“Ambition should be made of sterner stuff”.
-William Shakespeare
For Senator Uba Sani, the Kaduna state governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), every vote matters. This explains why since his emergence on May 26, 2022, he has continuously been engaging with Kaduna state citizens, through town hall meetings, using advances in technology, and his magnetic one-on-one contact, in marketing his rich credentials for the job to the voters.
The official flag off of Uba Sani’s governorship election at Giwa local government area, one of the seven local government areas that he currently represents in the senate, is a mere formality of a process that has been ongoing since he declared to run for the coveted position. Though the campaign promises to be a long journey, Uba has continued to push like the marathon runner that he is, because persuading and getting the buy in of voters is the essence of political campaigns.
Uba Sani is a firm believer in hard work, a firm believer in the will of God the Almighty and of delivering on any assignment. He is a very serious minded person, who will give the governorship assignment his very best.
His determination to lead the APC to back-to-back victory is not in doubt. Of all the candidates, Uba has shown more hunger, desire and preparedness for the job.
It’s very important to stress that the people, are at the center of Uba’s politics. Like Albert Schweitzer, Uba believes that “there is no higher religion than human service”. Reason Uba Sani wants to be the governor, which definitely offers him a wider platform to positively touch the lives of the 10 million Kaduna state citizens than he has done through his Uba Sani Foundation and the Senate.
Uba Sani has been bombarding the people with his amazing and intimidating credentials for the top job; from his activities as a pro-democracy activist, to his unprecedented representation at the senate, where he recorded several accomplishments, both in the quality and number of bills, the attraction of “solid” constituency projects, like the N3. 5 billion engineering complex at the state university, the five neighbourhood sports complex in five of the seven local government areas of Kaduna Central Senatorial District, developments that certainly shames the previous senators that represented the district since 1999.
Uba, by also attracting a N100 million ICT Center to the College of Education, Kafanchan, which though located in the Southern Kaduna Senatorial District, has showed quite clearly that the whole state will be his constituency. He has shown by deeds, not words, that he will be fair and just to everyone, irrespective of faith and tribe.
The people of Giwa, who trooped out to welcome Uba and his entourage, have experienced the Uba Sani touch first-hand, either-in person or as a community. Among the numerous projects that Uba facilitated are; the construction of a 110-bed hostel at the Shehu Lawal Giwa Girls Secondary School, construction of solar powered boreholes, skills acquisition schemes, transformers, construction of nurses quarters, etc. And at the height of the insurgency, he was constantly with them whenever the terrorists struck and during celebrations.
Commendably, the near certainty of victory hasn’t made Uba contemptuous of the people, or complacent. He understands that it is never over, until it is over. The reasons he won the primaries effortlessly; his intense hard work, sustained outreach, his antecedents as a compassionate man, who has invested in people, and his amazing hard work are the same reasons the governorship election will be a walk over. You don’t change a wining formula.
On the campaign trail, Uba, as has become customary, presents the Report Card of his stewardship, listens to the people about their real needs (priority), and thereafter unfolds his SUSTAIN agenda. Conscious, that there is no perfect document, he takes notes, because development is for and about the people.
So what is Senator Uba Sani’s agenda? His campaign manifesto, as encapsulated in SUSTAIN, simply means sustaining the remarkable progress of the Nasir El-Rufai administration and building a better future. The key component of the 37-page 7-Point Agenda, Uba Sani’s pact with the Kaduna state people, is a manifesto based on the reality of where Kaduna state is presently and where it intends to be in the next eight years. “S- Safety and Security, U-Upgrade of Infrastructure, S- Strengthening Institutions, T-Trade and Investment, A- Agriculture, I- Investment in Human Capital, N- Nurturing Citizens Engagement.
Hear Uba Sani, “The APC Kaduna Team seeks to consolidate progressive governance, sustain development strides, and promote equal opportunity and the well-being of the people. We champion public good and the unity of the state in common endeavours to transform Kaduna state into a place of concord and prosperity”.
The benefit(s) of Uba Sani, carrying on from where El- Rufai would stop is the much needed continuity, just like Lagos state has tremendously benefited from an orderly continuity. Frankly speaking, Kaduna state people have shown more trust in Uba Sani than in other candidate to perform. Because of his accomplishments and the fact that in the past eight years, the APC administration under the irrepressible El-Rufai has achieved what the PDP spectacularly failed to achieve in 16 years that it governed Kaduna state.
There isn’t an iota of doubt that Senator Uba Sani is the best candidate to govern Kaduna state from May 29. He has worked hard to earn the trust of critical stakeholders, including opposing party members.
Post Script: To date, Uba Sani has campaigned in eight local government areas of the state. He hopes to embark on another round before the March elections.
Ado writes from Kaduna.
