The outcome of the Presidential and National Assembly elections as well as the Governorship and State House of Assembly polls in Kwara has been attributed to the performance of Gov. AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq in the last four years.
The State House of Assembly member representing Eesa/Shawo/Igboidun Constituency, Mr Abdulwaheed Yusuf, said this after casting his vote at the Fire Service Open Space Polling Unit in Offa, on Saturday.
Yusuf, popularly known as JK, said that he expected the turnout to be more than the presidential election, but wasn’t, describing Saturday’s election as more or less a grassroots election.
He said that the major landmark of the 9th Assembly has been the right synergy between the Executive and Legislative arms of government, and constant oversight of job done by the Executive, which is one of the beauties of democracy.
“The job of the legislator are to represent their people, legislate and do oversight functions, all these are done to ensure we play our parts, as lawmakers.
“People are feeling the dividends of democracy. This government touched every ward in the 16 local government areas of the state, and part of the impacts are in roads constructed, rural electrification, provision of water and above all, provision of the right atmosphere to do business with ease.
“Our people equally benefitted in areas of appointments, and I must say this is the best time for Offa in government. And that’s why we all came out enmasse, to show appreciation, by reciprocating the gestures with votes,” Yusuf said.
On the shortage of ballot papers that delayed the election in some parts of Kwara South, Yusuf said that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) may have considered the voting strength at each Polling Unit, based on the outcome of the presidential election to project, even though the ballot papers were later provided.
“I think the average voting strength of each polling unit was taken into consideration in allocating the ballots. And that will not in any way change the situation at the end of the day.”
He, however, added that the arrangement doesn’t change anything, as it affected all the competing political parties.