Who is Hon. Mohammed Ali?
I am Hon. Mohammed Ali, a detribalized Dekina man with a heart of service.
What led you into politics?
The desire to serve my people drew me into politics. Power is not a platform for arrogance but service to the people. The slogan of my party is “Power to the People”. Democracy should give water, education, healthcare, good roads, jobs and food to the people. This is the essence of positions and power. I am in politics to better the lot of the people.
How has it been with you and politics?
I thank the people for believing in my intentions, ideas and ideals. Politics could be very dirty but we still have great minds in it. My leaders and followers in Dekina Local Government Area have been very wonderful. And when you learn at the feet of our indefatigable governor, His Excellency, Alhaji Idris Wada, you have no choice than to key into his transformational agenda. So far, so good.
What are your chances of winning the May 4 Chairmanship election in Dekina L.G.A.?
The power of determining who wins and who doesn’t win is in the hands of the electorate. Power belongs to the people as bestowed by God Almighty. At our own level, we are campaigning hard to sell our transformation agenda to the people of the Local Government Area. Dekina has always vote PDP and I know they will continue the trend on May 4 by the grace of God. We have the best plans for the development of the LGA.
The ACN has been alleging that your party, PDP is planning to rig the next council poll in the state. How true is this?
It is normal for the weaker party to cry foul even before the contest. If we rely on rigging, we won’t be campaigning. We would just sit down and expect to win even without the votes of our people. Gov. Wada has made it clear that his administration is committed to organizing the best council poll this nation has ever witnessed. One thing I know is that we are campaigning harder than the opposition parties. Our structures will also be a special advantage.
Tell the world about your plans for Dekina if voted chairman on may 4?
Our priorities are clear. We have to give the best possible education to our children and support their dreams in life. Education is the bedrock of other forms of development. We will strive hard to improve our food production through credit backing and mechanization. The State Government is already leading the way in this direction. We will build more health facilities and employ more health personnel to man our health centres. Our government will also open a new vista of job creation through laudable and profitable ventures. We will fix our roads because it is only through good roads that our agricultural plans can be achieved. We will also enter into collaboration with relevant agencies to provide potable water for our people. Job generation shall form the backbone of our Youth Empowerment Drive. Our women shall be trained in different trades and provided with working tools. Dekina will be transformed if they can entrust us with the service mantle.
How can you achieve all these with the poor allocation to L.G.A.?
What we need do is to get our priorities right. To succeed, we need planning and the will to see through our plans. We need timelines and make revenue generation a critical backbone of our plans. We cannot continue to depend wholly on the grants from the Federal Government. We have to generate revenue and we already have a blueprint for that.
Hon. Ali, how will you rate Gov. Wada’s administration?
He has been wonderful for Kogi State. I said it from the inception of his administration that Kogi is lucky to have Wada at the helms of affairs. He is a man of vision and his drive to reposition Kogi State as an industrial giant is worth our commendation. His administration is rehabilitating a lot of roads in the state to boost transportation is a driver of a commercial state. he is touching all the sectors of the economy. We need to support him to keep delivering democracy dividends to our people.
What do you have to say about talks of amnesty for the insurgents in the nation?
I believe that no cost is too much to secure the lives of Nigerians. Our economy has lost enough to insurgency in this nation and I want to commend the Federal Government for their initiative in opening dialogue with them in order to bring an end to the crisis.
What is your agenda for the youths of Dekina?
My team is working on a range of initiatives. We are looking at ICT as a medium through which we can empower the youths. We are looking at vocational training and mechanized agriculture. We are not going to joke with the future of our youths. They have great trust in me because I am one of them. We are determined to equip our youths with what will give them stable income. Fishery and poultry will be targeted on a massive scale with the hope of creating jobs and food through those avenues. Beyond that, we are taking a holistic look at how we can empower our women in order to be able to strengthen the economy of the home. We hope to train jobless women in various trades and provide working tools and machines for them.
Your word to your supporters.
Shun violence and keep selling our laudable programmes to the people of Dekina so that we can have the kind of Dekina that can put the citizens first.
Culled from The Banner Newspaper
