A House of Representatives aspirant for Zaria Federal Constituency, Alhaji Aliyu Lawal Ibrahim "Ali Cairo," has said the primary reason for his political ambition is to give a voice to the youths of Zaria and ensure they are not denied whatever is due to them from the federal government.
Speaking to Daily Trust, the immediate past Team Manager of the National men's U-20 team, the Flying Eagles, said his background as a sports administrator had exposed him to human management which also prepared him to manage socio-economic and political affairs of his people. "Having excelled in football administration, I felt it was time to try something new. I believe that if you succeed as a football administrator, it will be easy for you to succeed in politics because what we do as team administrators is manage people. Politics is also about people and resource management.
"So, football administration has trained or prepared me to manage the affairs of the people.
It is against this background that I am highly motivated to seek to represent the good people of Zaria in the House of Representatives.
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"I have consulted widely and the responses have been positive. If you have been following me on social media, I asked my supporters which party I should join. They unanimously chose the African Democratic Congress (ADC). As a politician, it is necessary to listen to people so I accepted their choice. Moreover, I believe in the ideologies of the party. My parents and religious leaders also advised me to join ADC," said "Ali Cairo.
Lawal also said even as he is not a money bag, he is not worried because the people of Zaria are no longer interested in politicians who use money to deceive them.
"I am not stupendously rich but I am going to contest. I am counting on the political awareness of my people. They have realised that people who entice them with money and other materials do not mean well for them. Once they get into power, they forget those who stood under the sun to vote for them. They concentrate on themselves and their families.
"Fortunately, in Zaria, people are no longer ready to be induced with money to vote for candidates. They now prefer to vote for candidates who will protect their interest for four years and even beyond.
"So, what we as young and selfless politicians are doing is to tell the people that we do not have money but they should vote for us based on our good backgrounds.
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"If they vote for us, they won't regret it. Most of us are from families with impeccable records so we won't want to tarnish our families' hard earned reputations," said Lawal.
