Ogun Hausa community endorses SDP candidates

A few days to the general election, the Arewa Youth Forum in Ogun State said it had thrown its weight behind the governorship candidate of the Social Democratic Party (SDP), Senator Akin Odunsi, and all the candidates of the party in the state, in the coming general elections.

The forum vowed not to support the re-election bid of Senator Ibikunle Amosun, describing him as an ethnocentric dictator that does not take the Hausa community into consideration.

The Chairman of the forum, Hadi Sanni, disclosed this at a media briefing in Abeokuta, saying that the endorsement was done, having critically examined all the political parties and their candidates in the state.

Sanni, who further explained that the Hausa community was indebted to the former governor of the state, Aremo Segun Osoba, following his efforts at enhancing the life of the community, when he held sway as the governor of the state and after.

According to him: “We are supporting the SDP because of Chief Olusegun Osoba, due to the outstanding support he had given to our community.

“This endorsement was reached after the entire executive members of the Arewa Community had critically examined all the tremendous support Chief Osoba had given us, which include appointing Hausas in his government; taken up the hospital bill of our late emir and, after he left office, he brightened our streets with solar powered streetlights.

“There are many amenities we are still enjoying, which were provided during Osoba’s tenure such as pipe-borne water,” he asserted.

Meanwhile, Senator Odunsi has assured the people of Ogun West Senatorial District that he would resuscitate the abandoned additional local governments created in 2003 by Chief Olusegun Osoba’s administration, if elected as the governor.

Odunsi, who stated this during the continuation of his state-wide campaign tour to Yewa South and Ipokia local governments, promised that his administration would bring the government closer to the people by revisiting the abandoned 32 local government areas.

It would be recalled the Chief Osoba’s government created additional 32 council areas and conducted referendum before he lost out in 2003, hence the proposed local governments became ineffective till date.

The governorship candidate, however, described the pedestrian bridge constructed by Governor Ibikunle Amosun’s government at Oke-Sokori in Abeokuta, at the cost of N260 million, as irresponsible spending.