By Our Reporter
The All Progressives Congress has said the People Democratic Party has been spreading bad news about the governor of Kaduna State, Malam Nasir El-Rufai, but that they failed woefully in this as exemplified in the results of the last local government elections in the state. The party, speaking though one of its members, Musbau Ado, who is a member of the executive of the party in Jemaa LGA made this known to ENM recently in an interview conducted in Kafanchan, the seat of government in the LGA.
According to Ado, “There is a proverb in Hausa that says it is what you see that you believe. The image the opposition party has been painting about Malam Nasir El-Rufai is baseless, and senseless at the same time. PDP governed Kaduna State for several years and things have been damaged a lot. Before one can fix it, it will take some time. They have been saying that Malam Nasir El-Rufai has chased teachers away, and the District Heads, and all that kind of allegation. But when we go to the drawing board and analyse it critically, no one will take their child to incompetent teachers. They (PDP) knew that the teachers were not competent, so they took their own children to private schools. But when the government sent incompetent teachers away they now allege that Malam El-Rufai is a bad person and all that kind of talk.”
Ado who is the Assistant Public Relations Officer of the APC in Jemaa LGA, further noted that the reduction in the number of District Heads was justified because they had become a burden on the finances of the LGA.
“As for the District Heads,” Ado said, “the governor reduced their number. Here in Kafanchan metropolis we had about 6 to 7 District Heads then, now he has reduced it to one. When you go to the local government to complain that you need a culvert in your neighbourhood the PDP government in Jemaa would say there is too much burden on them. They would say they have been paying District Heads, doing this, doing that. These District Heads, you compare them to the number of people in a community that has 1000 people that also depend on the government for social amenities. But LGA said it had expended so much money on District Heads. So when Malam El-Rufai came to office he decided that since there was so much burden on the LGA then we should reduce it to a lesser number.”
The party image maker admitted that the PDP has had a long presence in Jemaa LGA and it has been long established. As such, he said the APC is determined to win everyone over based on fairness and equal opportunity once the party takes over the leadership at the local government secretariat following on its victory in the last LGA elections.
As Ado explained, “This is our first time of coming to power in the LGA.. There are a lot of things, a lot of areas over which we have been advising the Chairman-elect so that we can now have a strong presence here. We will do strong things so that people can see it. You see, we only care about the people, not about ourselves as executive members. As party officials what we are concerned about is what people need, so that in the end they will judge. Through equal treatment, when we come into office, we will practice equal treatment for all and this will do it for us. Whether it is a PDP stronghold or not, when you give all equal opportunity and equal representation I know this will convince the people.”
He also states that there has been positive effects of the reforms that the state government carried out in schools and the traditional institution with particular reference to Jemaa LGA.
“The effect has been good because now the LGA is able to pay salaries, take care of primary health care centres, and even these drainages that they are doing. So there has been a very good effect,” Ado said.
