Kogi 2019: I will surpass my father’s record in office – Mohammed Audu

Mohammed Audu, son of late Prince Abubakar Audu, former governor of Kogi state, is one of the leading aspirants for the office of governor on the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC).

In this interview with SALIFU OYIBO, he spoke extensively on his plans geared toward removing Kogi from its present precarious situation.

Why are you contesting the governorship position in Kogi state?

The decay in the system in the last four years is enormous. We have moved from a situation where viable and sustainable infrastructure are no longer provided for the people to where we cannot even meet our salary obligations. There are no more agricultural potentials in the state, no viable private sector, everything seems very chaotic. Everyday, you hear of protests, kidnappings, killings, armed robbery, suicide attempt among other ugly happenings in the state.

All we hear about our state is bad news and our people are living in squalor. I know that the late Prince Abubakar Audu intended to treat the people very well when he contested the 2015 election, unfortunately he died at the point when victory was knocking at his door step.

The same people who stood under the rain, sun are the ones suffering and passing through untold hardships today. What we have been seeing is the reverse of what Prince Abubakar Audu had in mind. We cannot sit down and allow the people to wallow in abject poverty for no just cause. We cannot sit down seeing people taking their lives because they can no longer withstand the torture of non payment of salaries and pensions. Today, the current administration lacks the idea to move the state forward.

This administration has enjoyed the highest revenue from the federation account since the creation of the state. This is an administration that received over four billion naira monthly as allocation, but cannot attend to the basic needs of the people.

The administration did not deem it fit to look into issues of education, health, road construction and they can not pay salaries to state and local government workers which is very embarrassing. Staff screening exercise was endless without result despite enormous resources they claimed to have committed into it.

Local government and state workers have been turned to beggars, some can no longer train their children and many cannot even feed their families. The situation in Kogi is so bad that workers have became destitute. So, I am taking it upon myself along side other well meaning kogites to ensure that we bring this rain of terror to an end.

We have perfected our plans to rake in over four billion naira monthly as revenue for the state. We have also perfected our plans that during the first nine months of our tenure, we would be able to have over 50,000 young men and women fully engaged into a viable venture that would give them meaningful life. This plan is not a joke because we would involve the Bank of Industry and other critical stakeholders in order to create potentials for manufacturing such as food manufacturing outfit that would provide jobs for our teeming youths and having done that, we will be able to address youth restiveness.

I have been travelling to Kogi-east in the past 20 years and it is the same road without refurbishing, no remodelling and nothing has been done to improve on the quality of the road. By now, we are supposed to be discussing rail line across the state to travel from Okun land to the east and from the east to the central senatorial district of the state but nothing viable is going on at all.

How can you clinch the ticket of APC considering the fact that Governor Alhaji Yahaya Bello is also contesting?

I can tell you that I have been in politics and my first attempt in politics was when my late father was involved an accident in 1998 where he was flown abroad for treatment and when he came back he needed someone who could assist him in the process for electioneering campaign and because I was closed to him that time, I was saddled with the responsibility. That was my first experience and afterwards, I was involved in 2003, 2007 elections. I was involved in the rerun election in the 2011 election; I was fully involved in the 2015 election , so I know who is who in Kogi politics by virtue of these experiences. I have handled sensitive positions for Prince Abubakar Audu’s campaign. So I have a very strong connection with most politicians across the state.

Today, I can assured you that I have the closest link to the grassroots; also I am one of the few politicians that the grassroots communicate with constantly because I answer all calls and they really appreciate that.