- By Kamil Opeyemi
Minister of Interior Rauf Aregbesola has urged different political groups in Lagos state not to waste the efforts of the past years by throwing the state into opposition.
He said the since democracy returned, Lagos battled spiritedly to survive under very hard conditions because it was in the opposition party.
The minister, who held meetings with different political leaders in the state at his GRA Ikeja residence through the weekend, said Lagos would be on cruise to greater development with the President Elect, Bola Tinubu.
His meetings with the leaders of various ethnic groups, factions of the All Progressive Congress were said to be part of the efforts of the leaders to ensure victory for the Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu.
NPO Reported earlier of concerns among party leaders after the results of the presidential election which held on February 25 where the candidate of the Labour Party Mr. Peter Obi defeated Tinubu.
It was a shocking defeat which showed the impact of the internal conflicts within the APC in Lagos, according to NPO Reports findings.
“Asiwaju is the leader of the party and head of Lagos but now he has changed. He’s no longer the National Leader but the President-elect,” Aregbesola told the party leaders
He added that “If we want to have the benefits of all the labours of over thirty years that some of you have been with this tendency since the formation of SDP in 1998 to AD, AC, ACN and now APC, If we want all these efforts not to go into waste, I beg us let us vote APC So that we can marry the benefit of Asiwaju presidency with the joy of having our party in power in Lagos. That’s the message.
“All those efforts since 1988 to now when they are no longer listen to you will just be wasted if you bring in a new person that will be opposition to Asiwaju.
“If you want to overcome the frustration of yesterday and go home that you are now in full power the best thing is to disregard mess you experience and let us do the best we can to make sure APC wins.”
He said a win for Sanwo-Olu in this Saturday’s governorship election is a move to further attract massive developmental support of the Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu presidency to Lagos and Nigeria, in general.
The Minister urged them to forget all grievances and work in unison for the success of the APC at the polls.
“We worked tirelessly for the success of what we have today in Lagos. We cannot allow those fanning the embers of discord within the party to derail us. Let us forget whatever may be the issue and work for the success of the APC on Saturday.
“Winning Lagos is not just about shutting the doors to those who do not have the capacity to rule us, but to ensure we crown all that Asiwaju has achieved so far, especially now that he is President-elect, to the benefit of our party, and the generality of Lagosians.
“Let us go back to our various units, wards and communities to work for the APC.”
Speaking on behalf of the Igbo Mandate Group, two other coordinators, Mr. Eze Nwachukwu and Prince Anselem Ndoka Echelwu stated that the group and thousands of their members in Lagos are ready to vote and deliver all APC candidates in Lagos at the coming elections.
“We have mobilized all our members in every ward and local government in Lagos state to come out and vote massively for all APC candidates in the House of Assembly election and Governor Babajide SanwoOlu for the gubernatorial elections. We won’t fail, we will deliver”, the leader committed.