Lagos LG Poll: APC Leadership Won’t Manipulate Forthcoming Primaries – Aspirant

                                                      

 A chairmanship aspirant in Agege Local Government Area of Lagos State, has expressed confidence that the proposed primaries of the All Progressives Congress (APC) for chairmanship and councillorship aspirants into the 57 councils in the state, will be free, fair, credible and without manipulations.

Apc

Mr. Olusola Osolana in an interview in Lagos, also assured that the issue of asking aspirants to step down for other aspirants won’t come up because all the aspirants have been told to go and slug it out in the primaries scheduled to hold on Saturday, May 29.

While commending the APC leadership for allowing aspirants to contest in primary process, he maintained the party has structured the forthcoming primaries in such a way that there won’t be manipulations of any sort.

According to him, “I don’t think the issue of stepping down will come up again, because the party from the local government to the state has said there will be primaries; so the issue of stepping down is out of it. Party members and the citizens have seen the performance of this administration and all of them know my capacity to serve them and, I know that when the primaries come, they will support me.

“I trust the process the state has put in place because the people that will run the primaries in Agege are not going to come from Agege, maybe the people in Agege will go and conduct in Ojọ. So, there is no reason to doubt the process at all.

“First, we have to divide the leadership of the party to two, there’s the state and there’s local government, I trust the process the state has put in place because the people that will run the primaries in Agege are not going to come from Agege, maybe the people in Agege will go and conduct in Ojọ.

“So, there is no reason to doubt the process at all. Except some people want to make sure that there’s no primary at all and that they want to turn it to something else. But as long as there’s a primary in seven wards of Agege and people are asked on that particular day, May 29, I’m very confident that I will win.”

When asked if he would be challenging the outcome of the primaries if it doesn’t favour him, Osolana said, “If there’s a free and fair primary and I lose, I won’t challenge anything.

 Except there’s an injustice, whereby there’s no election and they bring the results; that is another thing entirely, which the party will have to look into at the state level in terms of appeal, but there is no cause to challenge the outcome of the primary if the will is not subverted. If the people say we don’t want you and we want the incumbent, then so be it. I don’t want to be controversial.”

 

Sustain selfless service to humanity, Ambode tasks religious bodies

...Religious leaders are significant in the development of the State - Gov. Ambode
...Your policies positively touching lives, PFN tells Gov

Lagos State Governor, Mr Akinwunmi Ambode on Monday commended religious leaders for upholding religious tolerance in the State and complementing government efforts in offering essential services to the people in critical areas such free medical care, provision of shelter and assistance to the needy.

Governor Ambode, who said this at Lagos House in Alausa, Ikeja when he received the leadership of Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria (PFN) led by its President, Dr Felix Omobude on a courtesy visit, said it was on record that in the last two and half years of his administration, there had never been any major religious or ethnic crisis, while religious bodies have also been complementing government, just as he urged them to sustain the selfless service they have been offering to humanity.

He said: “I want to thank you on behalf of our administration. In another two days, our administration will be two and half years and it has been two and half years of sincere religious tolerance in this State. It has never been like this before; we have never had any disagreement between or among the religious groups or even among our people on a tribal note and that also show that God is present in Lagos State.

“Religious leaders are significant in the development of the State and I can say it easily. There are too many things that even our policies do not cover and a strong part of the civil society is our religious bodies because in areas where we cannot give shelter, we cannot give advice and we cannot give comfort, you have always been there.

“There are so many things that the churches are doing that are beyond spiritual. There are churches that are feeding people; they are taking care of health of the people; they are taking care of maternal mortality issues, taking delivery of babies where there are no hospitals and thereby complementing the efforts of government. That in itself deserves to be commended and I must say a big thank you to all our religious bodies. I must also inspire you on. What you are doing is not going unnoticed.

I take note of everything that our churches are doing and I commend you most sincerely from the bottom of our hearts.”

He said as a sign of celebrating and appreciating the religious tolerance in the State, the State Government would uphold and sustain the interfaith parley which started last year, saying this year’s edition will hold in coming weeks.

Besides, Governor Ambode said the modest achievements of his administration were a product of the discipline learnt from religious fellowship, and assured that no stone would be left unturned to make life comfortable for residents.

“We like to touch humanity which is the whole essence of governance and that is why we are here. We will continue to do it. The electorate decided that somebody should come and represent and take care of their interest and that interest we are ready to sustain, we are ready to uphold; it is more about them not about us and I think at the end of the day, this kind of visit gives me inspiration that we are doing it in the right way and I want to assure that we will continue to work for the interest of the people,” he said.

Earlier, Omobude said they were at Lagos House to deepen the relationship existing with government and to identify with Governor Ambode.

He said the PFN leadership is thrilled by what God had been using Governor Ambode to do in the State, saying the massive infrastructural renewal and various policies were having positive impact on the people.

He said the church must not only criticize government officials when they do wrong, but also commend them when they are working in the interest of the people, adding that of a truth, the giant strides of the State Government deserved to be commended.

He also assured that PFN would continue to partner with government at various levels especially on matters relating to development of the country.

Stop complaining, join political parties, Osinbajo tells youths

AgegePulse

You' ve power to change your destiny to better - Moghalu

Vice President Yemi Osinbajo has urged youths in the country to join political parties ahead of the 2019 elections to enable them to be voted into political offices.

Osinbajo, who was represented by Sen. Babafemi Ojudu, Special Adviser to the President on Political Affairs, made the call at the Emerging Political Leaders Summit in Abuja.

He said that it was not enough for youths to always complain about bad leaders, but that they needed to break the status quo by taking the chance to be elected and create the transformation they needed for a change.

“Youths have a challenge in their hands for the future of our country; so, I advice you not to sit down and fold your hands and be lamenting over bad leadership or politicians.

“Get down to business, organise and do something to become elected political youths; after all, Enahoro became a leader in this country at the age of 23 and later moved a motion for the nation’s independence at the age of 27.

“The leaders there today will vacate the place tomorrow so if you the youths don’t start preparing today by getting mentored and learning the ropes.

“There is no way you will perform very well if the mantle of leadership falls on you tomorrow; so there is need for you to go in there and participate,’’ he said.

Osinbajo, however, advised youths not to expect that from the day they start participating in politics they would become the president of Nigeria.

He said that it was not realistic and could not happen, but that they needed to start gradually from the ward level and move up to local government level and to state “before the presidency’’.

Mr Kingsley Moghalu, former Deputy Governor of Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), said that youths had the power to change their destiny to a better future by participating in politics from the grassroots.

Moghalu said that what the country needed was a democratic revolution at the polling units, adding that for it to happen the citizens should recognize that they had the power to change and improve governance.

“If they don’t exercise that power, if they keep selling their votes for N2, 000 so that they will eat today, their children will have no jobs in the future.

“It is high time Nigerians stopped seeking immediate gratification; they always love what they can get now and that is killing us as a nation.

“If this continues, then the citizens are just as irresponsible as the leadership they condemn,’’ he said.

Moghalu said that the next line of action lay with the citizens, adding that “we have talked enough, the politicians don’t listen, they keep carrying on in their old ways.

“We have had enough but if that is true, then we must act like we have had enough and take up the challenge to change the status quo.’’

The convener of the summit, Mr Wale Ajani, said the event was organsied to brainstorm ahead of the 2019 elections towards problem-solving both economically and politically for country’s development.

Ajani said that the summit became imperative at this auspicious moment in the nation’s history because Nigeria had remained a country of enormous potentials for several decades but unable to perform better in human development and economic indices.

“Leadership failure is largely at the heart of the current woes bedevilling Nigeria, with little being done to build a new crop of leaders.

“The nation seems fixated; the citizens have come to have very low expectations of their leaders. The summit provides a platform for qualitative conversations and discourse about Nigeria.’’

He said that it was time for Nigeria to have a paradigm shift as an alternative to the current system where there already existed a disconnection between citizens’ expectations and service delivery by politicians.

Source: Panorama