BY AHMED AKANBI
The governorship candidate of the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC) in Kwara State, Prof Abdulmumin Yinka Ajia, has formally flagged off his 2027 governorship campaign with a pledge to build a government that works for the people.
Ajia kicked off the campaign on Wednesday, at Oja-Oba, near the Emir’s Palace in Ilorin, where he unveiled his blueprint tagged ‘Forward Kwara Agenda.’
Speaking before supporters, traditional titleholders, traders, artisans, transport workers and youths, Ajia said his choice of Oja-Oba was deliberate, describing it as the place that shaped his understanding of work, sacrifice, dignity and the daily struggles of ordinary Kwarans.
He recalled assisting his mother and his father’s elder sister who traded around Oja-Oba as a boy in the 1980s, saying the experience taught him the resilience of families, particularly women who labour to hold homes together.
The NDC candidate said his graduate education in the United States and experience in academic and business leadership exposed him to societies where public institutions work, but insisted he would adapt such lessons to Kwara’s realities.
“The people of Kwara are not poor because they are lazy. The people of Kwara are hardworking,” Ajia declared.
He argued that hard work alone cannot defeat weak systems, and that government must ease citizens’ burden by fixing healthcare, education, roads, security, transportation and jobs.
“You have carried Kwara for too long. Now, government must carry its own responsibility,” he said, promising an administration anchored on household stability, food security, affordable healthcare, education, safety, jobs and income.
Under the Forward Kwara Agenda, Ajia promised to strengthen community security, expand affordable health insurance, improve public transport, link education and skills to employment, and support traders, artisans, cooperatives and small businesses with measurable timelines.
He also unveiled an economic plan built on zonal comparative advantages — garri production in Osi, sweet potatoes in Ibolo, aso-oke in Ilorin, fish economy in Edu/Patigi, soybean and yam in Baruten/Kaiama — linking agriculture to processing, storage, markets, and jobs.
Ajia further pledged to improve worker welfare, create a predictable framework for pensioners’ gratuities, rehabilitate schools and health facilities, improve water and sanitation, modernise markets and motor parks, and publish every major promise with a timetable and responsible institution.
At the event, he unveiled his running mate, Elder Ajayi Israel Awolowo, a retired educationist, and introduced NDC candidates for Senate, House of Representatives and State Assembly, urging voters to give the party a unified mandate to avoid legislative gridlock.
Immediately after the flag-off, Ajia paid courtesy visits to the four Baloguns of Ilorin Emirate to seek royal blessings, prayers and support, saying his campaign would respect the traditional institution and focus on measurable results, not slogans.