Contrary to claims in some quarters that a few of his campaign posters and flyers daunt some parts of Lagos State, the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) candidate for the Lagos-East Senatorial District, Nicholas Akobada, has vowed to get landslide victory through support of the grassroots people.
He spoke with InsideNigeria on Wednesday on his preparedness to face the incumbent Senator representing Lagos-East Senatorial District, Tokunbo Abiru, and other candidates of other political parties, among other issues.
Akobada, while expressing optimism to clinch the position with a landslide victory through the support of grassroots, said: “I am 100 percent sure of victory by the Grace of God Almighty.
“I do not have any god-father that is going to campaign for me. Now, God has taken charge of everything because their god-father is campaigning for himself.
“So, they are nowhere to be found. I am under grassroots, I work with the grassroots and I campaign at the grassroots level. It is not propaganda that we will be going all around to campaign. Every day, we go underground and talk to people at the grassroots level about our plans; they have promised to give us their votes; and they have also promised to deliver.”
The PDP senatorial candidate for Lagos-East said: “By the grace of God and the assurance we got from the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), we are going to win them. Their elections are always full of manipulations and rigging, but this time around and by God’s special grace, in 2023, nobody is going to rig any election.
“We are going to face it together and we are on ground to contest the election.”
“But let’s give kudos to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), they have assured us that our votes would count and if it would count this time around, we are sure that by the grace of God. I would be the senator of the Lagos-East from 2023.”
On his readiness to face candidates of opposition parties jostling for the same position, especially the incumbent Senator, Abiru, Akobada said: “Well, we are trying our best, trying to do our campaign in low key. One thing I know that I have that he doesn’t have is that I have been a politician for many years.
He is not in the system, he was just hand-picked from nowhere as a bank director to come and become a senator.
“With that, we know what we do, that is not there. For me, I am a political scientist. I have been in the system for decades. I have been at the local government level as a supervisor for health, as well as a supervisor for works.
“So, we know what our people want. We know who our people are, we know their needs and we know what we can do for them.”
On what plans he has for his people, Akobada said: “There are a lot of plans. Normally, as a lawmaker, we just have to come up with Bills that will be of benefit to our people. We have different Bills that we have already put in place. By the grace of God, when I emerge as the next senator to represent Lagos-East Senatorial District, there will be a lot of bills that will be of benefit to them.”
He said: “My programmes are simple, I am a political scientist, I have been in politics for decades and I am an indigene. My mother is from Ibeju-Lekki and my father is from Epe, I grew up in Shomolu, I know all the five local governments that make up Lagos-East. My programme is simple, I pray that I become the senator of Lagos-East. When that happens, I’m not going to be a senator that would be buying sewing machines for people and call it empowerment.
“I will embark on establishing people with programmes that will be of immense benefit to them.
“And for us, we are not going to be a part of senators that will buy sewing machines to give to people for empowerment. God forbid.
“We want to empower people because we know what it takes to establish people. We are going to establish people. We are not just going to do solid empowerment programmes, we are going to establish people.”
He added: “Instead of us establishing 200 people in a row, it is better for us to use the resources to establish 50 people so that they will know that once and for all, they have been established. We have all our people-oriented plans.”
Expressing optimism that he will clinch the position, he said: I am 100 percent sure of victory by the grace of God Almighty. I do not have any god-father that is going to campaign for me. Now, God has taken charge of everything because their god-father is campaigning for himself, so they are nowhere to be found. I am under grassroots, I work with the grassroots and I campaign at the grassroots level. It is not the propaganda that we will be going all around with to the campaign. Everyday, we go underground to talk to people about our plans, and they have promised to give us their votes. They have promised to deliver.
“By the grace of God and the assurance from the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), we are going to win them. Their elections are always full of manipulations and rigging, but this time around and by God’s special grace, in 2023, nobody is going to rig any election. We will face it together and we are on the ground to contest the election.”
The Lagos-East Senatorial District of the State, 2023 Nigerian Senate elections in Lagos State will be held on 25 February 2023, in the upper chamber of the National Assembly.
The district covers Epe, Ibeju-Lekki, Ikorodu, Kosofe, and Somolu local government areas of the state.
About nine political parties are participating in the 2023 senatorial contest in the district, but the candidate of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), Akobada, has shown readiness to have a landslide victory in the polls.
Akobada had defeated three leading chieftains of the opposition party to emerge a surprise candidate of his party last May.
Other contenders for the seat include Mayowa Oluwaranmilowo of the Social Democratic Party (SDP) and George Olalekan Ashiru of the African Democratic Congress (ADC).
