A frontline governorship aspirant in Lagos state and chieftain of the All Progressives Congress, APC, Senator Ganiyu Olanrewaju Solomon popularly called GOS has held discussions with top officials of local governments in all the 57 council areas of the state.
The meeting which was held to seek the support of the council bosses for his gubernatorial aspiration was closely followed weekend by the declaration of total support for GOS by a socio-political organization, Patriots Face. The group without thousands of membership in all the 57 council areas of the state declared their support for the Senator’s aspiration at a ceremony in Mushin on Friday.
A statement by Solomon’s campaign team on Saturday said “the meeting midweek with vice chairmen and secretaries of all the local councils in Lagos was aimed at mobilizing them for the Senator’s governorship ambition which has been receiving widespread support across the state. He urged the gathering to buy in and take ownership of the drive to put behind us the culture of imposition and enthrone internal democracy in our party, a move that will ultimately entrench participatory democracy in the state and our nation at large. He also canvassed the support of the senior LG officials for his candidacy at the party’s primaries.”
At a well attended and colourful ceremony in Mushin weekend, the leadership and members of Patriots Face from the 57 council areas in the state endorsed Solomon as the best candidate to fly APC’s flag in the February 2015 governorship election.
Reacting to the two developments, Solomon who is currently the Senate minority whip in the upper chamber of the National Assembly said he is taking his consultations and mobilization wide and deep to various stakeholders at the grassroots “because they matter and we recognize their importance to our aspiration.” The former Mushin local council chairman stated that “history and dynamics of politics have made it compulsory for our party to imbibe internal democracy, which is what the people are saying right now and as such we have to engage in rigorous mobilization of the people who will ultimately decide our fate by voting for us.”
While commenting on the level of support he enjoys from a national leader of APC and former governor of the state, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu as well as his successor, incumbent governor Babatunde Raji Fashola, GOS who is also a former member of the House of Representatives described Tinubu as his mentor. According to him “Asiwaju’s intellectual capacity is high and stands by whatever he believes in and gives all to it. He’s a role model. He came in and like a colossus he took over the political space not only in Lagos and South West but the entire nation.”
Senator Solomon also described Governor Fashola as a good friend and cool-headed person, who he said had carried the flag of the party very well.
He however added that “all this does not translate to imposing me, because I expect them to have the same relationship with a lot of members of our party. So, they would rather allow us to go to the primaries and let the most popular candidate emerge.”
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