Ahead of next week’s local government election in Oyo State, the lawmaker representing Oyo central in the senate, Dr. Yunus Akintunde has supported all the candidates of the All Progressives Congress, APC, with forty million naira.
This was just as Akintunde who chairs the senate committee on environment distributed rice and cash to over 3,000 households. This came few days after Christians and Muslims got similar gestures to celebrate Easter and Eid.
The first-term senator who made this known when meeting candidates of the APC in his hometown of Oyo Sunday afternoon expressed confidence that the party will do well in the election.
He, however, urged the Oyo State Independent Electoral Commission, OYSIEC, to be fair and not dance to the tune of the ruling party in the state.
Drawing applause from the stakeholders who were surprised by his gesture, the former works and transport Commisioner in the state, revealed the 118 Councillorship candidates in the senatorial district will get 11,800,000 while the 11 chairmanship candidates got 11,000,000; 11 vice-chairmanship candidate get 2,750,000. The leadership of the party will get N5,500,000. All other stakeholders will share among themselves close to 10m for election logistics and others.
Speaking further, Akintunde said that “I have come here this afternoon to show my own support towards the prosecution of the local government election coming this Saturday. We have done what we can do to ensure hitches-free polls. Apart from that, I know we need money for logistics and that was why I decided to make the announcement today. I know some of my colleagues and other stakeholders have also extended their support. That is the new spirit in Oyo APC.
“Our members as well as the general public should not be intimidated. APC is not afraid of election. The ruling PDP should not intimidate the OYSIEC from doing deploying illegalities in winning at all cost. We know our strengths and weakness. While we are building on our strength, we are also working on our weakness. We are leaving no stone unturned to ensure victory for candidates of our party.
“So I urge us to go all out, mobilize voters and with God on our side and OYSIEC not compromising, we are recording resounding victory. It is going to be first of its kind. And don’t let’s forget to come to preach peace among us,” he added.
Shedding light on the rice distribution, Akintunde said “that wasn’t a party affairs alone. Our constituents deserve to be supported especially in these times. That is why I have decided to make the distribution continuous. Remember we recently did one during the Easter and Eid periods. I will not relent. I am grateful I am surrounded by good people. Mind you, this is apart from the employment we have assisted in getting and projects we have facilitated. In the next few weeks, you will start seeing all these. We have a lot in the kitty. And these have been possible through God and the network we have built over the years.”
