By Myke Uzendu, Abuja
Candidate of Social Democratic Party (SDP) for the positon of Chairman, Abuja Municipal Area Council (AMAC) in the February 21 Area Council Election, Hon Obinna Simon said that he will make full disclosure of all revenue and expenditure of the council and end corruption if elected the next Chairman.
The aspirant disclosed that he left the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) due to injustice and expressed his determination to revive the education sector, curb insecurity in the capital city, and engage the youths through skill acquisition and empowerment to ensure that crime is reduced to the barest minimum.
Hon. Simon who made the pledge on Sunday in Abuja during an interaction with the media, said that he will engage traditional rulers who are closer to the grass root as a channel for intelligence gathering.
He said that despite his incursion in the comedy sector and his ability to mimic a president, he has never used it for any fraudulent purpose, pledging not to compromise his integrity if voted into office.
Describing the qualities that marked his public life he said, “You knew how popular I was in the entire country, even in diaspora. You also know that there have never been reported one single scandal about me. Even though what I was doing was quite sensitive, mimicking a sitting president that if you were not told, you would think he is the one. Even if I’m on phone with you, you would think that he is the one 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 DSS were watching closely, more than anybody. Every move I make, every call I make, but they have never found me wanting for one day, for that eight years.
“Now what does that tell you? That tells you that that is my character. You cannot pretend for eight years. You cannot hide who you are for eight years. It’s impossible. It will show. I’m able to also tell you that in my entire life, I have never been convicted of any crime” he boasted.
He said that he will make full disclosure of all the revenue and expenditure that his administration will incur.
“So as AMAC chairman, I and my team, will publish the federal allocation. We will publish it so that everybody will know that this is what came in this month. The IGR in the month will also be published so that people will know the resources that are coming in and what we are also using the resources to achieve. We will not mismanage the council funds, just like we are seeing today.”
“All of us know that currently they are investigating the six area councils, over 100 billion mismanagement of funds. That will not happen during my time”.
Hon. Simon said that he will declare state of Emergency on Education and take teachers welfare seriously.
“Education, as many of you know, I was teaching before even joining Comedy. I taught for over seven years in primary and secondary school.
“I shed tears when I went around the schools in AMAC, even though the school where I taught was a private school. But I shed tears because I found students sitting on the bare floor receiving lessons. Who could believe that these schools are under FCT?
“And that is why even the day I made my declaration, I made it very, very clear that I will, on assuming office, I would declare state of emergency on education in AMAC. I made it very clear. It’s out there.
“Schools were on strike in AMAC for over five months. And then they patched it up. they resumed. As I speak to you again now, they are on strike again.
“So as a teacher, the welfare of teachers is very key in education. It’s when somebody is comfortable that you teach children very well. So education is very important to me. Teachers should be rest assured that their welfare will be well taken care of. We will also retrain those teachers who are not professional teachers”.
On his plans at ending insecurity in the Area Council he continued, “My administration, God’s willing, will ensure that we work closely with traditional rulers. The kind of information they will bring to you, the conventional security architecture might not provide you with such information. So I will work closely with traditional rulers.
“Also, we cannot totally depend on the police because they are overstressed already. Police cannot handle everything, but we can work together with them. We can share information. We can share intelligence with them on how to take care of insecurity in AMAC”.
He said that youth engagement, employment of youths and empowerment is very critical in ending insecurity.
“Some of our youth who engage in these crimes do not have jobs. We can’t run away from that. They don’t have jobs. We have to create one. Now, creating that job, don’t quote me wrong.
“We do not promise to employ everybody in the area council government. That’s not what I’m promising. We will accommodate some in the area council. But my focus will be on skills acquisition. Not only teach them how to produce, manufacture, but also empower them to stand on their own.
“So insecurity is something that I feel will be well managed. You can’t stop it completely, but we’ll bring it to the barest minimum. We will engage those youths who do these things, teach them one or two skills, empower them to start their businesses.
“Many of these people are not asking for so much. One or two things you do for them, they are set up for life”.
He SDP candidate said that he has all it takes to defeat the incumbent AMAC chairman stressing that ruling parties have lost elections severally in the FCT.
He said, “I have the right credentials and experience to govern AMAC. We fought the incubant in 2022. And the same incubant came back to APC. And against all odds, they insisted the ticket must go to him.
“Allow the primaries to be free and fair. Let’s see if he will get the ticket or not. But you sidelined so many things. And then against all odds, took the ticket and gave to him. And then we moved to SDP.
“I remember one of the persons I consulted then. He told me, I said, yes. He said, go to any party, make sure you get their ticket. You’ll be a candidate to beat”.
