A senatorial aspirant from Kogi west senatorial in the 2019 general election, Mrs Doyin Ibikunle, has attributed her decision to contest the election in 2019 to poor performance by the menfolk elected in the past.
Speaking in Kabba shortly after an empowerment programme for about 300 women in Kabba/Bunu local government area on Saturday, she said those that represented the area in the past had not done enough for its development.
She recalled that in the history of Kogi West Senatorial District, no woman has represented the people of the zone in the Senate, pointing out that the time had come for the people to test a woman.
This, she noted, became imperative as a result of the “absence of basic infrastructure and evidence of poverty everywhere.”
She expressed unhappiness over the deplorable condition of the federal road in Okunland, noting that the road constructed by the French construction company, Dumez, during the first republic, had worsened than what it was in the 60s.
Ibikunle, a chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC) however said she decided to participate in politics and run for elective office after 15 years of humanitarian service to her community with the sole aim of rescuing her people.
Ibikunle defended her decision to join the APC, arguing that the ruling party had not done badly after just two years.
She said the change mantra was on course and that given a little time, the benefits of the hard times experienced in the country would materialize for the good of the populace.
She, however, predicted that beyond party affiliations, elections in 2019 would be won more based on individual popularity.
“There is so much poverty in the community. Everywhere you go you see poverty written all over the faces of the people. I am in the race for the election to the Senate in 2019 to rescue my people because the men representing us have not been doing well.
“No single federal presence worth that name in Kogi West, especially in Okunland. As I am speaking with you, the road that the French construction company, Dumez, gave us in the 1960s is the same road my people are plying, it is even worse than when it was first constructed.
“I think the people need a change. They want to try a woman and I believe I am up to the task. I have accepted the challenge to champion the course of my people. Moreover when places in the country where they have women representing them, men have not been able to bread their good records. So, I want to be like Mama Taraba, I want to be like Binta.”
Credit: Tribune
