By Emeagi Emeka Williams
LOCAL Council Chairmanship hopeful in Igando/Ikotun Local Council Development Area, Alimosho LGA, Lagos State, Akinyemi Afeez Akintunde, has charged the Nigerian youths to obtain their Permanent Voters Cards (PVCs) if they are prepared to achieve the long desired leadership change in Nigeria.
Akinyemi who spoke with Timeswatch recently at the end of a leadership forum in Ikotun, stated that the process to institute the leadership of our choice in a democracy is through the due process of election which requires voting for our choice candidates.
According to Akinyemi, sitting in our comfort zones and resort to criticising the activities of leaders in power is vain and meaningless, because it renders the youths mere spectators in the tragedy of their lives.
Akinyemi stated further that when youths dwell devoid of the major material or pre-requisite that will qualify them to vote for or against anyone during elections, they are mere toothless dogs barking, yet spineless.
On his yearning to lead the Igando/Ikotun citizens as council chairman come the next dispensation, AAA stressed that having come from a background of politics and leadership, he is gunning for the apex grassroots leadership seat in order to transform vision into developmental reality that will create a better society for the local people who from all indications have been denied much in terms of infrastructure and other basic things of life.
Akinyemi said, “My philosophy and ideology are built on a notion that to make a difference in life, leadership that makes it possible to access and manage the economic resources of the people beneficially or for collective good is very essential. There is no sense in talking from a distance without playing your own role as a game changer”.
When asked how he intends to make a difference, he emphasised that he will deviate the culture of bogus promises that characterise manifestos; affirming that the manifesto should be centered on the people, and should contain actualisable projections.
“As a leader, i would be close to the people; and the councillors are not going to be in the legislature for themselves, but they will be there for the people, bringing their needs for the govt to solve”, he assured.
Describing Igando/Ikotun LCDA as a promising land where the indigenes are so accomodating and industrious, Akinyemi stated that his father was the first LG Chairman of Alimosho who laid a good foundation for the development of the area, highlighting that the lands where the Lagos homes and the General hospital are in Igando were set aside by him due to his clairvoyance and desire for growth and development. He therefore promised to actually re-write the narratives of leadership of the local council to reflect the whims and caprices of the people, vowing to ensure a leadership that will put into cognisance, the socio-economic demands of all, irrespective of age, tribe and creed.
Speaking on the just concluded #Endsars protests in Nigeria, Akinyemi noted the need for the youths to be very conscious of the polotical, economic and leadership realities of their country and be ready to patriotically and constitutionally be part of the processes that decide and define their.national prosperity; condemning the hoodlums that took advantage of the peaceful protests to loot and destroy.
