OLORUNDARE ENIMOLA, Lagos
Honourable Emmanuel Sunday Sogunro, the PDP candidate for Alimosho Constituency 01 for the Lagos State House of Assembly, has described himself as one of the best option that will be vying to represent the constituency so far.
Sogunro gave a background information about himself, revealing that he is a grassroot politician for the past 24 years, who started from the onset when PDP was created as a founding member.
Speaking about his Journey in the party, Sogunro highlighted that he started as a Zonal Chairman before becoming a Ward Youth leader, then a Ward Secretary and later a member of the Local Government Area executive member, using his positions to assist members seeking elective offices.
He however said a number of those coming for elective positions in the PDP are members who are not baked or been through the Party's leadership ladder to fully have the passion of the party at heart but are only interested in elective positions.
In his words, "I decided that I'm going to go for an elective position because most of the candidates we worked for, laboured for and do all we could to make them win at the polls do not seem to appreciate or understand the rules of the game. So I decided that it's better for us who have been in politics to vie for these positions, because we seem to understand better than those coming in as mere candidates who have never participated in party politics, some have have less than two years in politics, so we realised the need for real politicians."
Hon. Sogunro also explained that he once took a shot at an elective position in 2017 when he wanted to serve as the Agbado Oke-Odo Local Government Chairman howbeit under the Labour Party platform, but did not win for reasons he complained bordered on how Local Government elections are conducted by State governments, especially Lagos State, where it is a 'do or die affair' making it very difficult for opposition party candidates to win, even when they win, are blatantly denied the tickets.
He said, "In 2015 however, in an election that was nationally conducted, the PDP won six seats at the House of Representatives and 8 seats at the Lagos House of Assembly, indicating that the opposition parties in Lagos can win elections under a free and fair atmosphere. This propels me to opt for a position that will be conducted by the Independent National Electoral Commission rather than the ones conducted by the Lagos State electoral agency."
Sogunro was confident that the same dynamics that ousted President Goodluck Jonathan a sitting President by the opposition will soon play out in Lagos State, resulting in the opposition winning over the state.
On the question of defecting to the opposition after winning the election like the previous party members did when elected into the Lagos House of Assembly did, Hon. Sogunro said, "One thing is very important in life, that you should have the mind of your own. It is however obvious that in a house with 40 members and only 8 are in the opposition the remaining majority, which includes the State Governor, his Deputy, Commissioners, with other political big wigs in the State will constantly be putting pressure on them to join them.
"Infact some level of intimidation will be applied to coerce them, which could include withholding their constituency allowance, fringe benefits, or not allowing them to function in certain committees even if they are considered competent enough, all of these cooked up together against somebody could make them cave in, except for someone who is resolute and determined and not willing to disapoint his constituents, who could decide to organise something like a town hall meeting to explain his dilemma, inhibiting him from meeting up with his campaign promises which I believe many will believe and emphatise with him rather than cowardly defecting." Sogunro added.
In response to why he is confident of winning despite acknowledging the strength of the ruling party in the State, Sogunro asserted that his confidence stems from the fact that the APC law maker, who has been representing the constituency for over 11 years has nothing to show for his representation.
"Let the incumbent law maker point to any meaningful thing he has done since assuming that position, starting from Ikola where I was born to Ipaja where he resides to Ayobo and other places in Alimosho Constituency 01, there is practically no impact made by him to those communities, there is a general discontent expressed by residents who greatly yearn for a change of Representative, which I have come to provide."
He equally said, "Since APC came to power in 2015, there was no improvement made to the lives of Nigerians, they have nothing to show being added to improve the lives of the masses either in the areas of infrastructure, education, health, economy, they failed in every area, so my opponent cannot stand side by side with me to promote his party, because himself and his party have nothing to offer."
Sogunro stressed, "We at the grassroot know the feelings of the people and hear their complains, even the APC members are not being taken care of, they have been abandoned, we are the ones taking care of many of them now, many at the grassroot including a large number of APC members are disgruntled with the party.'
When he wins, what will he be bringing to the table, what should his constituency be looking forward to? Honourable Emmanuel Sogunro said, "My major plan will be to empower women and Youth at the grassroot with Funding to enable them Kickstart reasonable and enduring businesses, and ventures that will last the test of time, rather than the situation where you find a representative will be providing 10 grinding machines to 1000 women, 6 sowing machines to 2000 fashion designers and 15 Motorcycles to 10,000 Youth at so called empowerment programmes organised by APC Office holders which is nothing but a drop of bucket water in an ocean. We have mapped viable Constituency projects'to positively impact each of the wards and communities in the constituency." Sogunro affirmed.
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