A  governorship aspirant of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP)in Kwara State, Professor Shuaib AbdulRaheem has defended the decision to quit his plum job as chairman of the Federal Character Commission (FCC) and pursue his political ambition at the state level.

AbdulRaheem, who spoke with newsmen in Ilorin, the state capital, also dismissed insinuations that he had used his tenure  as boss of the FCC to empower only Ilorin indigenes just as he described as wrong the impression being created of him as a desperate politician.

The former vice-chancellor of the University of Ilorin  promised to make financial prudence his guiding principle if elected as the next governor of the state.

He asked Nigerians to consider the issue of the crisis that accompanied his leadership of the University of Ilorin as a matter for the past, expressing delight that the lecturers affected by his decision then have been re- integrated into the system.

Both sides, he said, were fighting to defend the university system and while he based his decision to sack them on the laws of the university, the law of the land overruled the university, thus bringing about a situation of no winner no vanquished.

The former FCC boss promised to ensure proper autonomy for the local government system if elected, saying his administration will not operate any form of joint account with councils in the state but only perform a supervisory role for them.

Although he would not side with any aspirant in the party on some of the internal issues related to their ambition, AbdulRaheem said he would gladly support any protest in the party meant to defend its democratic goals and not perpetrate injustice.

“I don’t care what other aspirants do as I have my own focus but if there is any move towards impunity then all law abiding citizens must protest it because the best thing will be for PDP to win this state”, he said adding: “I pray that God will guide the leadership of the party not to do the things people already fear”

The former FCC boss also explained that the major reason he parted ways with the Bukola Saraki political system was not due to personal quarrel but a disagreement between them on how to run the state.

“There is a lot of rot in this state which men of conscience must rise up to correct and so I can’t sit in my office in Abuja and allow that rot to continue. I must be ready to sacrifice my position and even the community to salvage the rot.

“My leaving the FCC will not affect the interest of Kwara because the FCC is not a job generating agency; it is a supervisory agency and my role is a cordinating one. Kwara, like each state of the federation, has a commissioner looking after the interest of the state and after I left the situation still remains . But people thought because they were getting jobs then it was my doing but in reality it is the work of the commissioners under my supervision.

“If I become governor I will not steal public money and by that many of our problems will be solved. I will ensure that people are given their dues as what we lack now is leadership by example, he explained.”