Date: 2018-09-19

A leading governorship aspirant of the All Progressives Congress in 2019 governorship election in Kwara State, Mallam Saliu Mustapha has charged the people of Kwara State to use their Permanent Voters Card to chase out bad people in government to rescue the state from collapse.

Mustapha noted that the government house is currently occupied by those he referred to as "bandits", who subjected people to poverty and selling most of the state-owned properties, especially companies that would have been the common assets of the people and avenues of creating jobs.

The APC gubernatorial hopeful said this while declaring his intention before his thousands of supporters at Arca Santa Event centre to contest for 2019 governorship election in Kwara State.

Mustapha, an ally of President Muhammadu Buhari, told his supporters that it is time for the people of the state to liberate themselves and have the freedom to choose who to govern them in 2019 by using their PVCs wisely and desist from exchanging the future of the state for monetary value.

He explained that what the state needed presently is a good representative that would harness the abundant resources of the state to create jobs and wealth for the the entire people of the state.

Mustapha said " we have critically and holistically assessed our situation with the belief that all hope is not lost, hence the need to let us collectively fix Kwara come 2019. Having identified our challenges in the last 51 years as a state, we have articulated how we intend to frontally offer solutions in the areas of Education, skill acquisition/entrepreneurship, Health from basic to tertiary level, Infrastructure deficit, civil servants welfarism, youth development, agricultural empowerment which we tagged " THE SIX POINTS AGENDA".

The APC gubernatorial hopeful who identified civil servants as the backbone of any government, frowned at poor or meagre salary paying them in the state and assured that if given the mandate, his government would ensure that they were adequately paid like their counterparts in the Federal Ministries, Departments and Agencies.

On infrastructure, Mustapha said " we must quickly address dilapidated structures in hospitals, provide social amenities for our people and also try to look at what can be more of an investment and encourage people to come into the state and partner with us. We must look at the monthly allocations and think out of the box".

While enumerating his numerous programmes for the youths in the state, the former Deputy National Chairman of the Defunct Congress for Progressives Change said " Any government that is serious with the future of its people would dwell more on human capital development. Youth, being the future of any human society, have been adequately captured in our policies. Our youth would not be used as "Good Boys" rather we will create conducive atmosphere for them to make them employers of labour through entrepreneurship".

" All social vices that are affecting our youths would be addressed immediately i assume power because they are the future of our dear state. We shall empower our youth and engage them meaningfully in a productive way. As youth of society are empowered, so also the society. And the implication is that we are by this curbing restiveness and social ills", he added.

The declaration was attended by Chieftains of the APC across the 16 Local Government Areas of the state including, Barrister Kunle Sulyman, Alhaji Issa Amasa, former Speaker of the Kwara State House of Assembly, Rt Hon Benjamin Issa Ezekiel, Barrister Ashaolu, Alhaji Shaaba Nemangi, among others. Its important you outline those present.