Gbajabiamila Commends Electoral Process, Seeks Support To End Bandits
By Luqmon Balogun and Taiwo Ojedele, Lagos
The Chief of Staff to President Tinubu, Mr Femi Gbajabiamila has lauded the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC for conducting a peaceful bye election for the Surulere 1 federal constituency.
Gbajabiamila who was feasibly elated acknowledged the low turn out of voters which he attributed to lack of interest usually shown to isolated elections by the people.
He said the substantial numbers of electorates that have cast their ballot have organised themselves for the process and displayed patriotism.
“Based on what I have seen and what I heard, it is been peaceful, well organised, of course, it is a bye election, so the turn out may not be as other elections where other interests are at stake. It is so far so good.
“It’s a feeling of melancholy, I feel elated and at the same time, I feel that this is the end of an era, I have always come here to vote and to vote for myself for the House of Representatives and now, I am coming back here for the seventh time to vote for somebody else to represent my party,” he said.
The former Speaker Nigeria’s House of Representative said Surulere has always been lucky to have good representatives both at the state and the federal levels, assuring that the APC candidate would also beat his performance.
He advised those seeking to take up his seat at the federal House of Representative to remain focus and be dedicated to work.
According to him “My advice is just to be focused on what they are doing, legislative work comes with a lot of dedication, commitment and experience. It maybe very difficult initially, but when you put your head down, and have a focus and have nation interest at heart, you will do well.”
Economic Challenges
Speaking on the current economic challenges facing the country, Gbajabiamila promised that the administration of President Tinubu was working on how to turn things around and create a future that Nigerians would relish for many years ahead.
He said “Clearly Nigerians are going through economic hardship and same thing is going on in other parts of the world, Nigeria is not isolated, even in the most advanced democracy these things are happening there.
“We are concerned with Nigeria, I want to encourage people, it is about 7 months of this government and the gestation period is about now, moving forward, I believe things will begin to take a turn.
“Things have been very difficult because of the fundamentals that were missing in the first place, it is those economic fundamentals that this government is putting into place. You can talk about subsidy removal, everybody agreed that the subsidy has to go, unification of naira, everybody agreed that it has to be done, so those are the fundamentals that we are trying to put in place, the benefits will be reaped later on, it is not going to be immediate but the president that we have will fix it.”
Incessant Kidnapping
He also assured that the issue of Kidnapping, terrorism among others would be addressed, calling on Nigerians to cooperate and support the Tinubu’s administration to tame.
“The President and this adminstration is at the fore front of security of this country, and security is about everybody, you need full cooperation, if you go to everywhere in the world, you will find the same thing, but as long as you have someone at the saddle who knows what he is doing, and concerned, I believe it will soon a be a thing of the past.
“It is something of concern and all of us should be our brothers keepers, check ourselves, support the President, support his administration when you have insecurity, you rally round the government as it is being done all over the world, that is the attitude that must be exhibited by Nigerians.If we all come together, we will defeat terrorists and kidnappers.”
The seat in the lower legislative chamber for Surulere 1 federal constituency became vacant after President Bola Tinubu appointed Femi Gbajabiamila, immediate-past speaker of the house, as his chief of staff.
Confidence Okwuchi
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