…as he promises to deliver excellently if elected
By: Hope James, Gloria Ogbu
Honorable Bimbo Damarola, Ekiti State House of Reps candidate of the Social Democratic Party, SDP, has disclosed that he is vying for the position because of every young person in the state.
According to him, he is not desperate for the position but is coming back serve and ensure that every young person is represented and enjoys the dividends of democracy.
The house of representatives candidate said this in Ado-Ekiti during a programme tagged “Ekiti State Media Meet and Greet with Congressman, Bimbo Daramola”.
The former Representative of the Federal Constituency 1 of Oye/Ikole, indicated his interest in running for the seat again 8 years after he served, stating that he is in the race because of his love for his constituent and Ekiti at large.
He also assured the people of Ekiti North, that he will use his experience and give his best in serving them more than anyone in the race if voted into office.
“I am back in this race because of young people who believe in what I represent. I am not desperate for this job. The only desperation I have for this job is to see how we can put all of the experiences and exposure that we have, add more value and get more people out of poverty.
“Putting all of my experiences together against the collateral of my track record, we can deliver much more to the people more than any body else in this race.” He said.
Reminiscing on his time as a representative of the Oye/Ikole constituency, he highlighted some of his achievements.
In his words: “Every person on the street of Oye and Ikole should please take their time to look back and see what representation was at that time.
“Over the four years that we had the opportunity of representing the people, we touched lives in very tangible ways. We brought interventions in many areas, medical, physical, infrastructural and other ways. We took people out of poverty highways and gave them jobs, changed the narrative of valuing people by giving 64 cars to people, we did medical outreach and were able to solve medical challenges of some people who would have been long dead by now.”
I gave scholarships to people and bought jamb forms for over 2,000 persons.”
Tackling the issue of vote buying, he said, “We need to educate the voters to have confidence in themselves and be able to identify what serves them in the long term and not just think about the now.
Vote buying as a phenomenon, is a threat to our democracy, it compromises people, and takes advantage of the weak, the poor and the less privileged.”
“I am going into this election believing that my people are a lot wiser, I am going in reminding them of the fact that there will be many more people that will come out of the universities looking for jobs, there will be many people stepping out of the universities in 2023 who will be worried about what next to do, and they can find comfort in the fact that a Bimbo Daramola came by 8 years ago and sorted out lives of people.”
According to him, weaponisation of poverty is a tool in the hands of unscrupulous politicians who have nothing to offer, promising to deliver excellently if elected.
On his defecting from APC to SDP, he said that, not contesting under the umbrella of the All Progressive Congress, APC, the party under which he served before, will not be a hiderance to him serving his people well and giving them the best of himself.
“I may have changed my political party, but my heart was never a membership card of any political party, so I didn’t leave it behind in my old party. I walked away from that party conscious of the fact that the people were not served as well as they should have been and the heart with which I served them at that time is still the heart I have till today.”
“Political parties ensnares. It keeps you in bondage. It is a trap.” He stated.
