How I lobbied Gbajabiamila for first Itire-Ikate secondary school

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The Executive Chairman of Itire-Ikate LCDA, Hon (Dr) Ahmed Olanrewaju Apatira, has said the first-ever Secondary School in the LCDA was a product of his lobbying from Rt Hon Femi Gbajabiamila during his first term.

The council boss made the declaration while debunking a report by a blogger attributing the project’s facilitation to one of the councillors in the council area.

While describing the report as false and an act of desperation on the part of its sponsors, Apatira stated that the Chief of Staff to the president, Hon Gbajabiamila, has delivered more in the area of school construction and equipment, road construction and maintenance, and provision of solar energy and more to his constituency.

He stated, “I pushed and lobbied for the intervention of Rt. Hon Femi Gbajabiamila in the area of projects’ intervention.

And in response to our call for his intervention during my first term as council chairman, he facilitated the construction of a Secondary School in Itire-Ikate LCDA, the construction of Itire-Ikate Modern Secondary School and various infrastructural and empowerment programmes in Surulere Constituency.

But I was surprised when my attention was called to a viral report on social media published by a blogger that the projects were facilitated by one of the councillors who I appointed as my Special Adviser during my first term.

He was not a councillor at the time I facilitated the school construction. In fact, I pushed him for the councillorship. Importantly, none of them were there when I met the then Speaker of the House of Representatives, Hon Gbajabiamila seeking his intervention.”

He added, “The school was part of my campaign promises to the people of Itire-Ikate LCDA, which was made possible by the Hon. Gbajabiamila. To this end, on behalf of the good people of Itire-Ikate LCDA, I express our appreciation to the Chief of Staff to the President, and I am also appealing for more government interventions.

Just last month, May to be precise, we received a team of engineers from the office of the former Speaker, House of Representatives, Rt. Hon. Femi Gbajabiamila, who was on an inspection tour of ongoing construction works.

The secondary school construction is historic in the sense that it is the first ever in this LCDA. It complements our efforts and projects intervention during our first and second terms. So, to be able to enjoy more dividends of democracy, I want to urge residents to continue to pay their taxes and rates for more of these developmental projects.”

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