By Ndanusa Abubakar
What the choice of one Kayode Ogunlowo as the Director, Media and Publicity of the Kwara State People’s Democratic Party Campaign Council indicates clearly is that the party leadership thinks propaganda will win it back the state in the forthcoming 2023 election.
Former senate president Bukola Saraki and his followers are so desperate about this election. They just want to win, whether by hook or by crook. They are yet to come to terms with the reality of not being in control of our collective patrimony in the last three years or so. The sole strategy they think ejected them from Government House is propaganda and they are leaving no stone unturned to dish out as much misinformation, disinformation and fake news as possible to cling to power.
In a video where Saraki was receiving Ogunlowo their newfound love to PDP which is the party of the ‘enugbe’ people, he confirmed that the new decampee is a liar, propagandist and fake news peddler. He in fact said that by his assessment nobody spreads fake news and propaganda than Kayode Ogunlowo and one other person. He also explicitly said that what he wants from him is to help concoct untruths, half truths and misinformation to send away the current administration. And to show a total commitment to this propaganda enterprise, Saraki has now settled for the renowned fake news peddler as spokesperson of his party’s campaign council.
Is it not ironic that Saraki jumps almost everytime to his social media handles to call for issue-based campaigns and excoriate fake news and misinformation, but in the actual sense he is elevating somebody he himself confirmed to be a fake news peddler just to win him the 2023 election? What Saraki and his people however fail to learn is that they cannot ride back to power on the basis of propaganda. The people are wiser. The era of their deploying propaganda and falsehood to win election is gone. Kwara people can on their own differentiate the present from the past in terms of impact and no amount of propaganda will change their minds to return this performing administration.
Almost everybody in Kwara PDP is a liar and a chief propagandist. Their spokesman Tunji Moronfoye is a self-confessed liar who deliberately dishes out falsehood and imaginary stories just to soil the reputation of the sitting government. Saraki himself is a barefaced liar. His wife Toyin Saraki even turned out to be worse as an arrogant liar. One Demola Banu too is trying to revise a history that is still fresh in the memories of Kwarans. How does one tell lies compulsively and confidently just to get back power? They have a lot of fake boys whom they are exploiting their poverty of ideas to help them spread fake news and misinformation.
But the issue on the ground is very simple. Let’s assess the basic things that affect the livelihood of the common man. Was it a lie that during the Saraki dynasty’s era people were receiving geri-gedi salaries? Was it propaganda that civil servants were owed various months of salaries across MDAs? Was it a lie that our waterworks were not functioning despite the huge amount of billions allocated to solve the water problem, leaving our people to the mercy of some water tankers? Was it a lie that our public schools were like prison yards, teachers were not paid as and when due and the quality of education had dropped drastically? Was it a lie that our healthcare facilities had become a shadow of themselves, lacking the required equipment? Was it a lie that this government did not inherit a single working tractor in the agric sector? Was it a lie that the Saraki dynasty made a lot of white elephant investments that have not yielded any returns for the state? They should come and explain to us how much Kwara has benefitted from Shonga Farms or Kwara Mall or Cargo Terminal, and so on. The pathetic stories that come to us is the debts we have to service on these failed, complicated investments.
Saraki and his people should look inward. These and more reasons are why the people of Kwara said enough was enough and rejected the Saraki dynasty in 2019. They led a failed, incompetent and anti-people government. Today in Kwara, we now have a government that has never defaulted in the payment of civil servants; has implemented the minimum wage despite the global economic challenges; has fixed our waterworks and embarked on reticulation projects. This government has rehabilitated over 600 schools in the last three years, whereas the previous one diverted UBEC funds running into billions earning the state a blacklist. This government has given a facelift to our health facilities and has equipped them with necessary materials. From zero non-functional tractor, Kwara bought 15 new tractors to support farming operations. The promotion of civil servants that has long been stagnated and left without cash-backing is getting required attention under this administration. This government has made life a whole lot easier for the people, unlike the one that just selects a coterie of cronies to enrich.
Look at the key indicators in poverty rate, unemployment, financial sustainability, health. Kwara has jumped forward. We are no longer the backward state we used to be, owing to committed leadership, fiscal discipline and pro-people policies of the AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq administration. Poverty rate in the state has declined drastically from 30.2% in 2019 to 20.4% in 2022, according to a World Bank report. Unemployment rate has dropped from 21.1% in 2019 to 16.5% in 2022, according to a date by the Nigerian Bureau of Statistics (NBS). Kwara has moved from 20th in 2018 to 8th in 2022 based on financial sustainability rating of sub-nationals in Nigeria. Yet these PDP elements said nothing has changed in the state. May our minds not be blocked.
PDP’s understanding of governance and performance is when you erect gigantic structures, call for a jamboree to make noise about it, even when these structures have no impact on the livelihood of the masses just like the Shonga Farms. So, the new style of their propaganda is to say that Governor AbdulRazaq has not initiated any project since the inception of his administration. This is a lie from the pit of hell. There are several completed and ongoing projects started under this administration, apart from also fixing inherited ones to better the lot of the people across the three districts in the state. This administration has built the first ever radio station in the whole of Kwara North named Nootia FM, well equipped and up to taste. This is after fixing the parent company Radio Kwara left in mess by the previous administration. There is also the Kakakin FM in the central part of the state built by this administration. This administration constructed the Eye Centre at the General Hospital and added new wards in the premier hospital. Many of these completed projects scatter across the state. It’s not about noise or grandstanding. It’s really about the impact.
Ongoing projects by this administration include the Garment Factory, Innovation Hub, Visual Arts Centre, International Conference Centre, Sugar Film Factory, General Tunde Idiagbon Flyover, Dualisation of Adeta-AlHikmah Road, construction of Osi-Obbo-Aiyegunle Road, among others.
When these projects are completed, they will not only make Kwara a go-to place for economic activities due to their significance, they will also create job opportunities for the people, shore up the revenue base, and turn around the fortunes of the state.
Most of the signature projects Saraki established which many turned out to be failed investments in the life of their dynasty, were not completed in the space of his first term. In fact, many of them dragged on to the administration of former Governor Abdulfatai Ahmed, with some even not completely paid for and wrapped up to the current administration. In any case, few of them yielded benefit to the state. What we are witnessing today is settling debts upon debt on Shonga Farms. Cargo Terminal was needless to say a waste of public funds. Kwara is yet to get any returns from the investments on Kwara Mall. The Metropolitan Square project was never completed. These are the projects they celebrate around. Failure and dubiousness!
As we go into this election, beyond propaganda, Kwara PDP will have to explain to the people why they have to choose a system that couldn’t pay something as basic as salaries to a system that prioritises the welfare of workers and has never defaulted in paying civil servants. They will have to explain why the people should reject a system that revived our waterworks for the one that abandoned them and left us to the mercy of water tankers. They will have to explain why the people should choose a system that diverted UBEC funds to the one that renewed our relationship with UBEC and is making meaningful investments in our basic education. They will have to explain why the people should give preference to a system that weaponised poverty to the one that has been intentional about stamping out poverty. They will have to explain to women and youths why they should choose a dynasty that relegated them to the background to a system that gave them recognition and inclusion. The PDP has only 1 female candidate in this election, where the APC has about 5. Add that to the gender composition bill signed by this AbdulRazaq government that ensures at least 35% inclusion for women in the state cabinet. These are the posers Kwara PDP should be seeking answers for rather than nursing the belief that propaganda will win them this election.
Ndanusa writes from Shonga, Edu Local Government
