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Imo Project Inauguration Confirms AbdulRazaq’s Failure as Governor, Says Senator
By Hammed Shittu in Ilorin
The Kwara South senatorial candidate of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) for Kwara South in the 2023 General Election, Senator Rafiu Ibrahim on Friday berated the Governor of Kwara State, Alhaji AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq for watching without any clue while his fellow first-term governors in other states are inaugurating projects completed by their administrations.
In a statement from his campaign office in Offa, and made available to journalists in Ilorin, the former lawmaker expressed concern over the failure of Governor AbdulRazaq to invite President Muhammadu Buhari to the state to inaugurate a single project for him since he assumed office in the state, adding this is a sign of non performance.
Ibrahim who represented Kwara South in the 8th Senate made the comment against the background of the Tuesday Inauguration of projects by the Imo State Governor, Sen. Hope Uzodinma who assumed office five months after Abdulrazaq.
He noted that, “After almost 40 months in office, the Kwara State Government has not completed any project and has left the state in an abandoned state with heaps of rubbish on the streets, dilapidated school buildings that were only covered in new paints and crudely mended roads that have failed while social services have also collapsed, leaving many Kwarans unhappy about the level of service delivery by an elected government.
“Sen. Hope Uzodinma who was my colleague in the 8th Senate became Governor seven months after Mr. Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq took the oath of office and has serious security challenges in his state.
“Yet he has on two different occasions brought President Mohammadu Buhari to Imo State to commission different projects. Not only that many first-term governors who were sworn in at the same time as the Kwara State Governor like Governors Seyi Makinde of Oyo State and Bala Mohammed of Bauchi State have been commissioning projects.
“The failure of Governor Abdulrazaq to complete a project that will be fit for commissioning is a result of many factors.
“First, he has no idea or plan on how to develop the state and run a successful government.
“Second, he has not made himself accessible to quality advice and initiatives by appointing incompetent aides and Thirdly, he has no good intentions toward the people and the state. Fourth, he and the other people in his government have been mismanaging, misapplying, and misappropriating the huge funds coming into the state since June 2019.
“The amount of money that has come from federal allocations, internally generated revenue, counterpart funds from intervention agencies, and aid from development partners have been unprecedented. Still, the government has raised the debt profile of the state to the highest level, yet no feasible project”.
He added, “In the same vein, we cannot see any development policy or programme aimed at bringing dividend of democracy to the people or alleviating poverty among our people.
“Youth unemployment remains as high as ever. The government has refused to embark on wealth creation or empowerment initiatives. All the contract awards are given to non-Kwarans who do not make the benefit reflect on the state.
“We call on the people to quickly give it a thought. The present government in Kwara State has reduced government to tokenism and they believe painting buildings, patching roads, distributing money, and peddling falsehood will be enough to win them re-election”.
Ibrahim however said, “Our people have seen the difference between what they usually have before now. They will surely reject the APC and all its candidates in the next election. Abdulrahman has no clue about how to administer a state or run a development-oriented government”.
