The Ogun State governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress, Senator Solomon Adeola, popularly known as Yayi, on Monday unveiled his nine-pillar manifesto, tagged “ITESIWAJU for Ogun State”, calling for continuity in governance and development policies in the state.

Adeola, who is also the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Appropriation and represents Ogun West Senatorial District, cited Lagos State as an example of how successive administrations could build on the achievements of their predecessors to accelerate economic and infrastructural development.

The senator disclosed this in Abeokuta while meeting with members of the Inter-Party Advisory Council in the state.

He argued that the development recorded in Lagos since the return to democratic rule in 1999 was partly attributable to what he described as a relatively seamless transition from one administration to another.

Adeola said Ogun could experience similar multiplier effects if successive governments maintained and completed viable projects initiated by their predecessors instead of abandoning them for new ones.

According to him, Lagos’ development experience demonstrated the importance of policy continuity, noting that research on the state had documented how successive administrations since 1999 had worked on governance reforms, infrastructure, transportation, revenue generation and urban development.

The APC governorship candidate said that, if elected, his administration would continue viable infrastructure projects inherited from the current government rather than abandoning them because they were initiated by a previous administration.

The senator said discontinuity in government could delay development by several years, stressing that projects should be evaluated by their benefits to the people rather than by the political administration that initiated them.

He also called for an issue-based campaign ahead of the 2027 election, urging governorship candidates to clearly explain what they intended to do in the areas of youth development, women’s empowerment, industrialisation, agriculture, infrastructure, security, job creation and economic growth.

Adeola said, “If Lagos could achieve what it has achieved through seamless transition of government from one administration to another, we can begin to imagine the multiplier effects that continuity can bring to the economy and development of Ogun.

“People must be able to know what your plans are for the youth, the economy, women, industrialisation, infrastructure, contractors and agriculture. Where are you taking us to? People should judge us on those issues,” he said.

The lawmaker subsequently unveiled his proposed development agenda, tagged “Itesiwaju”, which he said was designed after extensive consultations and intended to address the needs of the state across multiple sectors.

He explained that the slogan, “Itesiwaju Ipinle Ogun”, meaning the progress of Ogun State, was built around a comprehensive development framework.

According to him, the acronym ITESIWAJU represents I — Infrastructure; T — Tourism and Culture; E — Economic Empowerment; S — Security and Welfare; I — Inclusive Growth and Well-being; W — Women, Youth and Poverty Eradication; A — Agriculture and Food Security; J — Job Creation and Industrialisation; and U — Urbanisation and Transparency.

He said the agenda was not designed merely as a vehicle for seeking political power but as a development framework intended to address what he described as the state’s needs across different sectors.

The senator added, “This is not a document put together for the sake of putting a document together. It is not a document put together to grab power.

“I put this document together with a sense of purpose. A document that took me three years to put together. It is a document meticulously crafted to attend to every need of everyone in this state.”

He revealed that the proposed agenda was developed from consultations with thousands of people across the state.

Adeola further maintained that the state possessed sufficient economic and human resources to become a model of development, saying his ambition was motivated by what he described as a desire to contribute to the state’s progress.

He urged other candidates and political parties to present their programmes to the electorate and allow voters to assess the competing plans ahead of the election.

He, therefore, dismissed the controversy surrounding his ancestral roots as mere political manoeuvring and what he described as the opposition’s desperation for power.

He said he remained focused on the development of Ogun State, insisting that he would not be distracted, intimidated or blackmailed by the controversy.

“My ancestral challenge is mere politics and desperation for power. I have a vision and believe in the development of this state, so I refuse to be bothered. I refuse to be blackmailed. Under my government, you must be eminently qualified to earn a position,” he said.

Speaking earlier, the Ogun State IPAC Chairman, Comrade Abayomi Sanyaolu, lauded the APC governorship candidate for what he described as his giant strides across the three senatorial districts of the state.

Sanyaolu cautioned all governorship candidates against heating up the polity with vulgar language and personal attacks.

He said, rather, that all candidates should present their manifestos to the electorate and focus on issue-based campaigns.

Source: punchng.com

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The Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike, on Monday dismissed concerns by some governors of the All Progressives Congress that the proposed Rainbow Coalition could undermine the ruling party ahead of the 2027 elections.

Speaking on TVC’s Journalists’ Hangout, Wike said the coalition was primarily aimed at mobilising support for President Bola Tinubu’s re-election and would not prevent politicians from contesting governorship and legislative elections on their respective party platforms.

The minister alleged that the opposition of some APC governors to the coalition was driven by their political interests, particularly attempts to influence the emergence of the next Senate President and Speaker of the House of Representatives.

Wike specifically alleged that Imo State Governor and Chairman of the Progressive Governors Forum, Hope Uzodimma, was positioning himself to become Senate President after leaving office.

His comments came days after APC governors declared that they would not support any political alliance capable of weakening the party or affecting its candidates at any level in the 2027 elections.

Uzodimma, at a meeting of APC governors in Abuja, said the forum would exclusively support APC candidates and would not endorse candidates outside the party.

Wike, however, argued that supporting Tinubu for President did not amount to an agreement to abandon candidates of other political parties in governorship and legislative elections.

He cited the experience of the G5 governors during the 2023 elections, saying members of the group supported Tinubu for President while their parties retained their candidates for other elective positions.

“In 2023, core leadership G5, we said we are going to support Mr President. But we never said that all our candidates in other elections will fail. We never said so,” Wike said.

He added, “Particularly in Rivers State, we supported Asiwaju Bola Tinubu; he won the presidential election. But in National Assembly election and the state election, PDP won.”

According to the minister, a similar arrangement could operate in 2027, with politicians supporting Tinubu for President while backing candidates of their preferred parties in governorship and legislative contests.

He rejected claims that such an arrangement would confuse voters, arguing that Nigerians had previously demonstrated their ability to vote across party lines.

Wike said, “Who will be more confused? Is it not my own candidates that will even be more confused when I’ve told them to support Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, and then again, they now go back to support other candidates?”

The minister alleged that some APC governors were concerned that politicians denied tickets by the ruling party could seek alternative platforms, win their elections and subsequently refuse to support candidates favoured by the governors.

He said the governors were seeking to influence the composition of the next National Assembly in order to determine who would emerge as its presiding officers.

“APC in their ongoing party primaries, the governors, in their own wisdom, believe that they should be able now to put senators or House of Reps members who they will dictate to who will become the next Senate President or the Speaker,” he alleged.

Wike said politicians who lost APC tickets could defect to the Peoples Democratic Party or other opposition platforms, win their elections and subsequently refuse to support the candidate preferred by the governors for Senate President or Speaker.

“The fear now is that, if they run and they win, it means that they’re not going to support him to be the Senate President,” he said.

The FCT minister then directly addressed the reported ambition of Uzodimma to emerge as Senate President.

“Mr. President will be inaugurated by May 29. This man’s office will expire by January, February 2028.

“Now, he wants to leave his office to run for Senate. Now, what does that mean? He wants to run for Senate President. Now, what he does is to say to his colleagues, ‘Look, let us, the governors, be the ones that will produce the senators that will produce members of the House of Representatives.

“And of course, some of the governors are not experienced. They buy in, thinking it’s going to make them powerful, not knowing that he has his own interests, his own agenda, to become Senate President,” Wike said.

Wike insisted that he would not support the Imo State governor for the position.

“Life or death, I will never support a character of Hope Uzodimma to be the Senate President of Nigeria. Everybody knows that,” the minister stated.

He, however, maintained that his position was not personal, arguing that the political calculations surrounding the 2027 elections should be examined on their merits rather than reduced to a dispute between individuals.

Wike also alleged that some governors were putting pressure on him because of his decision to remain in the Peoples Democratic Party while supporting Tinubu’s re-election.

He maintained that his support for the President did not require the PDP to withdraw or abandon its candidates in other elections.

The FCT minister also dismissed reports that Tinubu had agreed to concede nine states to the PDP or the Rainbow Coalition as part of a political arrangement ahead of the 2027 elections.

Challenging those behind the claim to identify the states allegedly covered by the arrangement, Wike said, “The nine states, did they tell you the nine states?”

He added, “Let us help Nigerians. Let’s get the facts. Who are… which are those states? Tell us. That they said the President agreed with me that he has conceded nine states.”

Wike said his primary political objective was to secure Tinubu’s re-election, adding that he would campaign on the administration’s record.

He cited the President’s support for state police and what he described as the devolution of resources and powers to sub-national governments as some of the issues he would highlight in making a case for Tinubu’s re-election.

“Mr. President is showing his postcard. We are selling Mr. President what he’s been doing, why he should be re-elected,” he said.

Wike further disclosed that Tinubu was aware of the Rainbow Coalition, saying he did not expect the President to intervene by summoning members of the coalition and the APC governors for a truce.

According to him, Tinubu understood his political activities and had been aware of his position on the coalition.

“As I speak to you here, Mr. President knows about my concept, of the rainbow coalition…. Mr. President understands me very well,” Wike said.

He maintained that the coalition was not designed to take over or weaken the APC, arguing that politicians could support Tinubu for President while retaining their preferred party candidates for governorship and legislative elections.

The dispute followed the September 15 position of the APC Governors Forum that its members would neither participate in nor support or endorse any alliance or political arrangement capable of undermining Tinubu’s re-election, weakening the APC or adversely affecting its candidates.

Uzodimma, who read the forum’s communique, said the governors’ campaign commitment would be exclusively to APC candidates at all levels.

Wike, however, has continued to argue that the governors’ opposition to the coalition is driven by their political calculations rather than concerns about Tinubu’s re-election.

He had previously accused Uzodimma and Kwara State Governor, AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq, of spearheading opposition to the coalition.

The APC governors, however, have maintained publicly that their position is aimed at protecting the party, its candidates and Tinubu’s re-election, while rejecting support for candidates outside the APC.

Wike nevertheless insisted that the Rainbow Coalition would continue to mobilise support for Tinubu across party lines, arguing that the presidential contest should not be conflated with governorship and legislative elections.

Efforts by our correspondent to obtain a reaction from the All Progressives Congress National Publicity Secretary, Felix Morka, were unsuccessful, as he did not respond to calls placed to his phone.

However, sources within the ruling party told The PUNCH that the National Working Committee was already working behind the scenes to broker a truce, and ensure both parties ended the feud ahead of next year’s polls.

The peace deal is expected to take place with the return of the APC national chairman, Prof. Nentawe Yilwatda, who is scheduled to return from vacation soon.

“The party is leaving nothing to chance. Preparations are well underway, and once the national chairman returns at the beginning of the week, he will lead the NWC to meet with the President and discuss the best way to resolve the matter,” the party source said.

Source: punchng.com

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No fewer than 5,000 stalwarts and members of the Peoples Democratic Party in Ogun State on Sunday defected to the ruling All Progressives Congress at an event held in Ilaro, the headquarters of Yewa South Local Government Area of the state.

The PDP members, who were mainly from the Ogun West Senatorial District, were officially received into the APC by Governor Dapo Abiodun, the governorship candidate of the ruling party, and the party chairman in the state, Yemi Sanusi.

Speaking at the event, the former state chairman of the PDP, Sikirullahi Ogundele, said he decided to lead other notable PDP leaders to the ruling party to escape “political slavery” in his former party, where he disclosed that he spent seven years.

He said the mass movement of governors and other prominent politicians away from the PDP was evidence of the deep crisis within the party, stressing that it would amount to political suicide for experienced party leaders like himself and others to remain in the party.

Ogundele explained that “The truth is that there is nothing like the PDP again in the state; what is left behind is an empty shell, the umbrella which is the symbol of the party has been shredded into pieces, and some of us have escaped so as not to allow the PDP dilapidated house to collapse on us.

“We have therefore moved away from the opposition party and embrace the APC, which we know is also the next victorious party in the state come 2027 elections. We are all ready to work diligently and deploy our wealth of experience to further mobilise for the APC landmark victory in 2027.”

Commenting on the controversy surrounding the origin status of the APC governorship candidate, Ogundele described such allegations as a recurring feature peculiar to governorship contests in the state.

He, however, urged party supporters to disregard claims questioning Adeola’s Ogun roots, recalling that similar allegations had been made against past governors of the state, beginning with Aremo Olusegun Osoba in 1999, Otunba Gbenga Daniel in 2003 and Ibikunle Amosun in 2011, stressing that they all won the elections despite the allegations.

“They said Amosun is from Benin Republic, Daniel from Delta State, Osoba from Osogbo. Despite that, they all emerged as governors of the state. So, what is going on against Yayi now is an indication that he will also win”, he stated.

Those who defected to the APC alongside their supporters included Chief Sina Adejobi, Mr Akinloye Bankole, former Publicity Secretary of the PDP, Evangelist Soji Eweje, former Chairman of Yewa North Local Government, Alhaji Ganiu Dada, popularly called Obanibasiri, and former PDP Woman Leader, Chief Kemi Adeyemi, among others.

Presenting the APC’s ‘broom’ symbol to the defectors, the party chairman in the state, Chief Yemi Sanusi, assured them that they would maintain their leadership status in the APC.

Sanusi further urged the defectors to work assiduously in their respective wards to ensure that the APC won all elective positions in the state in 2027.

In his remarks, Abiodun commended the new entrants into the APC for taking the bold step to join the ruling party, noting that they would be accommodated and fully integrated into the party.

Abiodun said, “I want to thank those who have seen the light and have decided to be part of the APC. We value your courage and decision to join forces with us in the ruling party as we are more delighted to have notable politicians from the state believing in the leadership of the APC government in the state.

“I assure all of you that you will all be accommodated in the scheme of things. So let us all work together as one united family and deliver a landmark victory for the APC in the 2027 general elections.”

Source: punchng.com

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