The chairmanship candidate of the Social Democratic Party (SDP) for the Abuja Municipal Area Council (AMAC), Dr. Obinna Simon, has said that the campaign councils of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and African Democratic Congress (ADC) do not threaten his ambition to win the council election.
The election is slated for February 21 for the six area councils.
The APC, in constituting a 137-member campaign council, while the presidential aspirant for the ADC, Peter Obi, is leading the campaign of the ADC candidate.
The candidate of the APC is Hon. Christopher Maikalangu, while that of the ADC is Dr. MO.
The SDP candidate, speaking to journalists on Sunday in Abuja, said he is the most qualified candidate with a vision to add value in AMAC.
Speaking, he said, “I have been involved in politics for over 20 years, though maybe not from Abuja, but of course I’ve been involved in politics for close to 20 years. AMAC has enormous resources that, at the state it is today, should have been far ahead because of poor management.
“Now, as AMAC chairman, transparency and accountability are two of my key cardinals. Many of you in the media here know I was in the comedy industry before contesting this election. You knew how popular I was across the country, even in the diaspora. You also know that there has never been a single reported scandal about me. Even though what I was doing was quite sensitive, mimicking a sitting president if you were not told, you would think it was him. Even if I’m on the phone with you, you would think that he is speaking to you.
“But I have never, for once, defrauded anyone or used the same talent to shortchange anybody. I was one of the people that the DSS were watching closely, more than anybody. Every move I made, every call I made, they never found me wanting for one day, for those eight years.
“Now, what does that tell you? That tells you my character. You cannot pretend for eight years. You cannot hide who you are for eight years. It’s impossible, it will show. I can also tell you that in my entire life, I have never been convicted of any crime.
“I have never entered a cell in my entire life, not one day. I have never, for one second, been involved in a case of ‘you have done this or you have done that.’ I’ve never gone to court to defend myself for a single day. So this has necessitated me to say that accountability and transparency are very important to me. As AMAC chairman, I and my team will publish the federal allocation monthly.
“We will publish it so that everybody will know what came in that month. The IGR for the month will also be published so people will know the resources coming in and what we are using them for. We will not mismanage council funds as is happening today.
“All of us know that currently, the six area councils are under investigation for over 100 billion naira mismanagement of funds. That will not happen during my time.”
Speaking on his areas of concern, he said: “Education: As many of you know, I was teaching before even joining comedy. I taught for over seven years in primary and secondary schools. I taught some of my students who are currently undergoing their master’s; some are doing their PhDs as we speak.
“And that is why I shed tears when I visited schools in AMAC, even though the school where I taught was private. I shed tears because I found students sitting on bare floors receiving lessons. Who could believe these schools are under FCT? They are under AMAC.
“And that is why, the day I made my declaration, I made it very clear that, on assuming office, I would declare a state of emergency in education in AMAC. Schools were on strike in AMAC for over five months. They resumed after a patch-up, but as I speak now, they are on strike again. As a teacher, the welfare of teachers is very key. When teachers are comfortable, they teach children very well. So education is very important to me.
“Teachers should rest assured that their welfare will be well taken care of. We will also retrain those teachers who are not professional. Some took teaching jobs because there was no other job. The only job I see is teaching. No problem, we will train you to become a professional in that field.”
The SDP candidate also said that the APC candidate should be held responsible should anything happen to him or his supporters.
He said, “This morning, I got a video where a stakeholder, a chieftain of the APC, was seen threatening voters, especially non-indigenous voters, that if they dared vote for SDP or ADC, they should pack their things and leave. The video is there. I am going to share it later on my pages for awareness and to call the security agencies to understand that whatever happens to me, my family, or my supporters, that individual should be held responsible.
“The candidate of the APC should be held responsible because I do not see where you make such threats in a civil society, in a civil community, in a civil world like this. It’s a contest.”
