By Usman Aliyu
Mallam Sadiq Umar, the All Progressives Congress (APC) candidate for Kwara North Senatorial District, says his priority is tackling the poverty ravaging the area.
Umar stated this on Sunday in an interview in Ilorin.
The APC senatorial flagbearer, who is a pharmacist, said the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the state had not uplifted the living condition of the people.
“They (PDP) have not been able to give us the required growth and development in our area, especially in my senatorial zone.
“I think it is time for people of goodwill to work for the people. That is why I took up the challenge.
“Our people are not asking for much; they are just asking for basic rights that will make life good for them, for their children in terms of good education, opportunities for them to be able to have good jobs as well as to ensure that infrastructure is good and that they can move freely,” he said.
“The core of my legislative agenda is to essentially face things that will directly uplift my people from overbearing poverty.
“So the real issue here is poverty and poverty is easy to understand because the explanation is that there are certain elements that will define how poor people will be and the key issues will be education and health.
“At the middle is infrastructure and opportunities. So my agenda to help my people is to see how we can improve the infrastructure in our area, especially roads,” he added.
He, therefore, urged the people of the state to vote en -mass for President Muhammadu Buhari and other APC candidates to ensure that the dividends of democracy were brought to their doorsteps.
“The message for Kwara North is simple; that is the Buhari-led APC government is a friendly government to the Kwara North people.
“It is a government that loves people generally in the country. It is a government that wants development and growth of the people. It is a government that cares about them.
“Luckily for us, that is the government we are supporting and we are beginning to see the dividends of democracy.
“I believe this government would have done more, but of course because of the clog in the wheel of progress, especially in the Senate and House of Representatives, much was not achieved.
“That is why many of us are coming up to support this government and support the president to make sure he is able to deliver more to the people.
“So, the message to my people is that it is a right choice to stay with Buhari, to stay with APC because we are beginning to see light at the end of the tunnel,” Umar said.
He claimed that from intelligence report and from the hard work of the party in the area, 75 per cent of the votes from the zone would be delivered to the president and APC. (NAN)