‘I want to replace our non-performing 79-year old Rep’

All Progressives Congress (APC) House of Representatives aspirant Akinlayo Kolawole speaks on his bid to represent Ekiti North Constituency II in this interview with reporters in Ado Ekiti, capital of Ekiti State. Excerpts:

You just ventured into politics and you want to pick a ticket to the House of Representatives?

I have been an active member of the party, though I have been playing underground. I came fully into the APC in January and shortly after, I unveiled my intention to contest for House of Representatives to represent Ekiti North Federal Constituency II, comprising Ido/Osi, Moba and Ilejemeje Local governments.

It is not actually the time you join a party that matters, but your worth and contributions since you joined. The governor of Benue State, Dr. Samuel Ortom, who defected back to the PDP recently, won election on APC’s platform in 2015 barely one month after joining the party.

The governor was given the ticket based on his worth and not when he joined the party. When I joined the APC, the party was so docile in my constituency. I had to mobilise the people doing; what I was supposed to do to bring the party back to life. I moved from one ward to another, sensitising our people that hope has not lost completely and the outcome reflected in the results of the July 14 governorship election, which Dr Kayode Fayemi won. Apart from this, I worked for the emergence of Dr. Fayemi at the primary.

What are your chances of securing the ticket?

Let me first say the APC’s chances are very high in that constituency, because the 79 year old man, Thaddeus Aina, who is representing the constituency now, has not given effective representation. He has not called a meeting once to tell his people what he has done. Apart from this, he has not raised any motion or sponsored any bill or even contribute to discussions on the floor of the National Assembly since 2015 when he was elected. Is that what we call representation? Our people are ready to change and that will happen in 2019. They need a very active youth and that they have seen in me. Regarding the APC ticket, I know I have a good chance. Our leaders; Dr. Kayode Fayemi, Otunba Niyi Adebayo and Chief Segun Oni, know my worth and contributions. All I want is free, fair and credible primary and once that is done, I will surely get the ticket because our people are behind me and they are supporting my aspiration.

What have you done that makes you stand out among the aspirants?

Before I joined our party, I have been giving out scholarships to students. I have been empowering the widows and giving out empowerments to our jobless youths, so that they can stand on their own. Since I joined the APC, I have paid WAEC  fees of 180 students in the three councils that make up our federal constituency.

I had given bursary to 210 students of tertiary institutions. I have given empowerment to youths and social security to the elderly, these I did across the three councils. I have been encouraging our youths on how to be focused and this I did by way of getting joblessness out of their lives. The recent I did was for our farmers, which I have organized into groups with access to soft loan from a fund I provided to help them expand their farms for better profit and for them to live good lives. So, whoever will contest against me must come out with his own score card of what he has done for the people. So, the contests, both primary and the general elections will be based on what you have done for the people and this stands me in a good stead to be able to clinch the ticket and wins the election eventually.

Are you not worried that Dr. Fayemi’s victory is being challenged at the tribunal?

That is the beauty of democracy. The Election Petition Tribunal is part of electoral process and don’t forget that Dr. Fayemi became the governor in 2010 through the same process, so we are not rattled at all. The PDP is only embarking on a wild goose chase by challenging the outcome of the election. The APC candidate won the election through free, fair and credible process. The election was never rigged. Even the PDP thought we would deploy federal might by arresting their members  the way they did in the 2014 election. But in this election, nobody was arrested, nobody was molested, it was largely won based on popularity and antecedents. There was no town out of the 133 towns that we got to that Fayemi won’t be able to point to at least  three projects unlike the PDP that concentrated all its projects in Ado and Ikere Ekiti.

Besides, we did a vigorous campaign before the election. We did door-to-door campaign, neighbour-to-neighbour and house-to-house contacts to let our people know that the APC was better and they agreed with us. Dr. Fayemi won’t fail at the Tribunal. The PDP will come out of the litigation process empty handed because they have no sufficient grounds to upturn the verdict of Ekiti voters.

What is your take on the defections from the APC?

It will not affect our party depending on how our party leadership addresses the issue. It was like a coalition of forces by some politicians across the country with intention to wrest power from President Muhammadu Buhari, but such won’t affect the party in the 2019 general election. I applaud the national leadership, led by Adams Oshiomhole, for wooing Senator Godswill Akpabio to the APC. Akpabio’s defection has neutralised whatever effect Saraki and others defections must have caused the APC.

Nigerians are desirous of having a President that has the passion to confront poverty, corruption and insurgency and only President Buhari has these antecedents among the contending forces for the race, not even Saraki or any other person has such records in his political career. Nigerians had gambled in the past by electing those without passion to govern them as Presidents, but those times had gone. What they now wanted is someone who will believe that Nigerians’ money must be spent for the commoners and not those that will see it as their own personal patrimony.

 

The post ‘I want to replace our non-performing 79-year old Rep’ appeared first on The Nation Nigeria.