From Noah Ebije, Kaduna
The All Progressives Congress (APC) 2023 governorship candidate in Kaduna State, and senator representing Kaduna Central in the Senate, Senator Uba Sani, has said that he will continue from where governor Nasir El-rufai stopped in administering Kaduna State if elected governor.
Senator Uba Sani said there was no shying away from the fact that El-Rufai made some mistakes while governing the affairs of the state because he is human.
The governorship hopeful stated this while interacting with journalists yesterday during media parley at the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), Kaduna State Council.
He said El-Rufai would leave the government seat poorer as a person than when he came in as governor.
He said as lawmaker he had sponsored several bills, some of which he said had been assented to by President Muhammadu Buhari.
On insecurity, Uba Sani called for creation of state police and licencing of vigilantes to carry arms to complement efforts of conventional security agencies.
He charged journalists to always endure to interrogate those running for offices in the 2023 election, saying most of them were out to enrich themselves rather than working for the larger society.
His words: “Government alone cannot create jobs for the people. We need the private sector to complement government efforts. We will continue from where our governor stopped.
“The government of Kaduna State has done a lot. When the governor came in 2015, we rehabilitated all dilapidated primary and secondary schools. He abolished school fees, which increased pupils’ enrolment.
“Kaduna State government has employed more teachers in primary and secondary schools than the ones sacked. When we look at the quality of teachers now, we say prosperity will reward El-Rufai for doing what he did. It was only teachers that were not qualified to teach that were sacked.
“The critics take their children abroad to attend school. But here in Nigeria, Governor Nasir El-Rufai was the first governor to take his children to public primary schools.
“We will continue with open door policy so that every segment of the society that is key to participate in our government will be engaged. We will even appoint some of them to work with us and move the State forward.
“El-Rufai made a humble statement recently. He said where he made mistake I will correct it if I am elected. He said I am generous because I will give from my pocket and not from government money.
“El-Rufai is never selfish for the years I have been with him. He sold thousands of government houses in Abuja without buying one for himself. He will leave Kaduna as a poorer person than he came. He always thinks of Kaduna. Kaduna will miss him just like Abuja is missing him.
“Issue of insecurity is a national crisis. But in Kaduna state we need to address insecurity. Security agencies by the constitution are not under the control of governors. The way forward is the state police. We are now over 200 population so I don’t think we have enough security agencies to take care of this figure. We need to create more vigilantes in the state.”