Dr. Nentawe Yilwatda, the All Progressives Congress’s candidate for governor in Plateau State, stated on Monday that he was still debating who would run as his running mate in the upcoming general election in 2023.
This was said by Yilwatda, who officially announced his candidacy for governor on behalf of the APC more than a month ago, while he was in Jos, the state capital, to visit the state secretariat of the Nigeria Union of Journalists.
He claims that I’m still talking to all the relevant parties in Plateau to make sure that the candidate I pick for my running mate would be well-liked by the electorate. Furthermore, I still have the legal time to accomplish that. So why should I be rushing now?
Yilwatda, who resigned from his post as the Independent National Electoral Commission’s resident electoral commissioner in Benue State to run for governor of Plateau, also claimed that, in contrast to popular belief, he was not a candidate of the state government but rather of the APC.
“I’m not part of the government. If the APC is not the ruling party in Plateau, I would still have emerged as the party’s candidate,” he added.
Yilwatda decried the incidents of killings and kidnappings going on in the state, saying he was prepared to address the problem and other challenges facing the state if allowed to become the governor.
“If you look at all the security challenges in Plateau, you will discover that they are all land-related or religious inclined crisis.
“If I become the governor of the state, I will create the Ministry of Internal Security to manage both the kinetic and non-kinetic dimensions of the security in the state.
“From 2006 till date, the amount we have been sharing to the state as federal allocation has been reducing.
“We haven’t mainstreamed our state economy to serve the needs of the people.
“The economy may collapse if we don’t reverse this and we will restructure our state economy to achieve the purpose.
“As a governor, we will set 13 per cent of the revenue for the vulnerable trust fund.
“I will ensure we increase the opportunities that we have in the rural communities to empower our people.
“I’m coming to do abnormal things in Plateau.
“I believe in big things and I will do big things for the people if elected, ” the governorship candidate assured.
