai Ahmed.

Is Bio not hunted by the ghost of the past? "No," he says, adding that a man with a large heart should forgive and move on. "The past is past, with the new PDP in Kwara that will not happen. We have all agreed that there will be free and fair primaries and we shall back whoever emerges to win the state".

There are insinuations that some powerful figures in the opposition have planted moles in the party who are contesting the primaries alongside PDP. These moles are said to be agents of a powerful political hegemony in the state and are ready to buy a delegate for N1million thus ensuring that regardless of the party that wins the state election in February 2015, the hegemony will remain in control. How does Bio and other genuine PDP members intend to battle this power block with their limited financial resources? What about insinuations that the governorship of the state has been zoned to Kwara South?

"Politics is about service, the whole state is awash with a lot of rumours about moles and moneybags. I will only advise Kwarans to shine their eyes. As for zoning, it is not a state policy, it was the idea of an individual so it is not binding and I was at the meeting where the idea was mooted and the person that mooted the idea said Kwara South will rule for only one term, then it will move to Kwara North, and I am from Kwara North," he said.

Bio said it is sad that Kwara with all its potentials is still a toddler. "At 47, Kwara has no legacy; the state is still a toddler. We have been exposed to civilization long before now, railway passes through Kwara, we are very hard working people, but where is the result of the hard work? What is Kwara's legacy? We have the Zimbabweans farmers, but where are their products; where is the milk or rice they have produced? It is good to bring experts to educate our people but after educating our people, we should have assisted our people with finances to set up industrial mechanized farming instead of giving the money to foreigners.

"I shall also turn our potential in agriculture into a reality and create wealth for our people. Our soil is fertile, but what we do today is just peasant farming. Investment in foreign farmers by previous administration has not translated into wealth for Kwara and Kwarans because it was not designed as a people- oriented programme. I shall invite experts who will teach our people modern mechanized farming. Instead of giving billions of naira to foreigners, we shall organize our people into co-operative societies, invest our resources in our people and turn them into large scale farmers."

A former Minister of Sports and Chairman National Sports Commission (NSC), Bio intends to pay urgent attention to and invest enormous resources in sports. "We have seen how sports have turned many of today's youths into global icons, millionaires and employers of labour. Kwara used to be a national and world leader in sports decades ago. Then, we were a force to reckon with in football, athletics, volleyball, basketball, boxing, handball, table-tennis and school sports. Our state then produced Olympics medalists, World Champions, continental and national champions. Today, sports in Kwara has been reduced to recreational exercise. If Jamaica, a country the size of Kwara, can do it, we shall also do it."

From Gure in the Northern part of Kwara, Bio started work as an intern Pharmacist at Offa General Hospital in 1980, after he graduated from Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria. He later worked as a Pharmacist with the Kwara State Ministry of Health and Community Pharmacist in Kainji.

He started his political career as a councillor in Yashikira Ward, in the then Borgu Local Government Area of Kwara State. He was then called to serve at higher levels as Commissioner for Health from 1990 to 1992; Member, Federal House of Representatives 1999-2003; Speaker, Kwara State House of Assembly 2003-2008; Honourable Minister of Transport, 2008-2010; Honourable Minister of Sports, April 2010-December 2010; Chairman, Governing Council, Nigeria Investment Promotion Commission (NIPC) August 2013-2014.

Said Bio: "In my over three decades of service to our state, and our country Nigeria, my guiding principle has been, ‘Life is service to humanity'. Life's greatest achievement is not measured in material possession, but the value that you add to your society. This has been my driving force everywhere that I have been called upon to serve.

"Secondly, I always aim to represent Kwara well, and not to embarrass the government and the good people of Kwara State. I thank God that my record of service at the Federal level is what all Kwarans can be proud of; even my co-aspirants cannot dispute this."