Okey Anorue
who is also Ezesinachi, the Eze Ndigbo of Igbogbo Kingdom, made the disclosure when
the lawmaker representing Surulere State Constituency who is also the candidate
of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the forthcoming House of Assembly Election,
Honourable Desmond Eliot, visited the Igbo Stakeholders at Tejuosho in Lagos on
Thursday, March 16, 2023.
He stated
that if politicians can emulate the speaker, Nigeria would be an Eldorado. He
said “We appreciate our apex leader here, Right Hon. Femi Gbajabamila, he is a
very good man, he is our father as far as Surulere is concerned. How I wished
every constituency has such a man, Nigeria would not have had any problem; He
would have solved the problems we are going through today, how I wished we have
such a person, he is definitely a pacesetter to other constituency.
“In the area
where I come from in Imo State, I don’t know whether a senator exists or if a
House of Assembly member exists, they are not there. But here in Surulere we
have what is called dividend of democracy.”
Speaking on
the reason for bringing the Igbo traders under one umbrella, Anorue who was the
convener of the meeting said “As the Babaloja of Tejuosho Market, I am one of
the eyes of Igbo people within our environment, my previous position was the
chairman of Yaba Traders Union, and many of them have collapsed to Surulere and
they find themselves in different catchment areas, not all of them are in
Tejuosho Market, I believe as one of them who have been over there, I must
carry all of them in different catchment along, that was why I demanded the
local government chairman and the House of Assembly member to join us and come
and address the Igbo Stakeholders, I need to bring all of them together so that
we can appeal to them to speak with one voice to support the incumbent Governor
of Lagos State and our own, Hon. Eliot. This is exactly what I tried to do
today. As a pacesetter, I need to do the needful.”
He spoke
further, “We the people, all the catchment areas and the entire Igbo traders
around the environment are feeling bad, we are not beneficiary of anything, and
which is a serious concern, and many of them dwell within this circle, if every
man, his wife, children, family and his apprentices have their PVC, you are talking
of, maybe, six votes in one flat and many of them are living within the same
environment, so you need to engage them.”
Speaking on
the General Charter of Demands which was presented to the Lawmaker, Anorue said
“It is not about telling the people to go and vote without turning in any
charter of demand. Our own charter of demand is that they should look into the
high rate of tenement rate on every shop and the level of touts threatening the
traders, they should also look into it, and many other things. We need to let them
know; because these people, it is not when it is election time you use them and
dump, make them to be part of the system.”
At the event
attended by the Surulere Local Government area, Honourable Sule Yusuf, the
Babaloja encouraged the stakeholders to go back to their wards and convince
their people on the need to vote Mr Babajide Sanwo-Olu and Desmond Eliot “With
this I am encouraging our people to do the needful, so that after this
Saturday, when the results start rolling in, it will be good news, testimonies and
the celebration will be all ours.”
He made it
clear that if other markets are tagged against APC, the traders in Tejuosho and
its environs would not want their markets to be tagged against APC. “This is an
international market, the market that is at the center of Surulere, that
produced the speaker, strong men and who is who in politics of APC in Nigeria,
and we are not going to be the ones to devour this ongoing development. I know
that there are many of our youths who have no jobs, who have nothing to do,
some are those whose businesses, in one way or the other, have collapsed, I know
opportunity of fitting them into the business of the day will soon come where
we can present their names, and let the needful be done to them.”
He said
there is need to carry the Igbos along as according to him, what is good for
the goose is also good for the gander.
Hon. Desmond
Eliot in his response said the Igbos in Surulere are important to him. “What we
are trying to say is that you all are important to us, that is why we made sure
we are complete here in order to hear you out, the party chairman in Surulere
is here, the Chairman of the local government is here, the Chief of General
Staff to the Honourable Speaker of the House of Representatives is here. As you
show me love, we also urge you to show the same love to Governor Sanwo-Olu, the
Executive Governor of the State who is going for second term, because we would
want to work with someone we can talk to, if you put someone there we cannot
talk to, it will be difficult.
“As far as
Sururlere is concern, we have heard you, we will be here for you, please, do
our bidding and God will bless you,” Eliot stated.
The chief of
general staff to Honourable Speaker of House of Representatives, Femi
Gbajabiamila, thanked the stakeholder for being instrumental to the election of
the speaker for the six term, which he described as unprecedented in the annals
of Nigeria, adding that his election was a testament to the Speaker’s
performance in office, adding that he is ready to continue to perform. He said
the speaker is a detribalized Nigerian who treats all people equally.
Hon.
Commissioner representing Anambra State in the Public Complaint Commission, Lolo
Emelda Nwajiofor-Okoli, appealed to his brothers and sisters to vote for
Desmond and Sanwo-Olu. She tasked her Igbo people not to put her to shame and
make sure they voted APC on Saturday. She also urged those that were harbouring
any grievances to calm down.
Okoli promised
the traders that if Desmond is voted she will personally take them to Alausa,
where they will table their demands, especially on issue of tenement rates. She
thanked Hon. Femi Gbajabiamila whom she said was instrumental to her rise in
politics. She urged the traders to vote APC in the forthcoming elections.
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