2027: Edo NDC Reps candidate pledges fund to empower youth

As the campaign continues, the candidate of the Nigeria Democratic Congress for Etsako Federal Constituency, Muhammed Bawa, has said that the era of political tokenism and career benchwarmers in Edo North is over.

Addressing community stakeholders, youth groups, and traders during his ongoing campaign tour of the constituency on Thursday, Bawa stated that his bid for the House of Representatives is an ideological rebellion against the systemic impoverishment of the Etsako people.

Unveiling his Efua (Light) Manifesto, the NDC candidate placed his campaign on what he termed the “Triple Integration Agenda”—a strategic blueprint designed to drive total social, economic, and political integration across Etsako West, Etsako East, and Etsako Central.

Bawa took a swipe at the entrenched political culture in the federal constituency, insisting that the electorate must reject seasonal alms and demand sustainable economic survival.

“For decades, representation in Etsako has been reduced to an insulting theatre of tokenism. Our people have been subjected to a humiliating political ritual where career politicians distribute seasonal crumbs—a bag of rice here, a branded motorcycle there—while the structural foundations of our communities rot away.

“We are a people of exceptional intellect and relentless industry, yet our people remain chained to multidimensional poverty. You cannot cure this malignancy with empty political rhetoric. I am not running to offer our people another cycle of political charity; I am presenting an uncompromising blueprint to dismantle the cottage industry of beggary and replace it with the architecture of wealth.”

Explaining the economic pillar of his blueprint, Bawa outlined the establishment of the ‘Etsako Enterprise Sinking Fund,’ an audited, revolving capital mechanism engineered to transition the constituency’s youth demographic from job seekers into corporate asset owners.

“We must stop the tragic comedy of training youth for markets that do not exist,” he said. “Under the Efua doctrine, we are establishing a syndicated enterprise model funded by the Sinking Fund. We will organise trained, unemployed youths into corporate cooperatives, equip them with revenue-generating assets like heavy industrial equipment, agro-processing machinery, and logistics infrastructure, and plug them into commercial supply chains.

“The enterprise owns the asset, prints revenue, sustains the owners, and repays subsidised capital to fund the next cooperative. We are orchestrating a deliberate exodus from dependency to ownership—from poverty to productivity, from enterprise to corporate shareholding.”

The NDC candidate noted that this economic interdependence serves as the bedrock for the social integration of the entire Etsako, neutralising the divide-and-rule tactics deployed by the political class.

“For generations, political merchants have weaponised clannish sentiments, drawing artificial borders between Etsako West, East, and Central,” Bawa pointed out.

“Economic interdependence is our social glue. When an artisan from Auchi, a logistics manager from Agenebode, and an operator from Fugar jointly own and manage a thriving enterprise, ethnic chauvinism dies a sudden death. Shared economic interests will permanently bridge our historical divides. We must stop asking ‘What is my village getting?’ and start asking ‘What empire are we building together?’”

On political integration, Bawa promised an aggressive departure from the era of docility in the National Assembly, vowing to present a vocal and formidable front in the Green Chamber.

“The Green Chamber must cease to be a retirement home for the politically connected; it must become a war room for our economic and political survival,” he declared. “The era of the silent back-bencher is over. We will leverage our legislative mandate to negotiate federal infrastructure, secure our farmlands so our farmers can produce without existential dread, and weld Afemai into an unassailable political and economic bloc.”

Expressing supreme confidence in the NDC’s chances at the forthcoming polls, Bawa noted that the party has transformed from a political platform into a mass movement driven by an awakened electorate.

“The NDC’s chances at the forthcoming election are undeniable. The people on the streets are sensitised, exhausted by broken promises, and desperate for structural liberation. The wave of support we are witnessing across Etsako is proof that our people are ready for real governance. We are coasting toward a decisive victory.”

Drawing a sharp contrast between himself and his opponents, Bawa maintained that his private-sector track record gives him a distinct advantage over career politicians.

“I did not emerge from the pampered corridors of political godfathers; I was forged in the unforgiving trenches of the Nigerian private sector. I have met payrolls, managed labour, negotiated high-stakes contracts, and built tangible enterprises from the ground up.

“Career politicians know only how to speak grammar in Abuja while their people languish in neglect. I am a builder, and I am stepping into the political arena to scale a proven blueprint of wealth creation for my people. The era of godfathers is ending; the era of builders has arrived,” he added.