Why I Am Contesting As Lawmaker At The Lower Chamber—Rahis
The All Progressive Congress (APC) Candidate of Maiduguri Metropolitan Council (MMC) in this month's general elections, who was the Caretaker Chairman of the Council for five times, Alhaji Kadiri Rahis has said that he was compelled to join the race to unseat Hon. Gujbawu of the PDP due to poor representation which has caused a lot of economic hardship and lack of job among the youth of his Consttuency.
He also disclosed that the escalating rate of insecurity which is currently ravaging Maiduguri and some parts of the north east, living thousands of people displaced from their homes need leaders who have their people's interest at heart.
Addressing Journalists in Maiduguri, the Borno state capital on his plan to address what he called 'socio-economic problems and poverty', Rahis stated that he would encourage government to face these problems squarely through effective legislation.
He accused the incumbent, Hon. Mohamned Gujbawu of the PDP of having nothing good to offer for the people of the constituency, stressing that, in the last four years when he represented Maiduguri, not a single Federal presence or any youth benefitted from federal government employment or through its policies and programmes.
Rahis stated that other constituencies have benefitted in the area of portable drinking water and other social amenities from the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) programmes, Maiduguri under Gujbawu has not benefited a single borehole, as almost all the boreholes drilled in Maiduguri were executed by the state government under his leadership as Caretaker Chairman of MMC in the last four years.
Pointing out that no single people-oriented project has been executed by the Federal government in Maiduguri in the past four years of Gujbawu's poor representation at the lower chamber of the National Assembly.
He said that the reason behind offering himself to represent Maiduguri was borne out of the clarion calls from stakeholders and majority of the people of the constituency to contest and effect change aimed at addressing their plights and aspirations which they said, Hon. Gujbawu has denied them.
"I want to use this opportunity between me and my Allah (God) that I am not going into the race to serve my personal or family interest but for the collective interest of the generality of my people. We have seen how our people have been sidelined from federal government gesture due to poor representation, and we don't want such to happen again, and that is why I had to answer their clarion call to ensure that change which my people need is actaulized through me as their representative in this month general elections," Rahis stated.