AHEAD 2023: APC TASKS PROFESSIONALS ON ELECTORAL PARTICIPATION, OLABANJI-OBA SAYS ‘ELECTIONS ARE THE ESSENCE OF DEMOCRACY’
L-R: Executive Chairman, Onigbongbo LCDA, Hon Oladotun Olakanle in warm handshake with the Director-General, Contacts and Mobilisation, APC Professionals Council, Aarebirin Hon. Princess Folashade Olabanji-Oba during the APC Professionals Council Public Awareness on 2023 Election held at Onigbongbo LCDA Secretariat.
A group of concerned professionals under the auspices of the All Progressives Congress (APC) has urged professionals not to take the back bench as the country heads to an all-important general elections next year. The APC Professional Council submitted that the apathy among this elitist segment of society will not augur well for the polity. The APC Professionals Council Awareness on 2023 Election held yesterday at the Onigbongbo LCDA council secretariat, Lagos.
Speaking on the reason behind the council, the Director-General of the All Progressives Congress (APC) Professional Council, Seyi Bamgbade who spoke through a representative commented: ‘Even at student level, people think that a responsible child should not be a part of politics, how much more at the national level. The best we can do is to create a platform where youths, old men, and old women who have required skills can come where we give them the support to vie for office. That’s what brought about the idea of APC Professional Council.’
The Legal Adviser of the APC Professional Council, Dipo Ajayi remarked: ‘We don’t have a right to complain if we are not part of them. Like we lawyers will say – if you have consented to a thing, you don’t have a right to complain for the consequences suffered. So if you allow incompetent people to rule you, you do not have a right to complain whatever the result is.
It behooves you to take the bull by the horn to ensure that professional councils like this to serve as support group in political parties for people who consider that politics as a dirty game. If you know any professional who is willing to join politics, they can be anywhere in the world and still participate.’
‘You will agree with me that somebody who participates in politics can contribute more than someone who doesn’t. You may have a very busy schedule but at the same time participate in the process that gives us a better Nigeria’, he advised.
Also speaking, the Executive Chairman of Onigbongbo/Host Chairman, LCDA, Hon. Oladotun Olakanle shared: ‘Iran meta o ki n tosi, three generations would not suffer penury. Awolowo tried, he didn’t work. MKO Abiola tried, he didn’t work. This time it will work for us. What I am saying is that if the center gets what we expect, it will be good. Let us all get involved. We can all get involved.
If we can’t all do yahoo because it is yahoo and prison, yahoo and charms, what we can do is politics. That’s why I said I won’t delegate anyone to come, I will be present physically. If I would host people from all walks of life, then I must pend other things to be here. And I am delighted about what’s happening.’
‘What support does anyone want than this. It is not everything that is money. Making your time available is important too. I am one of you, professionals, anything you are doing, get me involved. We need to mobilize ourselves. We are in a game of numbers. How do we sell what we are selling without numbers. May God give you wisdom to carry on’.
Director-General, Contacts and Mobilisation, APC Professionals Council, Aarebirin Hon. Princess Folashade Olabanji-Oba during the APC Professionals Council Public Awareness on 2023 Election held at Onigbongbo LCDA Secretariat.
Delivering a speech titled ‘2023 elections: Towards a peaceful poll in Nigeria’, the Director-General, Contacts and Mobilisation of the APC Professional Council, Aarebirin Hon. Princess Folashade Olabanji-Oba reflected: ‘Elections are the essence of democracy. They allow people to select their political leaders and then to hold them accountable. But for elections to fulfill their critical function especially in Nigeria it must be free and fair. Just holding an election is not enough: if some citizens are prevented from voting or the results are not counted properly, an election can’t be called “free and fair.’
She expressed dissatisfaction that many prior elections have not been peaceful, ‘Previous experiences of elections in Nigeria have shown various degrees of violence which continue to put stains and black spots on our electoral process in the country. Elections are an important mechanism in democratic and peace processes. Its purpose is to provide citizens with an opportunity to choose freely their political leaders and allocate power peacefully. However underlying tensions in any society such as Nigeria and high-stake competition can also result in violent and fraudulous elections’, Trek Africa Newspaper reports.
Director-General, Contacts and Mobilisation, APC Professionals Council, Aarebirin Hon. Princess Folashade Olabanji-Oba giving her Keynote speech during the APC Professionals Council Public Awareness on 2023 Election held at Onigbongbo LCDA Secretariat.
The Vice-Chairman of Ikorodu LGA added: ‘A peaceful election/poll is one in which all the citizens of voting age are able to vote for the candidate of their own choice unhindered and not been influenced in any way, a fair election is one in which all votes have equal power and are accurately counted. There are standards that governments need to meet before, during, and after an election to ensure that an election is free and fair’.
Some of the standards the devoted Asiwaju Tinubu follower, Aarebinrin Olabanji-Oba itemized include ability to register to vote at 18 and above, ease of access to information for voters, freedom to run for office, freedom to vote freely without intimidation, among others.
Host/Executive Chairman, Onigbongbo LCDA, Hon Oladotun Olakanle giving his speech during the APC Professionals Council Public Awareness on 2023 Election held at Onigbongbo LCDA Secretariat.
Also present at the event, past Treasurer of Trade Union Congress, Comr. Abdulrahman Olatunde said: ‘I am not a politician is a very big lie. Every human being is a politician depending on where you swing your political ideology. As a unionist, I can’t say we don’t participate in politics because we do elections. If you are not there, you can’t ask how it’s been shared. You can’t just sit down at home and talk, please let’s participate regardless of affiliations, factions. If we are in, we can proffer solutions to the issues that we have.’
Dignitaries and Professionals from all walks of life were present at the public awareness conference held at the Onigbongbo Local Council Secretariat.
L – R: Director-General, Contacts and Mobilisation, APC Professionals Council, Aarebirin Hon. Princess Folashade Olabanji-Oba; Executive Chairman, Onigbongbo LCDA, Hon Oladotun Olakunle; in warm handshake with the Director-General, Contacts and Mobilisation, APC Professionals Council, Aarebirin Hon. Princess Folashade Olabanji-Oba during the APC Professionals Council Public Awareness on 2023 Election held at Onigbongbo LCDA Secretariat.
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