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Ekiti: Aluko Joins APC, Announces Empowerment Scheme To Fight Poverty
The leadership profile of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Ekiti State swelled at the weekend as former Senator Gbenga Aluko declared for APC.
At the occasion held in his Ode-Ekiti country home and attended by party leaders and supporters, Aluko and scores of his supporters joined APC.
Among the state leaders present included the State Deputy Chairman, Kemi Olaleye, Publicity Secretary, Taiwo Olatunbosun; State Secretary, Paul Omotoso; and South Senatorial District Chairman, Kayode Babade, who received the former senator into the party.
Aluko, the only senator elected in 1999 in the entire South West on the platform the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), cautioned against divisions and factionalisation within APC, even as he warned members against hostility towards the opposition party.
He said he had been in political journey with President Muhammadu Buhari since their days in the All Nigeria People’s Party (ANPP), explaining that top in his political partnership preferences was his personal relationship with the like-minds, one of whom, according to him, is the President.
Aluko announced agricultural empowerment scheme for the people in two local governments in each of the three senatorial districts, saying this was a beginning of a comprehensive programme that would cut across the 16 local governments of the state to fight unemployment and lift the people out of poverty.
He said the scheme would be coordinated by an expert in project financing and management, Olatunji Olatunde, who is a former commissioner of works in the state.
Specifically, the former Senator said cassava and rice production would be given priority with his initial personal financing of the scheme before calling in the World Bank and Federal Ministry of Agriculture to take over the project to expand its scope of operation across the state.
According to him, the first set of beneficiaries will be Ikere and Gbonyin/Ayekire local governements from Ekiti South Senatorial district with Ado and Irepodun/Ifelodun local governments from Ekiti Central also topping the list. Also benefiting are Oye and Ido-Osi local governments from Ekiti North Senatorial District.
The scheme, he said, was where the hope lay in fighting poverty and taking care of the social and economic needs of the people.
Berating Governor Ayodele Fayose for his recalcitrant behaviour in the administration of the state, Aluko noted that PDP had turned a disaster under the governor’s grip, even as he urged the governor to purge himself of belligerent attitude that had turned governance into a rudderless ship of state.
Aluko urged APC to change its course from PDP’s way to avoid disaster.
For his brother Olu Aluko, a lawyer, time is ripe for Ekiti people to find the right leadership that would rescue the state from the present visionless administration that had no development blue-print.
“Enough of this voodoo administration that thrives in lies and hooliganism to find the right leadership with composite vision and competence to take Ekiti to greater heights,” he quipped.
Also speaking, former member of the House of Representatives, Bamidele Faparusi, called for unity within the party, warning members against acts capable of disintegrating the party, even as he urged members to embark on membership drive to swell APC’s numerical strength.
“There is no one-man battalion in politics. Democracy is a game of number. The more we are by attracting more members from the opposition, the better chance of winning elections,” Faparusi said.
He also warned members against character assassination of party leaders, saying such conduct was inimical to leadership strength to lead members to successful elections.
Ayekire Chairman of APC, Olusola Falade, praised Aluko for his courage to join APC, saying his support for the party during the National and State House of Assembly elections was commendable, even as he explained that his roles in strengthening the party manifested long before his formal declaration for APC.
Babade, while handing Aluko a broom, the symbol of APC, urged members in the local government to eschew bitterness and work for the progress of the party.
He said members should exploit Fayose’s floundering government that made poverty the cornerstone of his administration to build APC into a formidable party capable of taking over the control of the administration of the state.
He urged Gbonyin and Ayekire leaders to set in motion the process of realignment of forces to unite the factions into a formidable party for the tasks ahead.
Olaleye urged women in the party to be more alive to their responsibilities and praised Aluko for his various gestures to assist the party before declaring for APC.
She said there is no joiners in the party, explaining that being a new member did not make Aluko ordinary member but a leader of the party in his capacity as a former Senator of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
