Judul : Sokoto Govt House was in darkness before Aliyu’s emergence – APC chair
link : Sokoto Govt House was in darkness before Aliyu’s emergence – APC chair
Sokoto Govt House was in darkness before Aliyu’s emergence – APC chair
The Sokoto State Chairman, All Progressives Congress, Isa Achida, in this interview with JUWE OLUWAFEMI, SALMAN ANIMASHAUN and BULUS ISRAEL, highlights the strides of the state government
How would you describe the administration of the sitting government in Sokoto State?
The administration is a product of the leadership of our leader, Senator Aliyu Wamakko, who is our overall leader and has successfully been leading us. He is a courageous leader and a very reliable one that anybody can follow. So, I will say APC has delivered what was not expected from it. Even me, the chairman of the party, who always go around the state canvassing for votes and asking people to vote for us, telling people this is what we are going to do when we win the election, is amazed at what the government has done. I never expected that we would do what we have done in these two years of the expected four years of this administration. I never knew we could achieve these feats and successes. We have achieved what unimaginable. So, I’m very happy that at least even if we stop where we are now, it is enough for us definitely to win elections in Sokoto State again, because even what the people did not ask us to do for them, we have almost completed all our campaign promises. All the places we went to and said, ‘we will do this for you when we win election’, all those promises we made and were documented, as of now, we have fulfilled them and a lot more, over and above those promises we made. And this is in almost every sector.
What exactly are these accomplishments that you talk about?
You see, when we took over Sokoto State, it was devastating and in a state of disaster. You can’t believe that by the time we took over, even the Government House in the state was out of electricity supply for almost six months. There was a huge debt of almost N1.8bn owed by the past government and passed over to us because that past administration refused to pay, and that was on electricity alone. So, at the time we took over, our hospitals, the Government House, our higher institutions of learning, water board, all of them were not functioning due to lack of electricity supply, because KAEDCO had cut off all electricity supplies to these places. Also, every single person, especially those who visited Sokoto at that time, had to drive and pay with stress. You could hardly drive with your car, or traverse Sokoto, the main town, and even the narrowest parts of Sokoto for one or three kilometers without your car having problems because of the potholes all over, but that is now a thing of the past.
Do you think that your performance has silenced the opposition in the state?
Let me tell you, there was a government, but it was never a match to us. At that time, they knew who was our leader. They know who is Wamakko. Have you ever heard of somebody winning a governorship election with 342 votes? Have you ever heard that happen in Nigeria, that a governor defeated his opponent with 342 votes? That is even after about 100,000 of our votes had been wasted. That was what they did to us in 2019, so there was no opposition. We know we will win the 2027 election. Once a credible election is conducted, we know we will win. So, on the issue of opposition, i don’t think there is any in Sokoto for now.
The main opposition party then was the PDP, where is PDP now?
(Attahiru) Bafarawa, who was one of the leaders of PDP, has left the party. Now Aminu Tambuwal is also leaving PDP and going to another party. He is likely going to the merger, either SDP, ADA, ADC or something like that.
Are you telling me that there is no serious opposition to confront Governor Aliyu at the polls in 2027?
That is exactly what I’m telling you. It is going to be 100 per cent victory at the next election, I’m telling you.
Driving through Sokoto, one will notice that there’s been massive focus on urban renewal. What informed this strategy of governance?
Not only urban renewal, there is also rural renewal. In my local government, there was a dam constructed since the period of late Sir Ahmadu Bello, before the advent of the other dams. This is from this dam that we produced the best rice at the time, rice consumed by big family members or special visitors to Sokoto State, that was the rice we served them as a mark of honour and respect during their visits. It was the best rice in the country then and was produced with the help of the dam. That dam was functioning until when, unfortunately, we lost it through heavy rainfall. Since the past 15 years, we had been appealing, calling for the repairs of that dam and that irrigation scheme. During the last administration, we were told that some organisations donated some money, and gave their own contributions so that the government could also add their own contributions to repair the dam. But nothing was done. As I’m talking to you now, we have already commenced work on that dam. The construction of that dam has been awarded. The irrigation scheme within that area is almost at completion stage. This is being undertaken by this administration. Also, we have seen what we have never witnessed before in my local government area: tarred roads in rural areas. In my own local government, there is a road from where we call Hamaali to Wurundjeri, which is about 15 kilometers, going on now. There’s another one from Wurno. I’m just telling you what happened in my own local government alone; and this is what is obtainable in almost all the local government areas in the state. All these projects are being undertaken by the government of Ahmed Aliyu in the state. There’s also the Wurundjeri-Huchi road, which was washed away by heavy flood. It has been done and repaired by this administration. I am still talking about my own local government alone. There was a collapsed electricity project at the eastern senatorial district but today, we have now been connected to the national grid, all of us. So many classrooms have been constructed, our two hospitals have been rehabilitated and equipped, all by this administration. That is my local government alone and that is what is obtainable in almost all the other local governments across the state. So, there are several projects being undertaken by this administration, all at once. I don’t think the opposition has anything to say.
But some critics say the only visible legacy of this government are the roundabout projects…
The PDP was in power for eight years in this state, let them show us their own roundabout. At least we have constructed roundabouts, if all we have done is roundabouts, where are their own roundabouts?There is nothing on ground to show for their eight years of governance of this state. Even if you want to celebrate the last governor (Aminu Tambuwal) by force for the opportunity he had to govern Sokoto and what he did, you’ll see that there is nothing. You see, what we experienced in Sokoto was what we call a vicious cycle. When Bafarawa came in, he did a lot of projects. When Wamakko came in as governor, he did a lot of projects but the last administration of Aminu Tambuwal is like when you put a rope in the mouth of the horse, which makes the horse to stop walking. When Aminu came in, everything stopped. Every development stopped. The projects that had been started, stopped. He never initiated any project. Go to Tambuwal’s hometown, what did he do there? At least if I am a governor, come and see my town, I will do something for my village. But there’s nothing at all. So, his people are worried, they are not happy with the way we made Sokoto to now look like a city, and compete with other bigger cities of other state capitals in the federation. That’s what they don’t want. Go out in Sokoto at night and see. Go and see how the solar light system we installed brightens up the entire space at night. Before this administration came on board, the whole state was in total darkness and that encouraged crimes within the metropolis. We used to have a situation where thieves would snatch phones, bags and even motorcycles and what have you. That was what we were witnessing before, but now, nothing of such again.
While going round town, there is a teaching hospital project we learnt was embarked upon by the former governor, but this present administration has refused to complete it. What is the fate of that project?
That is what we call window dressing. That hospital is built along the airport road so that people going to the airport will say this is a project done by the so-so administration. There are other hospitals inside town that are just like mortuaries, why didn’t he repair them? There is a specialist hospital there, nothing to show for it. You won’t even like to enter into any of these hospitals because the stench from them alone is enough to make you sick. How can you construct another hospital when there are several abandoned ones that you can rehabilitate and equip to at least enable us consolidate on the gains of the already existing ones?There is a proverb that says, ‘instead of you to dig a new well, it is better you repair the one that is already in existence.’ So, what we did was to equip the specialist hospital that has enough doctors, specialists, and the rest of them. There are enough buildings that can take care of most of the people or patients who are likely to visit the hospital. So, what we did was to equip it with electricity, put all the necessary gadgets needed for the operation of the hospital, provide equipment that will allow the doctors to do the best they can. So, we are not abandoning it, but we want to make sure that what we have before now, we maintain before we go into new ones.
The governor, in one of his recent remarks, said his administration had embarked on the construction of over 1,000 houses in the last two years. What informed the decision to embark on such massive housing project?
We are now into almost 1,800 housing units: 500 at Gida Silanke, 500 at Wajake community near the cement company, the 500 that we started at New Sokoto City, and the one we bought from the Federal Government along Gusau road. What informed us to do that is that by the time we took over, as people who won election in Sokoto State, apart from government houses, there were no houses left for the government. No government quarters at all. They had all been sold by the then state government. They were sold on cash-and-carry basis, yet, not even one room was constructed by the last administration. Even the Gidan Silanke housing projects that were started by the government of Aliyu Wamakko, the last government, refused to complete it. That was about 500 housing units. They sold all the houses in the state, even plots of land, and nobody knows how the money realised grew wings and disappeared. Nobody was informed that the houses were sold, this is what we realised and this is what we want to do, at least tell the people what’s going on just like we are doing. Our government will tell you, even if we sold the houses, we sell these houses at this amount and this is what we are going to do with the money.
We have witnessed the unexpected in the last administration. We have never seen a government going to the extent of digging out pipes from the ground, pipes that were laid during the north-western region, the best pipes you could get from England. All of a sudden, the past government called somebody, a contractor from Kano, to dig them out and sell. They were all packed away in loads of trailers, and that was the end of it. Yet, nobody could tell us what the money was going to be used for. This scenario happened in Sokoto. Ask anybody, even the small baby, he will tell you.
Do you have proof of this?
Of course. It’s not an allegation at all. Anybody here can prove it. It is known from Kware to Sokoto town. The biggest pipes that I can walk inside them, the biggest pipes laid by the former Premier of Northern Nigeria, the best you can get from England, was dug out and carried away.
How well has Governor Aliyu Ahmed performed in terms of security and tackling banditry, terrorism etc?
Our governor has been able to tackle banditry and terrorism by establishing the community guards. This administration trained them and gave them all the needed kits, including life jackets and the rest of them. We gave them vehicles, and pickups, motorcycles and all what they will need to succeed. We also gave them guns and ammunition. So, whenever there is anything, they will just come and counter the threat, and with that, we have now pushed the bandits back to Shinkafi. I’m telling you the truth, all those leaders of bandits, Maisola and others, have all been killed by these corps members. They have all been eliminated by our guards. Now you can travel almost everywhere in the state without fear of attack. You can travel to Isa, Sabon Bini, and Goronyo, all these were impossible during the last administration. So, a lot of things have been achieved.
So, are you saying that the people can bank on the governor for a second term of office?
Yes, of course. We are winning the next election. In 2019 we lost the election by only 342 votes but do you know by how many votes we won the last election? We won with 49,000 votes. So, there is no question of rigging. That time we lost, everybody knew the opposition didn’t win. You think of it, 342 votes as a sitting governor? With the number of boxes that have been thrown into open dug wells, with a number of crisis, with a number of ballot boxes that were scattered. But this time, fairly, we won the election with 49,000 something votes.
What do you think can be done to further ease things for Nigerians?
What we really need is an efficient transport system — especially railway. If we can have reliable rail lines to move goods around, prices will drop. Already, things are improving. For example, a bag of paddy rice in Gummi five weeks ago was N26,000. Now, that same quantity can give you local rice worth N50,000 in the market. That’s progress.
Would you say you’re close to the grassroots?
Yes, I’m a grassroots politician. I live in my village and stay close to my people. We’re not just following APC; we’re following our leader. If I ever decide to switch parties, my people in my village will switch with me immediately. That’s how close we are. If you ever see me in a fight, know that the person is not straightforward — I don’t like double standards.
Provided by SyndiGate Media Inc. (Syndigate.info).Demikianlah Artikel Sokoto Govt House was in darkness before Aliyu’s emergence – APC chair
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