Rotimi Makinde Writes APC, Declares Interest For House of Reps

By Sodiq Lawal

As countdown to 2019 general elections begin to garner serious momentum, leading youth and popular Ife politician, Hon. Rotimi Makinde has thrown his hat in the ring, seeking to represent Ife Federal Constituency in the House of Representatives in Abuja.

Makinde made this known in a letter he addressed to the ruling All Progressive Congress (APC) and made available to our correspondent on Sunday.

In his letter to the leadership of the APC, he said that:

“It is with a special pleasure, honor and a deep sense of humility that I welcome you all to this special and historical gathering of progressives and social actors of growth who have continually display unflinching love for the massive economical, political and infrastructural development of IFE FEDERAL CONSTITUENCY.

“Let me first of all express my profound appreciation to all of you for the trust and honoring of my invitation to attend this special and historical gathering at short notice despite your tight schedules, individual and collective challenges as a society. I feel truly honored by your presence and I wish I could thank you enough from the bottom of my heart.

“You all sacrificed to be part of this historical gathering because you all believe that our dear constituency can still trek on its path of greatness and resume its lead position in grassroots, women and youth developments among the league of constituencies. We want to see IFE FEDERAL CONSTITUENCY prosper and outmatch its present woeful and deplorable state. We need men of intelligence, integrity, dignity and excellent character to contest for elective positions and rescue our dear constituency from the hands of extremely greedy politicians who have sympathy only for their friends and relatives.

“In as much as we have hundreds of people with such attributes in our dear constituency yet we need to face the reality of choosing one, the most ready, trusted, experienced and most importantly that have been tested in such capacity and who is ready to protect the interests of the common people of our constituency. I have, therefore, decided that I will formally declare my intention for the position of member of House of Representatives, IFE FEDERAL CONSTITUENCY in the forth coming National Assembly Elections scheduled for Saturday, February 16, 2019 and also I will, along with other respected leaders of our party, seek nomination as a candidate of the All Progressives Congress, APC to contest the National Assembly Elections of 2019.

“This decision was taken after a careful and well extended consultations with party leaders most importantly the people of IFE FEDERAL CONSTITUENCY. You will recall that about three years ago in March 2015, I contested against Hon. Albert Adeogun and for reasons known to all of us, Hon. Albert Adeogun won that election, after what clearly emerged as one of the most acrimonious and controversial election ever in the history of IFE FEDERAL CONSTITUENCY. It was a daylight robbery and conspiracy of some forces within the constituency.

“Inspite of the electoral misfortune and the systematic campaign of calumny against my person by some members of our great party and attacks sponsored by some persons within the constituency, I have remained very active and prompt in honoring the calls of the party and attending and participating in meetings and events of our great party and the constituency at large. I have no records of leaving the party to its affairs at any particular time rather I have continually participated and contributed to its growth. Like other politicians who leave their base after defeat, I refuse to leave the people because their votes were manipulated as at then by forces holding our constituency to ransom rather renewed my positive energies towards the growth, progress and development of the community.

“With a thankful heart, I express my warmest gratitude to God and supports I have received from some of you because I have not only been honorably vindicated from baseless allegations and negative attributes ascribed to me in the past but I have equally enjoyed satisfactory relationships with colleagues, politicians of note, indigenous associations and great grassroots mobilisers whose support I have even sought and I am personally confident of getting in this national assembly bid.

“I am a tested ally of the people and my service records as a legislator remains unbeatable in the public domain. I served as a federal legislator in the year 2011 – 2015 as the deputy chairman of the committee of human rights at the lower chamber of the National assembly. The primary duty of a legislator is to make laws, move meaningful motions and sponsors bills while the secondary duty is to lobby and supervise projects. In all my years of service, I attended all legislative days with vibrancy and uncommon courage. I sponsored more than bills and I moved more than meaningful motions. I was everywhere across the constituency with my social programmes because I am a symbol of the common people especially the grassroots.

“As one of the illustrious sons of Ile-Ife, I moved a motion on the need to translate the national anthem and pledge into Nigerian indigenous languages because the anthem or pledge has no meaning at all to atleast 60million Nigerians who are illiterates and it has adopted by the National House and they mandated it for the National Orientation Agency to take necessary implementation steps. I also moved a motion on the need to make it mandatory for the issuance of firearms to police officers who have served for more than ten years in service in my quest to make our society more secure and safe. I moved a motion for the construction of overhead bridge across expressways in Ile-Ife for the security of lives especially women and children. A lot of meaningful motions were moved but could not see the end of the tunnel because I was not returned to the house and my successor could not continue where I stopped because he lacks basic knowledge of legislative runnings of the house.

“I sponsored several bills as a first timer while serving as a legislator in 2011 – 2015. All these sponsored bills can be easily traced and confirmed from different sources such as internets, National Assembly database and other relevant sources within the nation. Few of these bills are listed below;

“A BILL FOR AN ACT TO AMEND THE NIGERIAN COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION ACT CAP. N97 2004, LAWS OF THE FEDERATION OF NIGERIA, 2004 TO PROVIDE AUTOMATIC ACCESS TO THE DATABASE OF ALL SUBSCRIBERS TO THE NIGERIAN POLICE AND OTHER SECURITY AGENCIES AND FOR OTHER RELATED MATTERS.

“A BILL FOR AN ACT TO
AMEND SECTION 35(4) OF THE CONSTITUTION OF THE FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF NIGERIA CAP C23 LAWS OF THE FEDERATION 2004 TO ENSURE THAT ARRESTED PERSONS ARE PROMPTLY CHARGED TO COURTS OF COMPETENT JURISDICTION AND ARE NOT UNLAWFULLY DETAINED AND FOR OTHER MATTERS CONNECTED THEREWITH.

“A BILL FOR AN ACT TO AMEND THE OIL PIPELINE ACT CAP 7, LAWS OF THE FEDERATION, 2004, TO PROVIDE FOR THE TRANSFER OF PROTECTION OF OIL PIPELINES, SAFETY AND SECURITY ACROSS THE FEDERATION TO THE STATE AND OTHER MATTERS CONNECTED THEREWITH.

“A BILL FOR AN ACT TO AMEND THE NIGERIAN PRISON SERVICE ACT TO PROVIDE FOR THE ESTABLISHMENT OF UNIVERSITY PROGRAMMES THROUGH NATIONAL OPEN UNIVERSITY ACROSS ALL PRISONS OF THE FEDERATION TO THE STATE AND OTHER MATTERS CONNECTED THEREWITH.

“This particular bill was sponsored for easy rehabilitation of prisons inmates and giving free education to make them useful to the society after serving their terms. I was not an ordinary floor member of the house because I was always on the news agitating and expressing my views and educated opinions of the constituents I represent to the house and entire nation at large. I spoke on national issues of interests, the clarion call I made to the Inspector General of Police to sympathize with our fellow Nigerians at Rivers over the unruly behaviour of the Commissioner of Police, IFE MAYHEM, where I condemned outrightly the attacks on the members of then Action Congress of Nigeria and people of IFE FEDERAL CONSTITUENCY. My impacts as  a member of the Petroleum committee as a result of my wealthy experience in the NNPC due to my 20years of service by making feasible laws and motions that would make the sector grow are still accessible to all.

“As a child who grew up without spoons in the slums of Ile-Ife town and with the sole support of my parents, I pulled myself from this stagnancy and despair. I faced the future with uncommon courage and I struggled hard to utilise slight opportunities into useful products. That was why I became determine to create opportunities while in service. I focused mostly on women and young people because they are the most vulnerable entities in our society. I organised social programmes purposely to address poverty and unemployment in our constituency. I distributed more than 1000 crash helmets across IFE FEDERAL CONSTITUENCY and I introduced tricycle into Ile-Ife and environs. There’s no one who lives in Ile-Ife and environs that would not heard of KEKE MAYEGUN that was invented by me for easy movement across the IFE FEDERAL CONSTITUENCY.

“I took up the baton of responsibility by focusing on youths engagement and ways of empowerment became my worries and concerns. I introduced the concept of entrepreneurship where hairdresser dryers, clippers, hajoue motorcycles, deep freezers, fans, grinding machines and other tools were distributed across the constituency. Many of us could recall gifts in cash distributed to youths who are entrepreneurs or traders of small scale businesses to promote their businesses. Within 100 days in office, I ensured the erection of civic centres for leisure, association meetings and collective brainstorming on solutions to communal problems. As at today, the civic centre has been completed at Ayegbaju, Ilode , Ile-Ife ; the foundation has been layed at Mefoworade along Omifunfun, Ile Ife, foundation cum skeletal framework at Faamiya along Akinlaalu;  foundation cum skeletal framework at Yekemi along Iyanfoworogi and proposed bill board outlook at Ogudu all within Ife Federal Constituency. I raised vital issues and constituents matters in the house and other Honorables jokingly call me “MAYEGUN EYAN MEKUNNU”.

“It is sad, unfortunate, pitiful and lamentable that all these wonderful actions taken and social programmes ended with my tenure and people of IFE FEDERAL CONSTITUENCY have been subjected to titular leadership. This notion does not befit us as elites, literates and responsible sons of the source. We need to change the narratives and the gear at which our constituency negatively moves towards self ruin. We need to plan together and rescue our constituency from the generation of looters.

“As I move around this constituency interacting with people of the downtrodden, I listen to their concerns and worries about the deplorable state of this constituency. I could see the disappointments and neglection of their faces. Expectations have been shortchanged because they need someone who will think about them. Agriculture, improved standard of livings, provision of tools for better living. They have spoken through their votes in the just concluded election that they are tired of nursing a wounded representative. Inspite of all, they still believe and trust and they are still placing their calls of service with positive energies that need to be honored by choosing the most ready for the task ahead. This places on us the responsibility of stewardship. It is the consciousness of this national responsibility that has guided my political adventures; and it is this call to serve that I have come to answer once again.

“I hereby call on leaders of my great party, APC, tradition rulers, captains of fields and the great people of IFE FEDERAL CONSTITUENCY to join me on this historical political journey guided by responsibilities as I make us proud.”