Joseph Bakare
The Governorship Candidate of the Labour Party (LP) in Lagos State, Gbadebo Rhodes-Vivour has promised that his administration would improve Youths capacity and localize solutions to the problems facing them in the state
He gave the assurance while speaking at the Youth O’clock breakfast meeting organized by the ‘Obidient movement’ in Ikeja GRA ,Lagos, stressing that the event is part of the mission to free Lagos from shackles holding her down
According to GRV, “Part of our mission is to create Lagos that works for all and the need to end the ‘agbero’ system in the state, that has created a lot of safety hazards.”
He also promised to provide employability skills to young people to tackle the problem of youth unemployment in the state ,emphasizing that contrary to the notion that unemployed youths are lazy, many of them actually want jobs to earn a decent living.
“They want jobs, so we are going to ensure that we give them employability skills and domicile these skills at the local governments,” he said.
He berated the current administration in the state for high level of deception and commissioning non working projects in the state.
He said that it is lack of integrity for the governor to fly down to Lagos to commission a railway that is not working now and will not work until he emerges the governor of the state.
He promised that when he emerges as governor, the health care system, education ,transportation, clean pipe borne water system and other infrastructure work effectively.
He noted that the Obidient project is bigger than anyone and by God’s grace it will produce thousands of quality men that will continue to serve the county with sincerity of purpose.
He said that the security and safety of voters are paramount in the forthcoming March 18 election, adding that any form of voter intimidation and harassment will be met with resistance.
“My focus now is on security and ensuring that people come out to vote and they are not intimidated or harassed because any form of intimidation or harassment will be met with resistance. It’s just that simple,” Rhodes-Vivour said on Channels Television’s Sunrise Daily programme on Thursday.
On February 25, thugs attacked voters and disrupted the electoral process in Elegushi, Ikate and other parts of Lagos . The police said over 20 political thugs were arrested over cases of electoral violence and ballot box snatching recorded during the just-concluded presidential and National Assembly polls.
He also said the postponement of the governorship and state assemblies’ elections from March 11 to March 18 has not dampened his momentum and determination to become the next governor of Lagos.
“It is not about rushing an election; it is about getting it right and that is why we got the injunction to ensure that INEC actually follows its processes. There are a lot of things that must be done right if we want to get this country on the right path,” he said.
The LP governorship candidate, however, said after what happened in the February 25 presidential and National Assembly polls, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) would have to win his trust again.
Rhodes-Vivour said the people of Lagos want good governance regardless of the language a leader speaks or the tribe he belongs to. He noted that he is a proper cosmopolitan Lagosian having roots with the Yoruba people and having been trained in best institutions in the world.
The LP candidate said Lagos has always existed in harmony but politicians whip up ethnicity to divide the people of the state.
Also speaking,the Director-General of Obi-Datti Presidential Campaign Council, Mr. Akin Osuntokun said the Labour Party would defeat the incumbent Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu in the governorship election next week.
Osuntokun spoke in Lagos during a youth rally tagged, “Youth O’Clock Breakfast Meeting with Peter Obi and Gbadebo Rhodes-Vivour.”
It would be recalled that LP defeated the APC and PDP to win Lagos in the Presidential election.
“When you are dealing with desperadoes, those are the kinds of things you hear, those who are saying that are afraid, they are frightened because they know they lost in Lagos by a wide margin that is embarrassing to them. I am not surprised that they have resorted to demonization. This is a way of desperadoes.
“The true results of previous elections showed that more Yorubas voted for Peter Obi than the Igbo people.
“Labour Party would not only repeat its victory in the governorship election, it would improve on it. The way the votes have been mutilated has made people very angry and radicalized with the position they have taken.
“I have taken a sample all over the place. People are going out to vote. Nigeria has gotten to a stage where people are now aware that they have to take their destiny in their hands…”
Spokesman of the Obi-Datti Campaign Council, Dr. Yunusa Tanko declared that the evolution of Lagos has started, saying nobody can lay claim to building Lagos.
“Lagos was built with the instrumentality of give and take and collective input. The Nigerian youths helped to build Lagos. Gbadebo is your own,” he said.