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Kowa standard bearer urges voter turnout

By Seye Olumide
07 July 2017   |   2:02 am
Exactly 16 days away from the scheduled July 22 local government elections in Lagos State, candidate of Kowa Party (KP) for Ikeja, Gbadebo Rhodes-Vivour has urged voters to come out in large number on Election Day “to correct the current anomalies in government...

Gbadebo Rhodes-Vivour

Exactly 16 days away from the scheduled July 22 local government elections in Lagos State, candidate of Kowa Party (KP) for Ikeja, Gbadebo Rhodes-Vivour has urged voters to come out in large number on Election Day “to correct the current anomalies in government, which are particularly rampant at the council level.”

34 years old Rhodes-Vivour, who claimed to have lived for so long in Ikeja to understand the challenges facing the area and how to resolve it, said the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) in Lagos and the major opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), have not only failed to move the nation forward but that both parties “for the number of years that they have been in control of government, deliberately neglected development at the council level, which is the closest government to the people.”

The graduate of Architecture from the University of Nottingham (UK), who also holds a Master’s degree from MIT, USA said, “It is not enough to continue to condemn those in government and their party when the electorate on their part show apathy to voting most especially during council polls.”

He said the only thing that could stop the drift of Nigeria even at the council level is the peoples vote adding, “Ikeja has all it takes to be the best local government in Nigeria if its resources are judiciously used but unfortunately those that have been at the helms of affairs in the council over the years were busy mismanaging those resources to the detriment of the people and the area.”

To him the coming council poll is an avenue to change the current leadership for new and visionary ones to take over stressing, “Kowa party has all that it takes to rejuvenate Ikeja Local Government, if given the chance in the election.”

Rhodes-Vivour further charged the Lagos State Independent Electoral Commission (LASIEC), especially the Chairperson, Justice Ayotunde Phillips (rtd), whom he said possesses all it takes to conduct a credible exercise, to ensure free, fair and credible election.

According to him, “If Nigeria could get it right at the council level, the people would need less of the state governor and the centre to live their life. The way Nigeria councils are been run, particularly on the idea of godfathers, is a big minus but this election provides another opportunity to change that.”

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