By Bilesanmi Abayomi
A group of female professionals for Sanwoolu in Lagos has organized a door-to-door outreach program to drum up massive support for all the All Progressives Congress (APC) candidates in the Kosofe LCDA in Lagos.
The well-attended event, “Door to Door Outreach,” flag-off held on Wednesday at the Kosofe Local Government Headquarters, urged participants and the electorate to pick up their PVCs to vote for all the party flag bearers.
All Progressives Congress candidates included the presidential candidate, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu; Lagos East Senatorial District, Senator Adetokunbo Abiru; and Kosofe Federal Constituency, Kafilat Ogbara.
Others Babajide Sanwoolu as Governor of Lagos State, Sanni Ganiyu Babatunde as member of the House of Assembly, representing Kosofe Constituency 1, and Femi Saheed for Kosofe Constituency 2, respectively.
The convener for the professional women of Sanwo-Olu, Mrs. Omowunmi Ogungbaibi, said it was time for women to campaign massively and make their voices heard in voting for all the APC candidates in Lagos State.
“This is time for you to vote with your PVC. This is the time for you to declare your intentions; this is the time for you to make your pleas to the government. However, it is also to let the government realize that it is time for women to be included in their policy and decision-making. It is time for women to also be part of decision-making,” she said.
Ogungbaibi, also the deputy directorate of foreign affairs’ independent campaign group (ICG) and protocol officer at the Presidential Campaign Council, said the role of women when it comes to nation-building cannot be undermined.
According to her, as I always preach and propagate, it is time that we left the kitchen. It is time that women stop tying wrappers on their chests.
Ogungbaibi added that it is time that when their husband left for work, they go next door to start gossiping, saying that this is time for them to come out to determine their leaders.
She noted that the drive behind the campaign was that she loved to stand where women’s voices could be heard and respected.
The convener said, “I can’t stand where women are being maltreated or pushed aside; it could be cold because we are vulnerable. I think that was what brought out this in me, which is passion. I run an NGO, so it’s already been there. It is an existing thing that has been there. The political part is just an expansion of the office we already have in existence.”
Speaking on her passion for reaching out to women through her NGO, she said when a vision becomes a passion, definitely someone will make provision for it.
Ogungbaibi said that irrespective of the amount spent, as long as she had been able to fulfill and redeem her pledges and be able to reach out to them, she felt fulfilled and okay.
She noted that every three months she reached out to the widows in the country to provide succor to them.
Speaking, the Director-General of the Independent Campaign Council of APC in Lagos, Mr. Tayo Ayinde, said the women professionals coming out to support Tinubu and Sanwo-Olu had rekindled their hope that they would emerge victorious in the forthcoming election.
Ayinde, represented by the director in the office of the council, Mr. Charles Ilesanmi, said the program was awesome and encouraging, and he never expected what he saw here about the crowd and the arrangement for their candidates.
Ayinde also urged Nigerians that were yet to collect their PVCs to go out and collect them before the INEC deadline.
According to him, Nigerians, including party members, should also mobilize and encourage others to do the same.
“They should also go out en masse on the election day to vote for our candidates; we should not be complaisant because this election is different from other elections. It is the type of election that we have never had in Lagos, so we should all go out as party members to do the needful,” he said.
Ayinde assured that what Tinubu would do differently when he becomes president is what he did to make Lagos the center of excellence.
The governor’s aide said whatever Tinubu touches turns to gold, and he can assure them that things would be better for Nigeria if Tinubu emerged on Feb. 25.
Also, Mr. Enitan Onikotun, the media aide to Sen. Adetokunbo Abiru of Senatorial Lagos East, lauded the program as highly commendable because it was rare to see professional women who would come out to rally support for the party candidates.
“More also, they are supporting Tinubu, Sanwo-Olu, and other APC candidates in Lagos. You can see the turnout, which is quite massive, and what we have agreed to do today is to sensitize them on the need for them to mobilize people to come out. This is because the current state has the highest number of registered voters in the country.
“Therefore, this must reflect in the 25th Presidential and National Assembly elections and the governorship elections that will happen a fortnight after then. We are here to showcase our selling achievements in Lagos State and in the country as a whole as a basis for supporting all-out party candidates. That is why I have come here to represent Abiru and help her identify with the professional women at the grassroots level,” he said.
Abiru said they had to sensitize them on the need to move to the field and work because the majority of the campaign work they had on the field was quite massive.
The senator said this was because, right from the start, Lagos had not been showing impressive figures compared to the number of registered voters in the previous elections.
Abiru, however, said they want this to change, which was the essence of this program.
He said the professional women were and also advised them to meet with their neighbors in their churches, mosques, streets, and among their family members and friends.
According to him, they should talk to them about the need to come out on the day of the election and vote for the party.
Kosofe Post reports that widows who presented their PVCs were also rewarded with food items, aprons, and cash gifts, among other souvenirs.
The highlight of the program was a road walk from Ojota to the Ogudu roundabout area of Kosofe and the distribution of a school bag, an exercise book, and souvenirs to residents.