Date: 2018-08-28

For the past two weeks now, the Kwara State seat of power was not that busy due to the sojourn of the state Governor, Dr Abdulfatah Ahmed to the holyland of Saudi Arabia for the performance of the pilgrimage.

The Governor's absence does not stop the normal politicking in the government circle as the Harmonisation committee set up by the governor continues its assignment of reconciling party members across the 16 Local Government Areas of the state.

Before his departure to Saudi Arabia, the Governor, during the committee's inauguration at the Government House, Ilorin, enjoined the committee to adopt the party's national template for harmonization, stressing that the party is one big family where everybody will find accommodation and a voice.

Dr Ahmed added that local government and ward chapters of the party were also required to adopt the same arrangement to ensure inclusiveness and put PDP in a stronger position to win elections and deliver good service to the people.

Members of the committee included the Speaker of the State Assembly, Ali Ahmad; Secretary to the State Government (SSG), Isiaka Gold; former SSG, SakaOnimago; former chairman of Kaiama local government, Ahmed Sadik; Isiaka Magaji, Afusat Olarenwaju, Mohammed Haruna, House Leader, Hassan Oyeleke and Ebun Owolabi.

Others were Abdulrazaq Lawal, Babatunde Mohammed, AbubakarSani, Yinusa Yahaya, Adekunle Femi Apado and Moses Ibiyemi.

Also, at aharmonisation summit held in Ilorin, the capital of Kwara State, the Senate President, Dr Bukola Saraki, expressed confidence that the Peoples' Democratic Party would defeat President Muhammadu Buhari of the All Progressives Congress in the 2019 elections.

Saraki, added that he was confident and hopeful that the PDP would emerge victorious in the state in the coming general elections.

Saraki said, In 2019, the PDP will produce the President. If we emerge victorious at the federal level, all of us will be the beneficiaries. In the state, with your support, we will win the state too. All of you here are the key players in Kwara politics. With the unity of purpose, no party can contest with you. We are here to unite all of us under the party we belong to today.

I am assuring all members that there will be equity, internal democracy and justice. It is not going to be a winner takes all. As far as I am concerned, everybody here today belongs to our political structure. There is nothing like old or new PDP. We have all become one PDP.

There is nobody here that will not say, one way or the other, we have not been together before. I am very sure that the future is bigger and brighter than in the past. I want all of us and the development of Kwara State.

As per the politics of the state, nobody can wrest power from us if we are united. By the grace of God, in the forthcoming elections, we will emerge victorious both at the federal and state levels. We will ensure that we work as one party because we have always worked together before.

Saraki said, We will see that all the wards and local governments popular candidates emerge based on their popularity and acceptability. I want to emphasise that I dont have any anointed candidate at any level. I dont have candidates for the state assembly; it is the person you want in your constituency that I will approve. Dont allow anybody to deceive you that I have endorsed any candidate. I implore party leaders and elders not to drop my name to impose unpopular candidates. I dont have a candidate for the National Assembly. All of us will collectively choose the next governor. We will ensure that there is no faction but one PDP. We will ensure that meetings in the local government areas take place in one venue. And we will all work together for the interest of the party.

I want to assure you all that, as far as I am concerned, everybody belongs to one PDP family and there is no favouritism of one man over the other.

The Senate President said those who defected from the PDP to the APC when he returned left under a wrong assumption. He promised that everybody would have a sense of belonging.

Saraki urged both old and new members of the party to ensure peace and harmony in their wards and local government areas.

The former governor said, Please, go back home to start the work. I am sure many more will come back and join us because those that left did so under the wrong assumption that it would be different from what it used to be. They were misled that those coming were out to move them away.

Nobody is moving you away because this place belongs to you too. Let us go back and start work closely together and, by the grace of God, we will all be victorious.

In another development, ahead of the Sallah celebrations and before the release of federal allocations for August, Kwara Governor Alhaji Abdulfatah Ahmed directed the State Ministry of Finance to commence the payment of August salary to workers in the state with immediate effect.

The Commissioner for Finance, Alhaji Demola Banu, who made the disclsure in Ilorin before sallah celebration said that arrangements had subsequently been concluded and a facility secured to ensure workers start receiving their salaries before sallah.

He said the Governor directed the payment of August salary to ensure that workers have an enjoyable Sallah celebration.

According to him, this testifies to the governments commitment to the welfare of the people.

In a related development, the state governor also directed the released of a sum of N125,395,252.96 as May 2018, subvention to all state-owned tertiary institutions.

The State Commissioner for Tertiary Education, Mr. Abdullahi Alkinla, disclosed this in a statement released in Ilorin before sallah celebration. The statement recalled that the Committee of Union of Tertiary Institutions (CUTI) embarked on indefinite industrial strike over unpaid salary and allowances on Tuesday in the states Colleges of Education.

However, members of the CUTI in the states tertiary institutions are still on strike as at Thursday evening before the sallah.

Giving the breakdown, Alkinla, said the College of Education, Oro received N33,706,598.99, College of Education, Ilorin got N53,173,085.77 while the College of Education (Technical), Lafiagi received N21,272,571.73.

Others are College of Arabic and Islamic Legal Studies, Ilorin: N11, 949,031.50, College of Nursing and Midwifery, Ilorin: N2,171,454.33 and the College of Nursing and Midwifery, Oke-Ode: N3,122,510.64. Alkinla also said that Governor Abdulfatah Ahmed had also approved the sum of N98million for the accreditation exercise of the institutions which he said would be released soon.

Meanwhile, the provosts of the Kwara State Colleges of Education Ilorin, Oro and Lafiagi have appealed to the Committee of Union of Tertiary Institutions (CUTI) to suspend its ongoing industrial strike. The provosts also commended the governor for living up to his words regarding the salaries of workers and his efforts geared towards improving the standard of education in the state.