Politics
Sanwo-Olu, Abiodun’s re-election, testimonial of excellent performance – Raji APC-PCC Southwest Youth Director


…urges Makinde to work with Tinubu’s presidency
Bankole Taiwo, Abeokuta
The Director, APC Presidential Campaign Council, National Youth Mobilization, South West, Engr. Kazeem Kolawole Raji has described the re-election of Gov. Babajide Sanwo-Olu of Lagos State and his Ogun State counterpart, Gov. Dapo Abiodun, as a token of appreciation by the electorates for their exceptional performance during their first term in office.
Engr Raji in a statement made available to journalists in Abuja on Wednesday said there was no way Lagosians would not have reposed another round of confidence in the person and capacity of Gov. Babajide Sanwo-Olu, considering his outstanding achievements and plethora of ground breaking feats recorded during his first term in office.
He said “The re-election of Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu does not come to me as a surprise despite the fact that the party narrowly lost the Presidential election in the state, three weeks earlier. My confidence is bolstered by the unprecedented level of infrastructural transformation and urban renewal that the state witnessed during the governor’s first term in office”.
“Notwithstanding the giant leap in the transport sector occasioned by the completion of the Blue Line of the Metro Rail Project which was test run and commissioned by President Muhammadu Buhari, the Red Line part of the Metro Rail system is also near completion and usage will be opened for public benefits in due course”.
Raji added that the children’s hospital under construction in Lagos Island, and those fully renovated have helped to expand access to healthcare service delivery across the state.
He revealed further that the THEMES Agenda, which guides the administration’s policy framework, had been pursued diligently in the last three and half years.
Recall that THEMES, the agenda for Greater Lagos, represents the six-pillar development plan of the Sanwo-Olu-led administration. It stands for Traffic Management and Transportation; Health and Environment; Education and Technology; Making Lagos a 21st Century Economy; Entertainment and Tourism; and Security and Governance.
He stated further that apart from the success recorded in the rail sector, the administration expanded the Bus Rapid Transport (BRT) system by opening new routes, while also expanding water transportation with the construction of new jetties and deployment of more LagFerries.
“This has helped communities around the Lagoon like Ikorodu commute seamlessly”, he stated, adding that the launching of cheaper, cleaner LagRide, a car hiring service that has revolutionised the way Lagosians move around.
Raji stressed that these and many more endeared the governor into the hearts of Lagosians.
In the same vein, the APC also highlighted some strong credentials of Governor Dapo Abiodun which, according to him, informed the teaming majority of Ogun State electorates to re-elect him.
”From the get-go, to curb unemployment level initiative in the state, Gov. Dapo Abiodun launched as early as August 2019, the Ogun Job Portal, which dimensioned unemployment crises and linked young people with business owners.
“The State Government utilised the online platform to get details of applicants for employment and empowerment in different sectors, especially education, security and agriculture. Consequently, over 10,000 youths have been empowered and recruited into teaching internship scheme called OgunTeach.
“Many youths and job applicants were also recruited into the Ogun State Environmental Protection Agency, OGEPA, different cadres in the health sector and into Amotekun, the security architecture designed by states government in the South Western parts of Nigeria. Over 1,700 affordable housing units across the length and breadth of the state were constructed by the Governor.
“Security and development are intertwined. No wonder, Gov. Dapo Abiodun in his first term in office saw to the re-energisation and restructuring of Security Trust Fund to receive and manage donations from the private sector. The Committee also mobilized these funds and resources for the training and retraining of security personnel.
“The private-sector led OGSTF made remarkable achievements that have strengthened the security architecture of the State, received significant donations and earned the trust of the Federal Government that released Police aircraft to monitor the State. Security has equally gone digital in Ogun with drones and technology now deployed for surveillance’.
“It then didn’t come as a surprise when electorates in the two states of Lagos and Ogun came out to renew the mandates of these two great individuals who excelled in delivering avalanche of public benefits to their constituents. The best reward for a job well done is an opportunity to serve more’, the statement said.
RAJI also congratulated the re-elected Governor of Oyo State, Engr. Seyi Makinde and opined that his re-election was another evidence of the transparency of the electoral system by Buhari Administration.
”This is In sharp contrast to the ‘grab it all’ mantra of the PDP administration of the past, one can see Nigerians freely expressing and getting expected results from their votes under the present APC Administration.
“The re-election of Engr. Seyi Makinde who from indications also did his best for Oyo State electorates in his first term in office wouldn’t have been possible without a Free, Fair, Transparent and credible electoral process put in place by the APC government of President Muhammadu Buhari”, Raji explained.
It would be recalled that the PDP under which Engr. Seyi Makinde contested lost the Presidential and Federal Legislative elections in Oyo state just three weeks ago.’
Raji went further to admonish Engr. Seyi Makinde to work closely with the President-Elect, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu and other APC Governors in the South West Region to actualize the ‘Development Agenda for Western Nigeria, DAWN’.
”While congratulating all the newly elected Governors, I wish to exhort them not to betray the confidence reposed in them by the electorates as this will amount to a complete defeat of all the democratic gains of this credible electoral process ‘
”All in all, I wish to thank the the South West electorates most especially the youths for coming out to demonstrate their franchise and elected candidates of their choice in the last general elections.
“It is my strong belief that the Renewed Hope Administration of Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu will usher in unprecedented growth, peace and stability in the Nation”, Raji concluded.
Politics
One year in Office: Group knocks Adeleke, PDP Govt over failure to improve living conditions of citizens


By Ismail Azeez, Osogbo
The Democratic Socialist Movement (DSM), Osun State Chapter, has said Governor Ademola Adeleke and Peoples Democratic Party (PDP)-led government in the state have no fundamental achievement to show for their first year in office.
The group stated that the Adeleke government has failed to improve the living conditions of the people of the state.
This was contained in a statement jointly signed on Sunday by the State Coordinator and State Secretary, Alfred Adegoke and Kola Ibrahim respectively,
They called on the state government to issue immediate payment of all arrears of salaries, pensions and gratuities the government owes all categories of workers and retirees.
Also agitated for immediate increase in salaries of workers and pensions of retirees for due to economic hardship on workers by the effect of fuel subsidy for removal by the federal government.
According to the statement, “Given the support offered by the Adeleke regime by people of the state, there is a lot of expectations on the new administration to improve the living conditions of the people of the state.
“A year into the Adeleke/PDP government, there seems to be no direction for resolving all the various challenges on ground. While the APC government left rot in governance, the PDP government obviously has no solution within the framework of capitalism. While the Adeleke government raised alarm over the looting of the state resources and huge indebtedness by the APC government, it looks like the government only wanted to use it to score political points rather than recovering the looted state funds.
“If the government is serious about recovering the looted funds, it should set up a democratic and open probe committee comprising government officials, representatives of workers, retirees, relevant professional groups, etc., while a task force for recovery will subsequently be established to recover the identified loot. But can the Adeleke government undertake this task, when stalwarts of its party are also salivating for their own ‘juicy’ opportunity.
“The Adeleke government has prided itself as a promoter of workers’ and retirees’ welfare; yet this mere grandstanding. It is not actually a detour from the past. For instance, in the last one year of Adeleke administration, only two (2) months payment, out of 30-month arrears of half-salary and half-pension owed workers and government retirees inherited from the previous government have been paid.
“Also, the majority of government retirees on contributory pensions, especially those who retired from 2017 to 2023, have not received their pensions, including their own contributions; and thus have been subjected to excruciating poverty.
“Also, retirees on government enrolment, who retired between 2012 and 2023, have not received a single tranche of their gratuities under the current administration. Yet, payment of outstanding salaries, pensions and gratuities was a cardinal campaign promise of the Ademola Adeleke/PDP for which it was voted into office. Rather than pay the arrears of salaries and pension, the government was enriching its private consultant under the guise of conducting staff and retiree audits. This put the workers and retirees in unwarranted discomfort.
“The argument of lack of funds is not tenable given that the same government that complained of the fraudulent loans and contracts that put the state in huge indebtedness is still repaying the loans with interest.
“Besides, the allocations to the state governments from the federation accounts have been increased in the last five months following the removal of petrol subsidy and devaluation of naira – two of the anti-poor policies of Tinubu government which have compounded the cost of living crisis for working masses and the poor. The government could have simply demanded a moratorium on the loan repayment on the ground that the government is auditing the loans and contracts for which the loans were procured.
“This would have given the government time and resources to address workers’ welfare and embark on serious projects, while also having time to recover the looted state funds. But the PDP government will hardly go this route because it has the same primitive, capitalist approach to governance just as its APC counterpart.
“However, beyond the workers’ and retirees’ entitlements for which the government has fraudulently scored itself high, there is nothing to show for the one year in office. Social service sectors are in a deplorable state.
“For instance, public primary and secondary schools are still in the terrible conditions the previous administrations of Aregbesola and Oyetola left them, while state-owned tertiary institutions are still underfunded.
“The recent report on the dilapidated state of schools built by the Aregbesola administration tells much about the Adeleke government. Rather than face up to the task of funding the tertiary institutions, the state government is getting enmeshed in leadership tussle in the state owned polytechnic in Iree.
“Public health institutions from primary to tertiary level are still underfunded and in deplorable conditions. Rather than improve on the quality of the facilities and employ adequate numbers of medical and health workers, the government only organised a two-week free health mission!
”A significant increase in fund allocations, by at least 100 percent, to public primary and secondary schools, tertiary educational institutions and public hospitals (primary, secondary and tertiary). This should help to expand facilities and employ more hands
“Massive funding of mass public works programmes that is capable of leading to expansion of water supply infrastructures; expansion of intra- and inter-township roads, building of schools, hospitals, etc. These works programmes should be carried out through the Ministry of Works, as an alternative to the contract system through which huge sums are usually siphoned from government covers.
“Democratic monitoring committees on all projects and funds by elected, non-salaried representatives of workers and communities where the projects are being implemented and funds allocated.”
Politics
APC wins all chairmanship, councillorship seats in Ekiti council polls


Candidates of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) won all the 38 chairmanship and 177 councillorship seats in Saturday’s council elections in Ekiti.
The Ekiti State Independent Electoral Commission (EKSIEC) made the declaration at Ado-Ekiti on Sunday.
Returning Officers in the local government areas and in the local council development areas took turns to present the results of the various council areas at the headquarters of EKSIEC.
EKSIEC Chairman, retired Justice Cornelius Akintayo, applauded the electorate in Ekiti for the peaceful conduct of the election.
He also commended parties that took part in the election for their sportsmanship; EKSIEC staff who worked on the field; security agents and the media for a job well done.
Akintayo listed political parties that participated in the election as Action Alliance (AA), Action Democratic Congress (ADC), African Democratic Party (ADP) and the All Progressives Congress (APC).
Others, he said, were Labour Party (LP), New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP), the Peoples Redemption Party (PRP) and Zenith Labour Party ZLP.
EKSIEC commissioners and principal officers joined Akintayo at the presentation of the election results.
Prominent opposition parties like the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the Social Democratic Party (SDP) had earlier declared their disinterest in the council elections.
Politics
APC chieftain commends Tinubu on 50 per cent subsidy on agric inputs


Mr Olatunbosun Oyintiloye, a Chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Osun, has commended President Bola Tinubu for approving a 50 per cent reduction in the cost of agricultural inputs for farmers during the dry season farming period.
Oyintiloye told newsmen on Sunday in Osogbo that the subsidy would have a positive impact on farmers and contribute to increased agricultural production and improved food availability.
The Minister of Agriculture and Food Security, Abubakar Kyari, on Nov. 25 said the federal government would support 250,000 wheat farmers with a 50 per cent input subsidy to cultivate about 250,000 hectares during the dry season.
Oyintiloye, a member of defunct APC Presidential Campaign Council (PCC), noted that the country’s current food inflation, according to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) stood at 31.5 per cent.
Oyintiloye, a former lawmaker also said that in the selected food price watch for the month of October, as released by NBS, shows that the average price of one kilogram of rice local sold rose by 68.10 per cent on a year-on-year basis from N487.47 in October 2022 to N819.42 in October 2023.
He said the NBS statistics further revealed that the average price of one kilogram of brown beans rose by 39.90 per cent on a year-on-year basis to N790.01 in October from N564.69 recorded same period 2022, among other food prices.
Oyintiloye, however, said that the approved farm input subsidy by the federal government was timely, as it would reduced the food inflation in the country.
He said that President Tinubu’s assurance to Nigerians in transforming the agricultural sector by making food security the number one priority had started yielding positive results.
“We need to commend President Tinubu for this 50 per cent subsidy on farm inputs.
“This will go along way to boost food and nutrition security, attract private sector investment, reduce post-harvest losses, and add value to local agriculture produce in the country,” he said.
Oyintiloye said the programme of National Agriculture Growth, aimed at supporting farmers through training on good agricultural practices and provide certified inputs, would enhance food production.
The APC chieftain said that with the various agricultural interventions by the president, there would be a positive changes in the prices of food and there would be surpluses in the coming days.
He said the president’s passion for food security and his quick intervention on fertilizers, improved seeds, mechanisation and grants, in both long and short run, would yield a desirable results to ensure food production round the year.
Oyintiloye, however, appealed to the federal government to relate directly with subsistence and large scale farmers, among other stakeholders in agriculture business through their various associations.
He said this would enable them to access various government intervention programmes without any form of hindrance and make Nigeria self-sufficient in term of agriculture produce, thereby making prices of food items affordable.
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