Date: 2019-01-11

Minister of Information and Culture and leader of All Progressives Congress, APC, in Kwara State, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, yesterday, berated the Senate President, Dr. Bukola Saraki, and Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, over claim that APC was planning to annex the state to South-West.

Alhaji Mohammed also said the issue at stake was how to retrieve the state from the hands of one family that underdeveloped the state for the last 40 years out of its 50 years existence, and not about the "lies from those whose family ties to Kwara are questionable."

The minister spoke in Ilorin at a women sensitisation forum for the forthcoming elections, organised by the women wing of APC in the state. Saraki Recall that while addressing his supporters, at the kick-off of PDP governorship campaign in Bode-Saadu, Moro Local Government Area of the state last Tuesday, Dr. Saraki alleged that desperate politicians and their local collaborators were planning to annex the state to the South-West.

According to Saraki, Kwara belongs to Kwarans and all efforts by those he described as seasonal politicians to hand it over to their Lagos and Abuja paymasters would be frustrated. Reacting, Mohammed said: "In this season of politics, everything goes.

These elections will not be determined on the basis of ethnicity, religion or gender. The main issue is how our state has been governed in the past 50 years, 40 of which have been dominated by a single family. "What has happened to the commonwealth, which has been cornered by a single dynasty at the expense of the people? "Where are the roads and other infrastructures to justify the huge resources that have accrued to the state? If you follow a path for so long, and it leads you nowhere, won't you try another path? These are the issues.

"They say some people want to take them to the South-West. These are absolute lies from those whose family ties to Kwara are questionable. I can speak for myself. I am a bona fide and proud Kwara citizen. My father and mother are from here.

No question about that. "Our governorship candidate is unquestionably a proud Kwaran from right here in Ilorin, and there are no questions about his origins. So who is the stranger here? "In our campaign for the forthcoming elections, we have been proudly showcasing what the Federal Government has achieved since assuming office in 2015.

That is the way to go. "When they come to you, ask them how many kilometres of roads they have tarred, why the people have no potable water to drink and why workers have been pauperised because of non-payment of their salaries." APC Woman Leader alleges marginalisation Speaking earlier, the state APC Woman Leader, Rahmat Bolaji, said the party had marginalised women in the scheme of things, noting that "we know that this is not deliberate." She also added that "the general and most important objective is to make sure that our party women leaders are adequately sensitised to mobilise the entire women population in the state so that we can be victorious at the general election."