President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has done for the north more than any other Nigerian leader, Kaduna state Governor Uba Sani has said.
The governor, who declared unapologetically that Kaduna remains a one-party state, further said the Tinubu-led government recently approved projects for the development of the north western part of the country.
He, therefore, said the state would support and work towards President Tinubu for a second term.
Governor Sani spoke Friday morning while receiving some visiting journalists on tour of both the projects undergone by his administration and that of the federal government in Kaduna.
He said: “So today, what is happening? I know a lot of people are talking about Northern Nigeria, Northern Nigeria. Let me make it clear to all of you. President Bola Tinubu has done to the north more than any leader in the history of Nigeria. And I can give you some facts.
“Today, two major projects were approved for Kaduna. One is Light Rail, which is about 50 km corridor and how much is that? It’s about N1 trillion and many people are talking about Tinubu
supporting the south. Is Kaduna in the south? Is it in the southwest? Kaduna is in the north.
“Again, today, federal executive council approved the construction of Mandu to Birnin Gwari Road -122 km, about N178 billion. This is a road that was abandoned for over two decades. It takes a lot of time for President Bola Tinubu to see reasons… “
“In December, 2022, we went there with some of our friends here. It was a journey of about less than two hours. But it took us five hours. So there were two major problems we faced. Number one, the problem of security because at that time, in 2022, you cannot travel from Kaduna to Birnin Gwari without military escort. Without armoured vehicles, fully armed, with military, not even police.
“But today, you can go to Birnin Gwari without police escort, even now. And when we came here, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu promised us in Birnin Gwari that the first thing he will do is address the problem of security. And after that, we will look at infrastructure. Today, he has fulfilled his promise.
That is the reason why the whole of Kaduna State will forever be grateful to President Bola Tinubu-led. And I can assure you, Kaduna state as we are speaking, we have no opposition. That is the fact of the matter. Kaduna is a one-party state. And I have no apology for that. I have no apology. I’m sorry,” he added.
Taking a jibe at the opposition, the governor said as one of those who made some sacrifices for the entrenchment of democracy in the country, he wouldn’t stand to watch it being truncated by some individuals.
He said: “When some journalists are talking about promoting or supporting some political leaders in this country who are working toward creating our democracy. Many times I see a lot of people keep asking questions. Why? You may not understand. But people like us understand that. We had a lot of sleepless nights in the past. Some of us lost our freedoms. We went to detentions. We fought for this democracy. At that time many journalists lost their freedoms. Some even lost their lives …fighting to defend democracy, fighting to ensure that this democracy is sustained.”
Recalling how Tinubu supported “most of us in civil rights movement as well as journalists alike”, he said “our leader, President Bola Tinubu was there for us. Supported democracy, not only that after 1999 election he continued to ensure that democracy is entrenched.”
Describing some persons as latter day activists, Sani said: “I can tell you we fought with them because of the military as they were military apologists. That was the reason why a few weeks ago. I made a claim. We know those people fighting for political office but we also know what they are fighting to ensure that they truncate this democracy and that’s the reason why we have no option but to resist them.
“And the only way we can resist them is to continue to support President Bola Tinubu who is the only person among them with political and democratic qualifications. Most of them are talking about democracy. What do they know about democracy? We were in Kaduna here we went to detention. When Abacha died, I was in detention here in Kaduna, at the police station here in Kaduna detained by the military and I was only released because Abacha died.”
