Thanks very much Hezekiel for your kind comments. I have actually posted the letter of intent and the Roadmap document in the beginning of August. It was a PDF document and it was about 2MB. It may have discouraged people from opening it. I am reproducing the Roadmap below which should answer your question about what we want to do. I hope it satisfy you.
Regards
SMLukman
Roadmap to 2011: Agenda for Service
| LGAs | Population | Poverty Levels | Revenue from Federation Account | ||
| | | POVI* | May 99 – June 10 | May 07 – June 10 | June 10 |
| | | Baseline = 4 | (N) | (N) | (N) |
| Zaria | 408,198 | 1.88 | | | |
| Sabon Gari | 286,871 | 1.76 | | | |
| Soba | 293,270 | 1.64 | | | |
| Makarfi | 146,259 | 1.75 | | | |
| Kudan | 138,992 | 1.42 | | | |
| Kubau | 282,045 | 1.86 | | | |
| Ikara | 193,926 | 1.61 | | | |
| Lere | 331,161 | 1.99 | | | |
* This is presented in the KADSEEDS document based on 1999 Kaduna State Poverty Index (POVI) study by the UNDP.
Incumbent Senator Ahmed Mohammed Makarfi (PDP)
1.0 The Issues
The political challenge before the nation, however defined, is simply that of loss of hope in political parties, recycled leadership and failed politicians. With national elections just months away, what can we possibly do to turn the political fortunes of the country? Is it possible to invent a decent, functional and democratic political party? Can we possibly break away from the current vicious leadership cycle that only reinforces bad governance? How can the nation produce a new generation of value-driven and issue-oriented politicians?
There are no easy answers. Yet, our future depends on objective and rational answers to these questions. Our children’s future, happiness and capacity to commit themselves, to serve, to contribute to the development of the nation and therefore bring about a prosperous and stronger country depends on our ability to provide practical answers to these questions. Like Gen. Yakubu Gowon asserted in 1970 while proclaiming the end of Nigerian Civil War: “A united and prosperous Nigeria is a task that must be done”!
2.0 Introducing Myself
Who am I to seek to address you and why should you pay attention to me? In what ways can I make any claim to answer any of the questions I am posing here and how valid are my answers? Am I not one of those opportunists aspiring for political office, only to turn my back against the people once I am elected into office?
Salihu Mohammed Lukman is a development economist, born 47 years ago in Anguwan Alkali, Zaria City. My father, Alhaji Mohammed Lukman, was an Area Court Judge. I started my educational career in 1970 in Zangon Kataf LEA Primary School before moving to Ikara. I proceeded to Saminaka before finally moving back to Zaria where I completed primary school in 1976.
I had my secondary education in Kufena College, Wusasa Zaria between 1976 and 1981, and moved to the College of Advanced Studies (CAS), Zaria between 1984 and 1986. I then proceeded to read B. Sc Economics from ABU Zaria between 1986 and 1989. I also obtained M. Sc Economics from ABU in 2000.
Since 1995, I have been married to Amina Salihu, daughter of Alh. Salihu Yusuf Ikon Allah, who worked with the Nigerian Tobacco Company (NTC) since the late 1960s and retired in the 1990s. Amina was born in Zaria in 1970, had her primary education in Therbow Primary School, secondary in Federal Government College, Bida (1981 – 1986), CAS Zaria in 1986 – 1988. She obtained B. Sc and M. Sc in Political Science from ABU Zaria. We are blessed with three children.
I started my activist work as a young student in CAS Zaria and emerged to serve as the President of the National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS) 1988 – 89. After my National Service in 1991 in Maiduguri, I was appointed the National Secretary of the Committee for the Defence of Human Rights (CDHR), Lagos. Later, in the same year, I was elected founding Deputy General Secretary of the Campaign for Democracy (CD), Lagos. In 1992, I was appointed the Research Officer of the National Union of Textile, Garment and Tailoring Workers of Nigeria (NUTGTWN), Lagos.
Following the return to civil rule in the country and withdrawal of administrative control of the Nigerian trade unions by military governments, in 2000, I was seconded from the Textile Union to manage an EU funded project on rebuilding the Nigerian Trade Union Movement. In 2002, I was appointed the Education Secretary of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC). I held that position until October 2006 when I resigned from the NLC and went back to Zaria and formed the Movement for a Better Future as a platform for community organizing and development.
Since 2006, I have been a community organizer and development advocate in Kaduna State. Today, I function both as a community organizer and a national ‘mobiliser’ facilitating political negotiations across interests in order to engender credible elections in 2011. Since August 2009, I have served as the Group Organising Secretary/CEO of Good Governance Group (3G), Abuja led by Sen. Ken Nnamani and Alh. Aminu Bello Masari. The group is committed to institutionalizing values of effective, efficient and responsive leadership in Nigeria through the development of strategic framework for the evolution of democratic political structures that will guarantee the emergence of credible candidates for the 2011 elections and beyond.
Between December 2009 and March 2010, following the leadership vacuum created by the mismanagement of late President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua’s sickness, I was among the group of 54 Nigerians that initiated the formation of Save Nigeria Group (SNG) and I coordinated its activities in Abuja.
Given all the political challenges facing the nation, I believe that 2011 must translate into an opportunity to respond to these challenges. The question is: Are we going to be able to produce new organisations that would offer contrasting political values and therefore throw up new sets of politicians? Or, are we just simply re-inventing and reproducing PDP in different guises and forms?
My conclusion is that something needs to be done urgently to halt any move towards re-inventing or reproducing PDP in any guise or form. Unfortunately, we all appear held back and frigid and no one is willing to move into unfamiliar grounds. The consequence is that for more than three decades, the country has been stuck with the same crop of leaders. To that extent therefore, we are continually regressing back to the 1980s governance models. Something just has to be done!
3.0 What I am offering
At 47, I refuse to pass the buck any more. We cannot afford the luxury of simply blaming our leaders for our woes. Gen. Gowon was about 15 years younger than me when he became Head of State in 1967; Gen. Murtala Mohammed and Gen. Olusegun Obasanjo were nearly 10 years younger when they became Head of State in 1975 and 1976 respectively. Gen. Buhari and Gen. Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida were in their early 40s when they took the responsibility to lead this country. The point that must be emphasised is that moving this country forward requires some courage. There is no passing the buck.
My decision is therefore to offer myself to serve my Constituents, Kaduna North Senatorial District, as a Senator for the period 2011 – 2015 legislative calendar. In offering myself, I bring with me years of experience as a leader, an advocate, activist, ‘mobiliser’ and development practitioner. In my short and modest years from my student days to working career in the human rights and trade union movement, I have risen to national prominence. I wish further impact more fundamentally and directly in the lives of people in the community that produced me. I have since October 2006 chosen the path of direct service to my constituents and I have kept faith with that.
I am offering to serve as a Senator of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, representing my Senatorial District, Kaduna North, in order to prove that it is possible to make a difference; it is possible to be different; it is possible to serve through politics in Nigeria and finally, but more importantly, there are Nigerians who are committed to the Nigerian people because our parents, brothers, sisters and children are organically and intricately the Nigerian people!
4.0 Under what Platform?
In deciding my platform, the question I seek to answer is: Are we prepared for the demands of internal democracy and accountable governance? My selling point is that we are known on the political stage as a movement and have the attention of those who matter in terms of public opinion. We have in so many respects achieved this through our work under the Movement for a Better Future over the last 4 – 5 years.
We are today perceived as a people-oriented political movement. Since the days of former Governor Ahmed Mohammed Makarfi through to Gov. Namadi Sambo and today’s Gov. Patrick Ibrahim Yakowa, we have consistently campaigned for accountability and good governance in Kaduna State. Over these years, we have successfully emerged as the voice of conscience for the state. This has endeared us to our people and many of our community leaders.
The challenge before us today is to join the race not just to win elections but more importantly, to bring about fundamental changes in our politics, governance and serve as model for our children and young ones.
In the context of Kaduna State, it will appear that our only option is the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN). This is because the ACN is the only party with very good potential to develop national structures and attract credible Nigerians into politics.
5.0 Our Clarion Call
We have committed ourselves to spearheading the development of structures at all levels of our society that will competently and efficiently defeat the PDP in the 2011 elections. We are going to work as a team with very competent and fresh candidates to contest for House of Representatives and House of Assembly elections. As a team, we will challenge our people in other parts of the state to also develop very strong teams and join forces together to ensure the emergence of a competent, committed and astute personality as ACN candidate for the gubernatorial elections.
In the march towards victory and producing a development oriented Kaduna State government, we shall extend our hands of fellowship to all parties who subscribe to the principles of moving Kaduna State and Nigeria forward. It is our belief that the task of producing a new Nigeria, difficult as it is, is not impossible.
We therefore call on all well meaning Nigerian patriots to come with us into the ACN and work to usher in a New Beginning for our people, society and Nigerian politics.
6.0 Our Commitment
Acknowledging that the defeat of PDP will not necessarily translate into producing what people want. In fact, if anything, there are very good experiences in Nigeria to prove this point. Bauchi under Yuguda is a classical example. The question of how we will guarantee a difference is therefore fundamental. Many opportunists only capitalise on the frustrations of the people to win elections without any commitment. We are venturing into politics with clear and specific commitments. Our commitments include:
a. The development of structures that will subordinate us to our people and compel us to implement agendas set by our people. Our starting point will be to develop a Senatorial Campaign Directorate with credible representatives from each of the Local Governments in our constituency. The Senatorial Campaign Directorate will be transformed into a Service Coordination Bureau for the Senatorial District with the mandate of:
(i) Facilitating consultations in each local government on support services to be provided. We shall establish in each local government project offices with mandate to provide support in the areas of health, education, water and agricultural development. Each project office will establish working committees in each of these mandate areas. Where there are nongovernmental initiatives working in these areas, our project offices will target to harness the potentials of these initiatives and strengthen service delivery. Funds will be sourced for the work of these offices.
(ii) The direct victims of poverty in our society are women. In most of our societies today they are left with the excruciating burden of fending for our families. To a large extent, they are the bread winners of most homes. In order that we are able to prioritise issues of women in our programmes, we will ensure that women are represented in our Campaign Directorate, the Service Coordination Bureau and all our project office working committees. In addition, once elected we will establish Women Capacity Development Directorate (WCDD) with the responsibility of providing counselling services, initiating skills and capacity support services and other strategic women intervention support programmes.
(iii) Organise biennial Town Hall Meetings in all the eight LGAs of our constituency. Since we will contest the elections as a team, we shall therefore ensure that each member of team renders account to the electorate. We shall use the Town Hall Meetings to establish the priority needs of our people and with the knowledge of that, design service delivery strategies. Where service delivery strategy requires the engagement of any statutory government agency, we shall take measures to employ our legislative powers and functions to ensure that such agency respond to the needs of our people.
(iv) Establishment of Employment and Youth Initiative Programme (EYIP). Given high levels of unemployment, especially graduate unemployment, EYIP will be geared towards registering all unemployed youths across all our local governments. We shall provide information services regarding job availability, offer counselling services on how our youths can access job opportunities as well as collaborate with other organisations such as National Directorate of Employment (NDE), National Poverty Eradication Programme (NAPEP) and Small and Medium Enterprise Development Agency of Nigeria (SMEDAN) to provide skill acquisition training programme and possible soft loans to our young ones.
b. Strengthen existing nongovernmental service frontiers. There are so many nongovernmental service frontiers in our society delivering services in the areas of education, health, agriculture, etc. We shall link up with all these service frontiers and develop strategies of working together to strengthen existing capacities for service delivery.
c. Development of our young ones. The future of our society depends on our capacity to positively direct the energy and resourcefulness of our young population. We shall work with professional and educational groups in our constituency to initiate a programme that will harness the potentials of our youths. A youth development committee will be instituted in each of our project offices with mandate to promote educational and inter schools competition.
These are our immediate commitments.
-----Original Message-----
From: usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com [mailto:usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com] On Behalf Of Gikambi Peter
Sent: Thursday, November 04, 2010 8:00 AM
To: usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com
Subject: Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Update on Kaduna North Senatorial Bid
This is fantastic Salihu.
But would you please tell this forum in a few sentences what your
actual dream and plans for Kaduna are? What exactly do you what to do
differently? By this, you may gain more ambassadors and convert some
of us who already think that someone else is ahead. I am not having
anybody else in mind specifically, but a Fulani proverb says, Don't
give your daughter's hand to a stranger. Can we know what our son in
law is made of?
Hezekiel G Peter,
Project Co-ordinator.
Nation Media Group
On 11/2/10, Salihu Moh. Lukman <slukman45@gmail.com> wrote:
> Since the beginning of August 2010 when I announced my intention to contest
> for Kaduna North Senatorial seat under the platform of the Action Congress
> of Nigeria (ACN), we have embarked on mobilisation, first within the party
> but also generally in the constituency aimed basically at presenting
> ourselves and to that extent popularising my candidature.
>
>
>
> 2. A major challenge we had to address at the beginning was the need to
> build the structures of the ACN and familiarise ourselves with the
> leadership of the party in the state and in all the eight (8) Local
> Governments of the constituency. To achieve this, we went round all the
> eight LGAs, met with the party leadership and assess the challenges facing
> them.
>
>
>
> 3. After going round, we identified that a common problem of the party was
> the absence of offices. In most cases, their former offices were available
> but rents were due and couldn't pay. As a result, in almost all the LGAs,
> they were locked out. Interestingly, in two LGAs, our meetings with the
> party officials held in front of the locked offices.
>
>
>
> 4. We concluded our meetings with officials of the party in the LGAs in
> August. In September we were able to support all the LGAs address the issue
> of offices. We also secured a central campaign office in Zaria located on
> Wusasa road, after the Tuberculosis centre, before MRS filling station.
>
>
>
> 5. Throughout our visits to the party structures in the LGAs we emphasised
> our intentions and request for support of the party leadership. In addition,
> we also sent out letters of declaration of intent to people in the LGAs.
> They include religious leaders (Imams, leaderships of leadership of
> Jama'atul Izalatul Bid'a wa Iqamatul Sunna, Christian Association of
> Nigeria, etc.), traditional rulers, professional and youth associations,
> etc. We have also written to all the security agencies in the LGAs.
>
>
>
> 6. The formal declaration took place on October 2 at Tee Jay Palace Hotel,
> Zaria under the chairmanship of Prof. Ango Abdullahi. It was well attended
> by friends, family members and elders in the constituency. Key speakers at
> the occasion were former school teachers, friends, family members and
> Comrade Abdulwaheed Umar, President Nigeria Labour Congress. Comrade Adams
> Oshiomhole was not able to attend but sent apology and promised to be part
> of the campaign once the open air activities commences.
>
>
>
> 7. Immediately following the declaration, together with the leadership of
> the party in all the LGAs, we setup a 5-member campaign team in each of the
> LGAs. The 5-member campaign team were requested to follow up letters of
> declaration of intent and setup appointments in each of the LGAs. So far, we
> have already visited Lere and Kubau LGAs. Kudan, Makarfi, Ikara and Soba
> will be taking place between November 5 - 8. Zaria and Sabon Gari LGAs are
> ongoing.
>
>
>
> 8. The feelers are quite encouraging and overwhelming. Everywhere we go, we
> keep hearing "this is the first time, a candidate or aspirant has come to
> seek for support". In the office of one of the security officials, we were
> told "this is the first time a candidate has visited the office". In
> virtually all the places, both traditional and religious leaders have told
> us that this is the first time any politician has come to seek for
> endorsement. In fact, in Lere, we are told that the current office occupant
> has never visited the place, both during the electioneering period and
> after. We are informed that the last time he visited the LGA was when he was
> a governor when he went to condole one of the traditional rulers after he
> lost a close relations.
>
>
>
> 9. We have been humbled by these visits and engagements. We have in all the
> situations emphasised that we are going round to initiate the process of
> developing relationships with the people and to that extent, lay the
> foundation for service delivery. We must admit that pessimism is well
> entrench and the expression that "we hope you will also not disappear after
> you win" keeps recurring. We have made commitments that ours will truly be
> different and we shall establish functional offices that will implement all
> our campaign agenda in all the eight LGAs. Right now, some work has
> commenced in terms of developing concepts in specific areas of service
> delivery including some funding mobilisation
>
>
>
> 10. We have made good progress and we can say we have changed mindsets in
> the constituency largely because of our objective approach. For instance, we
> have challenged the approach of focusing on a party and launch a major
> campaign around the need to focus on individual candidates rather than
> party. This is very well received and its sustainability is a key success
> factor for us. A second determinant is mobilising family and community
> leaders and involving them in the process. This is working very well.
>
>
>
> 11. So far, I am the only aspirant for the seat in the party. We are working
> very well with the party leadership at all levels to use my aspiration as a
> major pillar of membership recruitment for the party. Two people have so far
> emerged as aspirants for the seat in Congress for Progressive Change (CPC).
> These are Hon. Datti Baba Ahmed and Dr. Hussaini Dikko of ABU Zaria. Nobody
> has emerged yet in Peoples' Democratic Party (PDP). The incumbent, Sen.
> Ahmed Mohammed Makarfi is yet to pick form his current party (PDP). There
> are speculations that he want to come into ACN and aspire for President.
>
>
>
> 12. I want to thank everyone for your kind and generous support. So far, we
> have expended about N7 million in the campaigns, most of it coming from
> contributions. We are confident that we will win, not just the primaries,
> but the elections. In sha Allah, we shall represent Kaduna North in the 2011
> - 2015 Senate of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. Between now and the period
> of election, I will be giving you monthly update, highlighting key
> developments in the campaigns.
>
>
>
> 13. Finally, I want to restate our appeal for support and request that you
> please also help mobilise financial contributions. Kindly channel all
> contributions to the following: account name - Salihu M. Lukman: Bank PHB
> 1011484448.
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> Salihu Mohammed Lukman
>
> Senatorial Aspirant, Kaduna North
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
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