Francis Sardauna
A Katsina State governorship aspirant on the platform of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), Senator Abubakar Yar’Adua, has attributed the security and economic challenges besetting the state to the negligence of the poor masses by leaders in the state.
He argued that the challenges bedevilling the state were as a result of decades of utter neglect of the masses, whom he said constituted 99 per cent of the state’s population by successful governments.
Yar’Adua made the declaration in Katsina Tuesday while addressing journalists shortly after notifying the state leadership of the APC of his intention to join the 2023 governorship race.
He said: “As you all know, Katsina State is now in a dire and critical socio-political and economic situation that requires urgent remediation and fixing.
“We need to quickly come to the rescue of our state and salvage it from its current challenges and economic quagmire – both of which are results of decades of utter neglect of the teeming talakawa (the poor) that constitute more than 99% of our state’s population, by those who should serve them.
“Most significantly, we plan to confront the current insecurity challenges head on. Our people must not only be secured but must be seen to be and feel totally secure.”
According to him, “We cannot idly stand by and watch criminals, bandits, insurgents, bigots and zealous terrorise innocent citizens, indiscriminately killing and maiming them as well as raping our women and girls and separating young babies from their babies.”
The former Katsina Central senator vowed to create 100,000 direct and indirect jobs every year for the teeming unemployed youths in the state if elected governor in 2023.
He also promised to expand the state’s internally generated revenue by identifying other revenue improvement sources, saying: “Our target is to improve IGR by 1,000 per cent in four years.”
