Daniel Adeleye On: March 18, 2018 In: Politics

As the race for the APC ticket in the forthcoming governorship election in Ekiti State hots up, one of the aspirants, Bamidele Faparusi, was recently received by the leaders of All Progressives Congress (APC) in the state as he formally inaugurated his campaign working team. Daniel Adeleye, who covered the event, reports

IT was a mammoth crowd of All Progressives Congress, APC, stalwarts, members, loyalists and lovers of Hon. Bamidele Faparusi who converged his Adebayo area Campaign office in Ado-Ekiti, to sheer and nudge him to victory as he inaugurated his working team headed by a former Majority Leader in Ekiti State House of Assembly, Hon. Churchill Olubunmi Adedipe.

The train later moved to the Ajilosun end of the town where the APC state secretariat is located to meet party leaders who have been waiting to formally receive him and for him to remind them of his ambition to be the next governor of the state.

It would be recalled that Faparusi was the first APC governorship aspirant that made his intention known to the leaders of the party at the party’s secretariat in Ado-Ekiti way back in December, 2015.

A large crowd of supporters, indigenes trooped out in their hundreds to show solidarity for the Ode-Ekiti-born politician now in the race for the Oke Ayaba Government House. One of the issues that caught the attention of people at the event was the fact that Ekiti South Senatorial District has not occupied the state governor’s state since the creation of the state, 22 years ago.

The slogan ‘Itesiwaju Ekiti, Fappy ni o’ rented the air as artisans, students, market men and women thronged the popular Okesa road through Old Garage to Ajilosun APC Secretariat in the state, to show solidarity for the former federal lawmaker.

Business activities suffered a little hitch as many small business entrepreneurs closed shops while a chunk of the popular motorbike riders (Okada) abandoned commercial services to provide complimentary glamour to the colourful twin event with theatrical riding display.

At the party secretariat, the engineer-turned politician was warmly received by party stalwarts, led by State Deputy Chairman of APC, Kemi Olaleye.

The party leaders were full of praises as they all praised Faparusi and commended him for his contributions to the state and to Nigeria at large while he represented his people at the 7th National Assembly.

‘Fappy’ as he is fondly called by his supporters, said before he made up his mind to contest for Ekiti governorship seat, he got a divine revelation from Mark 10:44, which has been his driving principle.

He stressed that his coming out to contest for the position of governor of Ekiti State is a service to humanity, community and the state.

He told APC chieftains and his supporters that he has rolled up his sleeves to serve Ekiti people and liberate them “from the political vultures and their cohorts who have raped the state through misguided projects and policies.”

He also said the incumbent governor, Ayodele Fayose, would cease to be the governor of Ekiti State on the very day he gets the APC ticket to contest.

He cautioned his co-contestants in APC to emulate the former Lagos State Governor and National Leader of the party, Ashiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, who, according to him, “sacrificed his vice presidential ambition for party interest.”

He said south agenda is an issue in Ekiti beyond party interest, thus explaining why it was on the lips of electorates on the streets.

Faparusi also hinted on his administration’s four-point agenda tagged: “ATTT”, which stands for Agriculture, Technology, Trade and Tourism. He said he has looked at the potentials in Ekiti State and considered some that can be regarded as comparative advantages if diligently invested, adding that if they are made the economic base, Ekiti should be economically viable.

“We are going to translate our academic prowess which we are known for to create wealth and make life suitable for our people by bringing my entrepreneurship experience to the government.

“We’ll create technological base vocational training centres where our pupils can learn during holidays and we’ll also develop gifted schools across the state.

“We will harness the best brains and also provide opportunity for them to the benefit of the state. Not just give them the knowledge, we are going to imbibe the patriotism and invest in them so that in the future they can also come back and use their wealth of knowledge to develop the state.

“We need to provide platform and partner with international technological hubs across the world. We have the core value in America, Europe, Israel, China; we are going to partner with them to have an esteemed programme so that our children would be able to go over there and learn,” he said.

According to the aspirant, “Dubai started by developing ideas, and people came from Europe and America to invest in those ideas. So our job as a government would be to provide opportunity and great ideas that would attract people to come and invest in our tourism to showcase and promote our rolling hills where Ekiti derived its name to the world.”

‘Ekiti is strategically located between Lagos the commercial capital of Nigeria, and Abuja the political capital of Nigeria. We are going to provide facility where people can easily move their produce to the north, east, south and the west. And that will create job opportunity for our people and also improve the economy of the state,” he stressed.

But how would he source for fund to implement those gigantic projects considering the meagre monthly federal allocation going to the state, Faparusi noted that it’s not always money that should come first but great ideas.

As he puts it, “Dubai was only a desert some years back, and didn’t start its long term economy plan because they have big pocket, but they started by putting the ideas on the table”.

“I started my business with zero kobo, so we should be able to put our heads together and come up with the idea that will be lucrative to the world.

“If you want to make people unique, you need to first of all work on their mindsets. A slave who does not believe that he has been set free will continues to behave like a slave,” he explained.

Speaking on his support for Faparusi, the State Coordinator of ‘Fappy Movement’, Hon. Churchill Olubunmi Adedipe, said the former federal lawmaker stands out among other contestants as the most progressive minded politician who started his political career since the days of Alliance for Democracy (AD) as a Youth Leader, who has not jumped ship like many others who claimed to be members of progressive family.

Adedipe also observed that APC is a party that has a robust history and culture; and the party leaders should also look at the criteria to choose the flag bearer of the party in July governorship election in the state.

The former leader in Ekiti State House of Assembly, who described Faparusi as “epitome of transparency, accountability and accessibility,” said “it can only be better if a person like him is allowed to pilot the affairs of Ekiti State given his wealth of parliamentary experience married with entrepreneurial and managerial skills.”

On the influx of contestants under APC in Ekiti, Adedipe said “it’s a pointer that APC is alive and kicking.”

According to him, “The array of aspirants coming out in APC is a welcome development because it’s a pointer that the party is alive and kicking. No investor will like to put his or her money in a moribund business that has no prospect.

“Let every flower continue to blossom, at the appropriate time some will survive it while some will retrace their steps. I am not talking of APC as a political venture, but as a party that is alive and kicking, which informs the array of aspirants that we now have in APC,” he submitted.


http://bamidelefaparusi.com/blog/2018/03/18/fayoses-governmentll-cease-day-i-get-apc-ticket/

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