By …reiterates plans for bettering the people
The All Progressives Congress candidate for the Lagos East Senatorial seat, Tokunbo Abiru, has announced plans to organise election campaigns in smaller groups as a measure of avoiding further spread of the coronavirus.
The Ex-Polaris Bank CEO/GM who visited Organising Committees (LOCs) in Epe, Ibeju-Lekki, Ikorodu and Kosofe, explained that this is a new era, where COVID-19 has redefined how we relate and how we conduct our public affairs.
“To avoid undue viral contagion, bringing together large number of supporters is no longer advisable.
“This brought about the need to organise our election campaigns in small groups, that will directly reach out to the electorate from community to community, house to house and street to street. In this circumstance, setting up LOCs is perhaps the best approach we can adopt to take our plans and programmes to the people.
“Hence, I implore all members of the LOCs, who have been carefully selected across the district to know the huge task at hand which is to take our plans and programmes to rejuvenate representation in Lagos East Senatorial District to the people because it is the people who are empowered to determine who represents them in the senate.
“As you reach out to the electorates, we must clearly roll out and consciously defend what our party, the All Progressives Congress (APC) stands for. Let us remind the electorate what we have done at different levels to bring good governance to the grassroots, especially in Lagos State. Let us also tell them of the resolve of the party to do more for the people. Let us tell them the quality of our candidate, most importantly, my passion for public service, populist programmes and my social intervention programme before I joined partisan politics. With this in mind, let us now approach this bye-election differently, telling what our party represents from house to house.” Tokunbo said.
The Senatorial Racer also reiterated plans for bettering the people, some of which included ; youth empowerment, poverty aleviation and others.
“Our goal is to reach out to all voters – decided and undecided – in Lagos East and convince them to cast their ballots in favour of the APC and its candidate for this bye-election.
“We have consciously defined our priorities without ambiguity and in line with the manifesto of our party. If and when, by the grace of Almighty God, I am elected as a Senator of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, representing Lagos East, my focus will be on the plans hereunder pointed out;
“Youth Empowerment: Lagos East is noted for its teeming population of vibrant youths. Sadly enough, majority of our youths in this senatorial district are not economically empowered. There are a lot of programmes the federal government set up to empower our youths across the federation. I will work with the agencies implementing these programmes so that our youths in Lagos East get their fair shares.
“Poverty Alleviation: The rate of poverty in this country is very disturbing. Individuals, who have means, are required to initiate personal interventions to support the initiatives of the APC governments nationwide to fight poverty. As a result, I have decided to set up a foundation to address this challenge in Lagos East. As a corporate person, I have briefed my team to work out mechanisms and modalities that make the foundation sustainable. The programme will focus on the less privileged and the vulnerable – indigent students, orphans, widows or the fatherless, among others.
“Ease of Doing Business: To position Lagos East as the epicentre of economic activities in Africa, we must improve our ease of doing business. This is an aspect of our economic environment that often determines investment flows into this country and indeed our state. Much improvement has been recorded since 2015. Compared with what it was before now, our ease of doing business rating has improved. In 2019, we were ranked 131 out of 190 countries. We can do better than this rating. If and when elected, I will be preoccupied with promoting bills and sponsoring motions that can improve our ease of doing business rating.
“People-focused Representation: I promise to represent the good people of Lagos East and indeed our great party with commitment, integrity and passion for the people leveraging all the experience, competences, knowledge and relationships I have acquired over three decades as an economist, chartered accountant, banker, commissioner for finance, senior banker and CEO.
“Welfare of Constituents: My total focus will be on the welfare of my constituents in Lagos East and Lagos State at large. If and when elected, I will use my good office, my energy and resources to promote the well being and welfare of all my constituents within my capacity.
“Special Status for Lagos: If and when elected, I will join hands with my senior distinguished colleagues in the Senate, Senator Oluremi Tinubu and Senator Solomon Olamilekan Adeola as well as all members of the House of Representatives from the state led by my dear brother, Hon. Femi Gbajabiamila to demand special status for Lagos State. It is indeed long overdue.” he said.
