- Afenifere, Ohanaeze, PANDEF, others back Agbaje
Bennett Oghifo in Lagos and Shola Oyeyipo in Abuja
The governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Lagos State, Mr. Olusola Sanwo-Olu has advised the residents of the state to desist from fanning the embers of disunity along tribal lines in the name of politics.
Sanwo-Olu stated this Wednesday at a mega rally at the Agege Township Stadium, organised by PSP Waste Managers, who promised him 500,000 votes.
This is coming as some notable geopolitical groups – the Southern and Middle Belt Leaders Forum (SMBLF), pan-Yoruba socio-political group, Afenifere; the umbrella group for Igbos, Ohanaeze Ndigbo, and the Pan Niger Delta Forum (PANDEF), have declared support for the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidate, Mr. Jimi Agbaje, for the March 9 governorship election.
Sanwo-Olu, represented at the rally by the deputy candidate, Dr. Obafemi Hamzat, pledged to run an inclusive government if elected governor.
He said, “All our party members need to do is to remind non-indigenes that since 1999 Lagos State Government has been running inclusive government; we have been paying WAEC fees for Igbo, Yoruba, and Hausa without discrimination. In our prestigious university, we have Hausa, Igbo and Yoruba and other tribe paying the same school fees.
“The same procedure Igbo will follow to get land Certificate of Occupancy is what Hausa and Yoruba will follow. If you go to our general hospitals, we attend to people equally. So non-indigenes should take the right decision by voting for Babajide Sanwo-Olu for continuity of good governance.
“All we need to do is to keep reminding them what they stand to gain when they vote for APC; I’m sure they will support us and vote for us.”
The PSP Waste Managers, who came out in large numbers said they would sustain their house to house sensitiSation of voters.
According to the Chairman, Association of Waste Managers of Nigeria, Mr. Oladipo Egbeyemi, “we are using this medium to assure our governorship candidate of our support, and also pledge to deliver over 500,000 votes come March 9.”
Meanwhile, some notable geopolitical groups – the Southern and Middle Belt Leaders Forum (SMBLF), pan-Yoruba socio-political group, Afenifere; the umbrella group for Igbos, Ohanaeze Ndigbo, and the Pan Niger Delta Forum (PANDEF), have declared support for the PDP candidate in Lagos State, Mr. Jimi Agbaje.
The groups in a press statement issued by the National Publicity Secretary, Afenifere, Mr. Yinka Odumakin; Prof. Chigozie Ogbu (Ohanaeze), and Senator Bassey Henahaw (PANDEF), stated that their decision was predicated on the candidate who would support the restructuring of Nigeria. They also assured the electorate that as stakeholders in Lagos, every Nigerian from every part of the country have a right to decide on their preferred candidate in an election.
“Flowing from the above, we cannot be indifferent to who governs Lagos at this critical stage of our national life. We have looked at the build-up to Saturday governorship elections and it is clear there are two leading candidates,” the statement reads, referring to Babajide Sanwo-Olu of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and Jimi Agbaje of the PDP.
They added: “Of the two, one belongs to a political party that stands on the way of restructuring Nigeria and therefore cannot be in our consideration. The other candidate, Mr. Jimi Agbaje of the Peoples Democratic Party has for over 20 years been involved in the struggles to rearrange Nigeria as an Afenifere man and we have no reservations in encouraging our people to choose him as governor of Lagos in the March 9 election.”
