Kunle Adelabu
Says incumbent not a Justice Forum member
Olusesan Odueyingbo , a former Supervisor for Education, has declared his interest in the chairmanship position in Ikorodu North Local Council Development Area (LCDA) of Ikorodu Division, Lagos State, Southwest, Nigeria.
The aspirant who is aspiring on the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC), said he would do things differently and deliver good governance to the people if elected, in a way and manner like never before through his programs tagged, ‘’Sesan Odueyingbo Initiatives’.
Odueyingbo who served under Hon. Adeola Jokomba’s administration as a Supervisor, first aspired to the number one position in the council about eight years ago, and did not recontest against the incumbent, Builder Adeola Banjo, also said that he belongs to the Justice Forum (JF). He disclosed his intention to THE IMPACT in an interview.
“I contested for the chairmanship eight years with the incumbent chairman but decided not to contest against him four years ago because he would automatically seek re -election to finish what he started.
“Now, I am coming out again to contest the chairmanship position in Ikorodu North LCDA in the forthcoming election under our party, the All Progressives Congress (APC).
“I have been a member of the Justice Forum from the time of late Pa. Atoloye with the likes of Oloye Solebo, late (Mrs) Shokunbi (Iya Kalokalo), Alhaji Rilwan Jinadu, late Alhaji Sese and Alhaji Fatuga. So, I know more about the group at our local level.
“I aspired for the chairmanship position on the platform of Justice Forum in 2017, because I have plans to turn around the council and also change the narrative from the dominance of The Mandate Group (TMG), which has been dominating the council chairmen, but because of the political intrigues, TMG was able to pick the ticket again”, he said.
The APC chairmanship aspirant in the Ikorodu North LCDA added, “As it is everywhere, it’s always contest between the JF and TMG/TMM but at the end, one of the two usually picks the ticket. When I contested then, on the platform of the JF, the present chairman, Hon. Adeola Banjo contested on the platform of TMG.
“He remains a member of the TMG/TMM up till this present moment. We have JF aspirants like myself, Apanisile, and Bisiriyu, now in the race.
“He may have a good relationship with the JF, but he’s a Mandate person and there’s nothing wrong in that as long as we are all in the same party and we are still in the game of politics, but it’s important to say that when it comes to issue of the group, JF knows its members and Mandate on the other side too, also know its members”
Still speaking on the political intrigues in Ikorodu North LCDA and dominance of the TMG/TMM, Odueyigbo said:
“When Hon. Kunle Ogunbela contested for the chairmanship of Ikorodu North LCDA, he was a member of the JF but converted to the TMG/TMM during his chairmanship tenure.
“Since that time, Mandate has been at the helms of affairs in Ikorodu North LCDA. After him, Otunba Tijani Olasunkanmi, Hon. Adeola Jokomba, Hon. Shukura Okeowo, who was a sole administrator and the present chairman, Builder Adeola Banjo, are all members of the Mandate.
“This shows that Mandate has been at the helm of affairs since the creation of Ikorodu North LCDA.”
Unveiling his programmes for the first time, Odueyingbo elaborated:
“I called my campaign programmes ‘Sesan Odueyingbo Initiatives’, and if you look at it, it stands for different things and aspects of the council and governance.
“It is our way of doing things differently in a way and manner it has not been done before. We have initiatives for education, youth, agriculture, empowerment and others.
“In every initiative, we have ways we plan to handle the implementation that will be totally different from other people.
“We are bringing different perspectives to how education, environment, infrastructure and other aspects will be managed. Through the Sesan Odueyingbo Initiatives, we are bringing new ideas and perspectives different from what people have been seeing.
“I belong to both the public and private sectors, which show that I have the prerequisites and experience needed to administer the council. I also have the necessary international and community exposure and skills that I can use to turn around the council”, he said.
Unveiling his initiatives for infrastructure and collaboration, the chairmanship aspirant explained:
“One of our initiatives is on infrastructure and we plan to use this in maintaining the roads that have been facilitated by Hon. Babajimi Benson in Ikorodu North LCDA.
“I can tell you for free that if there is no deliberate efforts to maintain and sustain these roads, they will collapse in the next few years.
“These roads may be distorted by wind, flood, human actions and other things, what our initiative would do in this regard is to create drain ducks and sweeping units to constantly take care of these roads within the Council.”
