Elections: Surulere residents urged to shun tribalism, violence

AHEAD of Saturday’s elections, residents of Surulere area of Lagos State have been urged to shun tribalism and antics by some politicians to frustrate peaceful election in the State.

All Progressives Congress (APC) leaders in Surulere, including Alhaji Olayiwola Niniola, former chairman of the party in Surulere, Alhaji Abdul-Waheed Abdul-Azeez; Alhaja Risikat Kekere-Ekun, among others made this call on Wednesday evening at a rally held in support of the APC governorship candidate, Mr Babajide Sanwo-Olu and all assembly candidates on the party platform.

The leader of Ward G 1, Niniola told the supporters to disregard rumours that Minister of Works, Power and Housing, Mr Babatunde Raji Fashola, did not support the candidature of Sanwo-Olu, describing such as untrue.

“This story is not true. That is why we come out in full to show people that Sanwo-Olu is our man. The running mate is our man and we are supporting them with all our efforts.

“Our message for everyone is to make sure we all vote for Sanwo-Olu and the House of Assembly candidates,” he said, admonishing all to shun violence.

“Let’s shun violence. We are begging our people to defy violence and come out to vote because it’s obvious in the last election that our performance was poor in Lagos,” he said.

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Former chairman of the party in Surulere, Alhaji Abdul-Azeez, who addressed the crowd at the rally, called on residents to vote for Sanwo-Olu and the assembly candidates.

“Our message to every resident of Surulere is to come out and vote for APC en masse. Other parties have nowhere to go. The reason for their upper hand in the last election was only based on tribalism and sentiments. But, it is quite unfair if you are living here, making money here, everything you are doing is here in Lagos and you decide to work against a government that is doing well.

“The best thing is to support that government. That is why we are telling all Surulere residents to say ‘No Discrimination.’ When the government is discharging services to the people, the government doesn’t discriminate. So, people should not discriminate in this coming election. We want everyone to come out and vote for APC. That’s our message,” he said.

Also speaking, Alhaja Kekere-Ekun, a leader in Ward G 2, pledged the support of the ward for the emergence of APC candidates whom Fashola was supporting in Saturday’s governorship and State House of Assembly elections.

“We will work hard and counsel our people to come out en masse to cast their votes for our party, APC,” she said.