Date: 2018-08-10

Minister of Information and Culture Lai Mohammed, yesterday, said the people of Kwara State had resolved to wrestle political powers from the hands of Dr Bukola Saraki and his loyalists in 2019 general elections.

He noted that Kwarans were now more united to rescue the state from what he described as grinding poverty and miss-governance in the state.

Alhaji Mohammed, who spoke in Ilorin, at a political summit, also declared that he would not be contesting for any elective post in the forthcoming 2019 general elections.

According to him, "From my consultations with key stakeholders so far, I can say, categorically, that Kwarans have all resolved to take their destiny into their own hands and take back what rightly belongs to them. This is unprecedented in the history of our state, and we must not waste this opportunity.

I can tell you that if we all remain united, we can't and we won't lose the looming battle for the survival of our dear state.

All that is required is for us all to subordinate our individual ambitions to the collective efforts, work to wrest our state from the hegemony of one man and his cohorts.

" On my own part, I can say here, without mincing words, that I won't be running for any office during the forthcoming elections.

For me, it is not about any clamour for office. It is about working with all like minds for the greater benefit of our people. Make no mistake about it, the battle ahead will be tough.

"No one with power will ever give it up easily. But the power of the people supersedes all powers.

That is why I am delighted, and indeed encouraged, that the good people of our state, whether from the North, South or Central, are all united in their singular determination to rescue their state from the grinding poverty; monumental miss-governance and the general state of funk that has enveloped it. The fight back has already begun, in the form of blackmail and fake news."

Continuing, he said ,"The resources of Kwara will be used for the development of the state and its people. Never again will our people be turned to panhandlers; never again will our people be made to eat crumbs from the master’s table.

"What an auspicious time for all of us! Never before had we have a great opportunity like we have now to take our state back from the rapacious few, who have held the state by the jugular and prevented it from meeting the hopes and aspirations of its people. "They say I do not like Ilorin people. But what they do not know is that no amount of cheap blackmail will deter us. The people of Ilorin should know who their friends are. I do not hate the good people of Ilorin. "Perhaps many of you have forgotten that in 2011, I supported, on my platform, an indigene of Ilorin to run for the governorship of this state. Even when my kinsmen were not happy with my decision, I was undeterred."