The Deputy Chairman of Advanced Peoples Democratic Party (APDA), Hon. Salihu Adamu has called on electorates in the state get prepared for change in government leadership.
Adamu made the call during a meeting with aspirants contesting under the platform of APDA in Lokoja on Saturday.
He assured the aspirants that the party is ready to take over Kogi state from present leaders in 2019.
Adamu, a former chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC), bemoaned the current state of civil servants in Kogi States occasioned by non-payment of salaries.
“APDA is ready to take over Kogi state from APC and the remnants of PDP. All the politicians in PDP and APC are well known to us, we have played politics with each other and they know our pedigree. We have taken the bull by the horn, working hard to ensure we form government in 2019.
“Forget about those grandstanding that they will take over Kogi state in 2019. We know them, they are not coming with any new thing to offer the people apart from the deceit they are used to. Most of us can no longer be deceived in politics, we have a network spread across Kogi state and call confirm that our people are tired of politicians’ trend of deceit from 1999 till date.
“Between 1999 and 2014, I was a member of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). I served as Special Adviser to the immediate past Governor Idris Wada before decamping to APC in 2014 to work for late Prince Abubakar Audu, unfortunately, we lost him and our votes were inherited in way that is causing problem today in Kogi state. Problems of non-payment of salaries, no development. There is nothing to write home about in Kogi state today.
“I want to assure every Kogite that APDA government will pay workers salaries as at when due, will spread development to every nook and crannies of the state and will stand by our words.
“Kogi state has no cause not to pay full salaries with all the assistance from Federal Government and statutory allocations. If what the government got had been properly utilized, nobody will be complaining about unpaid salaries in Kogi state.
“There are people who are deceiving themselves that APC is progressing, I have not seen that in Kogi state as the party has nothing to write home about in Kogi state. The government must terminate in 2019.
“I want Kogites to open their eyes and ears to see that the siege is over. APDA government will not pay percentage salaries. We will give a sense of belonging to every individual. APDA have people that matters, people that will harness our abundant resources to develop Kogi state.
“Politics is about people, you don’t expect people to work for you and dump them when you are in government which is the case in Kogi state today. APDA won’t do that.
“I did not start playing politics today, I have been active since 1976. In 1079, I was the agent of NPN in Adangele Unit. I contested the chairmanship election under the NRC in the old Kogi local government that comprised of present Lokoja and Kogi local governments. I have remained relevant in politics till date because of my sincerity,” he said.
Adamu described the current reconciliation efforts by APC as a fruitless exercise. He advised the APC-led government to expend more energy on reconciling with civil servants that are owed backlogs of salaries.
“I don’t know what they are reconciling. Do they want to reconcile with workers who have not been paid salaries and have become internally displaced persons (IDPs) in their own state? When people say they are reconciling, it means someone has committed an offense, let them tell us the offense they committed before reconciliation. I was the deputy director of the security committee during the 2015 general elections, I was the liaison officer on security in Kogi local government, since this government came to power have they ever ask who and who worked for the success they inherited? Who and who are they reconciling? That reconciliation will not work. The person leading the committee in Kogi West, Hon. Duro Meseko is well known to me but I cannot imagine him reconciling the irreconcilable.”
He assured Kogi electorates that APDA will form government in Kogi State come 2019.
