Hon. Dr. Bayo Adefuye the Chairmanship candidate for All Progressives Congress (APC) for Yaba LCDA in the forthcoming July 12,2025 local government election has tasked party faithful on the importance of re-electing President Bola Ahmed Tinubu for second term, reels out blueprint for advancement of community welfare upon assumption of office as council chairman. Clears air on alleged imposition,citing long time unflinching commitment and submission to party’s supremacy. Olanrewaju Adesanya brings Excerpt:
Kindly avail us a brief about your background and your political antecedent?
I was born in Yaba where my parents lived then, so I have sentimental cum spiritual attachment with the area. My parents are in another Senatorial district now but I believed that I can practice politics anywhere. I am married with children, I am a very simple person by nature, very humble I have a listening ear, I am very generous sometimes to a fault. I always try to put others before me and ensure that anybody who is around me are taken care of and I try to reach out, I am a philanthropist to people and the poor as well and whatever impact I can make in the society, I do.
My politics in Yaba has spanned almost ten years now, this is where I vote, I have a residence here in Alago Meji, my office is in Abule Ijesha which happens to be my ward and from where I aspire for elective posts. I am a former Sole Administrator of Yaba LCDA, I was also the Central Coordinator for Sanwo-Olu foot soldiers before his first term election in 2018, I was the Central Coordinator for Mainland and Yaba that was after I ran for House of Assembly the first time, they asked me to step down for Lanre Oshun which I did and I campaigned with him and that was why they made me the Central Coordinator for Sanwo-Olu foot soldiers, which is a formidable campaign structure within Mainland and Yaba it was also successfully done after that , I was given an appointment in SUBEB- as a permanent Board Member in charge of Special Projects for Eko Excel and Home Grown School Feeding which was also successfully done.
In 2021 I and my friend who is now the incoming vice chairman of Mainland Wale Momoh, both of us were the returning officers for Lagos Mainland/Yaba and for the LGA congresses we were posted to Eti-Osa and Eti-Osa representatives were posted to Yaba. So, I was the Chairman of that electoral committee, Wale Momoh was a member, the SLG of Mainland was also a member in the Committee, one Adeleye and one Ajayi were also members of that committee and we also did that very successfully in 2021. I have ran for House of Assembly twice the second time it was given to Honourable Shabi but I campaigned for both men vigorously.
Since then I had a reappointment of SUBEB this year but I have since resigned the appointment on the fourth of June this year because of the required preparation to run the election.
What should the people of Yaba LCDA look forward to in terms of local government administration you will by then take charge of ?
The good people of Yaba can look forward to very very good things from me, I did well as a Sole Administrator which lasted for 13 months, at the end of my tenure, I was the best Local Government Administrator in Nigeria, Yaba was also the best local government in 2017 these records are there in Yaba council and the award of best local government chairman is with me.
During the elections which brought in the present administration in the first term, as at that time we have nine wards in Yaba, two wards were lost to the PDP for over eight years but when I came in as the Sole Administrator I won those wards back due to my performance and the ability to carry everybody along, we were able to get those wards back into the APC, after that there were lots more achievements, I generated the highest revenue at that time because I did not politicise revenue collection, everything came in so we were regarded as the highest in revenue generation and a lot of other records, like the school feeding and everybody knows about the Eko Excel because it was throughout Lagos state and we did well, even Mr. Governor attested to that, especially for the Primary Institution in primary schools across Lagos and by God’s grace when we go in, we have a lot of things in store for the people of Yaba.
How do you perceive governance at the local government level and what are you bringing on board, if you are fortunate to get to the seat come July 12?
The Local Government in my own perception is the most important level of government because they are closest to the people at the grassroots and all politics is local really, the local government office is the seat of power and that is the first place where you feel governance in any community or society. The local government council and your Chairman those are your immediate guild of governance, the local government have legislators-who are the councillors and they also suppose to have their own little mini- judiciary as well. Although there is no much focus on that but there is still a small court for the local government.
The upcoming local government election will bring governance to the people, Mr. President has made sure that local government now have increased allocation, so that they can better cater for the people.
Now if we have a very good candidate who knows what he is doing on the local government seat, the people will feel the true dividends of democracy where ever they are will feel that government is taking care of them.When we come in, in July 12 we intend to allow people feel the impact of governance by undertaking empowerment programmes. By focusing on education, employment, increasing our IGR- our Internally Generated Revenue, by exploring the tourism potential of Yaba, by ensuring that security is enhanced, and that the polity of Yaba thrives and others stakeholders within Yaba LCDA are very well catered to and taken care of even the past officers and the past ward chairmen all will be taken care of in the new dispensation.
When I say tourism potentials, one major tourism potential in Yaba we have our Makoko Day which if well invested in, will be a big tourist attraction and a big revenue earner. Now it is still a local festival but we want to turn it into an international festival same as Iwaya Day and all other small festivals that we have in Yaba.
We also intend to do alot of infrastructural renewal and we think for our roads we want to have beautiful roads with a very good aesthetics in mind. Like I said initially we are working on tourism potentials, we want people to come and see lovely roads, lovely buildings, good infrastructure and good ambience that would make people want come to and invest in Yaba here.
We also intend to collaborate with local businesses to increase our IGR, by reaching out to them and assisting them because when they are doing well, we are doing well. We also intend to improve the chieftaincy cadre within Yaba are very well taken care of, the Oba’s, Baale’s and what have you, we want to ensure that they are carried along and they play a very prominent role in our society. We will also be ensuring that the poorest of the poor, the vulnerable within our society we reach out to them.
Like I said, we want to do a different kind of empowerment, one that change lives, spells progress and means well for our people, by that I mean you get the poorest of poor with the representatives of the families through skill acquisition and we also intend to engage in them having their own businesses. We help them to get the skills and equipment and give them little capital to start with. And as time goes on we will monitor this progress because we want to ensure that it is not that we are just giving money to the people and at the end of the day they spend it as a windfall and they don’t really achieve a result. So,we are going to have an agreement with these people and say okay we are going to invest in you, and with this we mean you are going to take care of your families because it is not enough for you to collect this money and ‘Japa’ you must take care of your family and you must be able to bring one or two people depending on your capacity,we are going to give you somebody to employ. That shows that we are focused on your business and we are there to help and guide you along the way to ensure that your business progresses, because your progress is our progress the more thriving your business is the more revenue for us so, we are going to have that. We will also help our market men and women with quick non interest loans that will help them do their business and at times if they know it is free they may not use it well but when they are aware they need to payback it helps them. You know it will be run by their market masters- the Iyalojas,Babalojas to make it work, they know that this loans were given to them to secure business growth in the area.
You have spoken eloquently well but leading to your candidacy there were issues of imposition, so what are your blueprints at this time, as well as your contribution to the attainment of Governor Sanwo-Olu’a THEMES agenda to help bolster it?
I believe the reputation of the party is very important, the good works that Mr. President has been doing has to show, the Sustainable Hope Agenda in 2027 for Mr. President. Coming in apart from the empowerment programmes which helped us to build the confidence of our people in the past, made the people trust the government and the Governor as well as the President and that is what we had going for us. At the commencement of our administration all I have mentioned will be bolstered.
Aside empowerment programmes that I listed we are going to ensure that our children get free access to free education, we are going to invest in education to ensure that children get access to education, we will work on the vulnerable children of the society to make sure they go to school not minding the reasons that might have inhibited that in the past. We will invest in the youths and give them employment opportunities because the youths are a major part of our electoral system and they have in a way being sidelined in the past some say they are only used for elections we are going to change all that and ensure that those who don’t know what to do are trained in one skill or the other, we will invest in them.
Some just need someone who can invest and believe in them, so we will invest in them and also guide them as I have said it is not only that, if you invest in them alone without trying to guide them, then most of them will JAPA because they now have enough money to run abroad they will, but we are doing this so that the economy of Yaba can be a vibrant one. Apart from that the issues of security, we will work to ensure that in terms of security Yaba is very strong and safe, the same youths will help with intelligence gathering, we will use them as members for mini community policing and we will have them interacting with our security forces to ensure that there are security presence in Yaba, we will also provide communication gadgets for the security forces and our youths so, that they can work together and communicate effectively with each other as well for the security of all nooks and crannies of Yaba.
How do plan to galvanize the support base for Tinubu ahead of 2027 elections?
I have already been active along with my team in sensitizing the people on the achievements of Mr. President, the Sustainable Hope Agenda of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu in his second term, we are all out to debunk all that have been said and noise by enemies of government, we need correct all these fallacies and ensure that it gets out there, that this is what Mr. President has been doing, he is doing well for the people and make the people to understand that he has good intentions for everyone. So,we must all come together and ensure that he is re-elected for a second term in 2027, so that he can conclude the good works that he has started and leave a legacy for Nigeria. In Lagos he has done very well and one does not need a soothsayer to tell you whoever had plan all these in Lagos will do well at the federal level and he has been doing well, but the truth about it is that federal politics is different from local politics. At the federal level we have different regions, interest groups, powerful power brokers here and there all pulling together and he has to manage everyone but those who have been benefitting from the system and he has come to change the system and for that you would have opposition. Those who have benefitted from the system being bad to the tune of billions of dollars will use those monies to fight him so, that he would not take away their bread and butter. But of course Mr. President is a courageous and no nonsense man and he fears no one, he has no godfather and for that reason he has nobody to answer to but God, he will do what is right for the people. That he did in Lagos state and stood firmly that the 37 LCDAs in Lagos must not be erased, this local government which the allocation was withheld and he didn’t back down due to the fact that the allocation were withheld, but rather he restrategized and reengineered the financial economy of Lagos and sustained Lagos State for two years without monthly allocations, that show the strength of his character and he had a plan of more than thirty years on ground for Lagos state, of which we are seeing those dividends now. The BRT, the light rail a lot of things that we are enjoying today were designed as far back when he was the governor of Lagos State.
As at the time he had to work with what he had and think out of the box. This is a man they held his allocation and that pushed him he became stronger and by the time he finished he came out looking like a superman. I dare any Governor presently to work without allocation for six months and let’s see how it goes.
Are you assuring Mr.President that come 2027 in Lagos it would be maximum victory?
As far as Yaba is concerned it would be landslide victory. In Yaba here we don’t have any problems and I am sure Lagos Mainland does not have that problem as well.
What should the people of Yaba expect from July 12?
Expect us to get to work immediately, we are going to hit the ground running, we are going to have stakeholders meetings with the people, apart from our own plans you have to also know what the people want. Even presently we are still having stakeholders meetings with them, telling them that this our programmes, they are also telling us their needs so later we will do extensive stakeholders meetings with the people to get what they are saying and we are presenting our own programmes to them as well. They will also let us know what their immediate needs are so, that we can try and harness it together to ensure that everybody is happy. They should expect to have a government with listening ears and empathy for the people themselves. Our first priority are the people of Yaba, the indigenes, residents, we intend to make them happy. We will ensure that they have an easy life here with the kind of facilities we will provide for them, we are working on a lot of things and we want them to see Yaba in a new light. Yorubas will say (Yaba tuntun lawafese) We want to have a different way of doing things, we want to have a well updated health facility, up to date with all drugs and medications and a lot of cases where we can have free medical services, we would give free medical services because we want every indigenes of Yaba to feel oh! We are resident in Yaba and we are very proud to live here given all benefits they can get, so that we can get the buyings of people especially for Mr. President to get a second term.
So, we are going to work assiduously on that, we are going to look into agriculture and ensure that we have all these food crops grown, cassava, corn and what have you and ensure that these are sold at a very cheap rate that would not spoil their pockets at all. So all these and more are in our plan, even from Adekunle, Onike,Makoko, Alago Meji, Iwaya, Igbobi Sabe, Abule Ijesha all the areas of Yaba will be very well carried along, to ensure that our streets are not only safe but motor able and are aesthetically pleasing. That is what we want to work on. We don’t just want to do it for doing sake but we are doing it with tourism in our mind and with an aesthetic picture of Yaba in mind. Those aesthetics are what will bring about the tourist destination. We are going to do alot of things here. We would have hotels for tourists. Yaba is a tech hub so we will partner with tech companies with applications and tools that will help us and help themselves so that everything is seamless, in transportation we will have our own small transportation system we are going to bring in new beautiful electric buses and have smart bus stops everywhere to ensure that when you are at the bus stops you know when the next bus is coming for drop off. Employment will also be created bus service centres for their maintenance service and all . We intend to create these are the things that we use to create employment and so many other places within Yaba. Atan Cemetry which is one of the revenue earners of Yaba, we will give it a complete facelift. We are going to turn the place to something else. We are going to work with all the CDAs to create a friendly competitions, we are going to invest in our sports, our sport enthusiasts and practitioners to allow them have sense of belongings. We are going to have special ambassadors. For example if you go to a state or national competition you are going to be an ambassador of the council. We are going to promote and do things for you. Whatever we can afford to give you we will give you, be it a house or anything just to make it worthwhile your bringing these laurels because we have taken cognisance of the fact that alot of this sport practitioners end up getting discouraged and frustrated we want to try and do something for them that will make them feel yes this is worthwhile. For example at our functions you will see their pictures up that we have endorsed this person as our ambassador and we will partner with all these corporate partners to also endorse them for the local government.
I am the highest political leader in Abule Ijesha and the people knows me some for over 12 years and I have been an active participant in the politics of the area. They were saying he should stay in that ward and not come for the local government I laughed.Even the serving councillors and leaders in my ward knows me. It is like a situation where you go scouting for a job placement, if you are all in the waiting room, waiting for your turn, holding you CVs you all are eligible for it, but it only the best qualifies and ends up getting the job placement, you have to sell yourselves and that is basically what we are doing. But some chose to lambast or kick against other candidates maybe because of fear of that candidate what might be eventually. I have never insulted anyone. I have stepped down for people and never protested or questioned the decision of the party all I do was submit to the will of the party. So when anybody now come protesting and claiming that it was an imposition I laughed because I am a member of Mainland and Yaba Leadership hall and I have invested in the party which the former Chairman had attested to this in a video articulated and commending me for having been there for the party always, that whenever they call on me I have been there for them. During party registration I will give all the wards money to assist, this they use to buy soft drinks and more so that the work won’t be too much for them. I do mobilize my ward during elections, I go round sometimes I even go into other wards to make sure we did well, so having done that you now, a time when I am now the candidate you are now saying i have never been an active member of the community, we have held mega rallies where almost 2000 people of course they were claiming that they were people from other places and I laugh at them, it seemed everything just snap off their memories they are frustrated,we want to make Yaba a place that people would be proud of the government they have in place.
My message for the electorates is to support APC as a party and ensure that they cast their votes in 2027 for Mr. President and come July 12 for all our candiadtes the chairmen and councillors and they should have hope for the best as they say joy is coming.
The nation recently celebrated democracy day on June 12, how you will rate our political progress in this dispensation?
This fight for democracy of course, we have MKO Abiola who never got to realize his mandate but of course in the Renewed Hope we now have President Bola Ahmed Tinubu who have fulfilled the dreams of MKO Abiola’s mandate by becoming the first Yoruba President that we have in Nigeria, and he is doing very well. His plans need time to materialise. Everything he is doing now by the time he has one or two years more, Nigeria should become a paradise.
But we need patience, we must also understand that in this democracy the economy the way it was over thirty-five years now, the economy had been degraded it can’t be fixed in one term or even two terms but we can put the country on a sound footing which is what he is doing, we are on that path to progress, you can see the coastal roads it has never been done before.
That shows that he intend to unite this country and he intends for all strata and regions to be at peace and as one, but of course there are those who want to harp on religion and ethnicity, to bring the country down but I am sorry God is with Mr. President Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu and I know He will guide him through and he will ensure that Nigeria will become a country that Nigerians will be proud of.
All they are doing now saying all sort of things about our passport, I bet you years to come every Nigerian will be proud to hold the green passport. We have already started on that journey, yes there will be some bumpy portion on the road but the important thing is that we have started the journey, we must have continuity on that journey and there will be others who will have like mind for progress and we keep going on, but one thing I can be sure that he will do is that he will not just leave us a good country, but he would put a good plan in place maybe a 10 years master plan as the President, he will just become a super star like we had in Lagos.
Governor Raji Fashola was a superstar, number one because all the allocations that was withheld were now given to him, all those projects that were started in President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’ s administration were completed by him so he took the credit for that.
So, the thing is that the plan laid down by Mr. President was what he worked through, afterwards also the bar beach which Mr. President had turned into a paradise it was a problem before and no one had ever thought that it will become a paradise.
So, you can imagine that it would be the next capital of Lagos. Because of how it has advanced, that is the vision of a man who is forward looking those problems he turned to solution. That is a genius of a man, he would rework Nigeria, we just have to give him more time to finish the work he had starred and give us a roadmap that can last us for another 20 years.
