In his bid to fly the flag of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP in the forthcoming general elections, a gubernatorial aspirant in Kwara State, Alhaji Jani Ibrahim, has unveiled a four-point programme designed to banish poverty from the state if elected. Jani, who is also the Chairman of LUBCON oil, further maintained that he would focus on job creation, agriculture, exploitation of natural resources and provision of infrastructure. While addressing some groups of unemployed youths at his campaign office, the guber aspirant described as unacceptable the large number of graduates on the unemployment queue and warned that the country was at the risk of a massive revolt unless its youthful population were productively engaged.

According to him, "The pursuit of mechanized agriculture will bring prosperity to the state owing to its natural endowments, and argued that Nigeria has the resources and comparative advantage to export food produce to countries in Africa and Europe." He also dismissed the insinuation in political circles that he joined the race as a spy to former governor, Senator Bukola Saraki in the PDP saying: "I consider such insinuation as an idle talk and the product of warped logic.

"I am a first class Mechanical Engineer and a major industrialist in this state. I will not leave my comfort zone to engage in politics if I am not sufficiently convinced of my mission and capacity to uplift Kwara," he told hundreds of graduates who came to pay him solidarity visit.

He further stressed that, "I have been running my business since 1991 and I was a foundation member of PDP since 1999. Senator Bukola met us in PDP and he decided on his own volition to leave PDP. As a business man, I was bound to relate with government because as a major employer of labour, both government and industry must relate. "I have never been a government contractor; rather we pay tax and help to reduce unemployment in the state."

The industrialist also debunked insinuations that he had been indicted by a probe panel on the defunct Nigeria Airways where he held sway as managing director noting that "while government has the right to probe the activities of its agencies, no white paper was issued in respect of the examination of his tenure.

Please disregard the evil talk that Jani was indicted. There is nothing like that in the archives of the federal government," he explained.