Politics
REP. Remi Oseni, (Ibarapa East/Ido – APC), has mobilized thousands of artisans and traders across local governments in Oyo State to deliver one million votes for President Bola Tinubu’s re-election in 2027.
Oseni said that artisans and traders’ associations must see themselves as critical players in President Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda aimed at repositioning Nigeria.
The lawmaker stated this during a stakeholders’ engagement meeting with members of the Remi Oseni Committee of Friends (ROCOF), and Progressive Workers, and Traders’ Associations of Oyo State on Saturday in Ibadan.
Oseni, the convener of ROCOF, urged the traders to ensure they get permanent voters’ cards, which would help them to exercise their rights during forthcoming elections.
He also charged them not to trade the future of their children through vote buying and selling.
Oseni, a senatorial candidate for Oyo South Senatorial District in the forthcoming election, said that the meeting was also aimed at deliberating more on areas where members would benefit more from various empowerment programmes specially designed to support them.
He promised to obliged the request for a N250 million interest-free loan for artisans and traders’ associations under ROCOF, as well as construction of an artisans’ village provided with constant power supply.
Oseni also assured the group of povision of health insurance, among others.
He added that the meeting was also to brief ROCOF members, artisans and traders’ associations, and other supporters, on what changed his initial governorship ambition for the senatorial seat.
“We called this ROCOF Progressive Workers and Traders’ Associations stakeholders’ meeting to review where we are.
“Before now, our focus was to take over the leadership of the government of Oyo State.
“That has been our clear objective in the ROCOF movement. Today, we can see that what God wants us to run for is a Senate seat.
“Our people needed to be fully briefed. They needed to be told what the party wants and what we have accepted.
“It is not enough for us to just accept what our leader offers. It is our responsibility to carry our people along and encourage them to take whatever we have received from God in good faith.
“So that they will believe that God, who has done this one, can still do other things tomorrow. Basically, that is our take in the whole of this meeting.
“We are also here to continue to motivate and encourage them in their expectation from us.
“They believe if we are able to achieve our initial governorship target, that would have been much more profitable to every one of them as an institution.
“But then, we need to reassure them that the government is behind us. The President is with us, and he has sufficiently encouraged us that our tomorrow is good.
“We have also assured the President that the fact that we were offered to move to contest for Oyo South Senate will not affect our one million votes promised to him because ROCOF across the 33 LGAs is working for him,” he said.
Earlier, the Oyo State Coordinator of ROCOF Progressive Workers and Traders’ Associations, Alhaji Munirudeen Adegoke, described Oseni’s empowerment programmes for artisans and traders as a sound economic investment.
“When you empower traders and artisans, you reduce unemployment, curb youth restiveness, and directly eradicate poverty in our communities.
“This is the reason why we all conclude that empowerment for artisans and traders requires more than temporary handouts.
“It demands structured policies that guarantee access to capital, modernised infrastructure, and social protection,” he said. (NAN)
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Tags: Oyo Lawmaker Tinubu Reelection