BY CLIFFORD NDUJIHE & OBINNA EKWEM

To  residents of Anthony Village in the Kosofe Local Council Development Area of Lagos State, the era when elected office holders rode roughshod over them without rendering account of their stewardship is gone.
With one voice, the residents,  led by the publisher of Vanguard Newspapers, Mr. Sam Amuka; Dr. Basirat Giwa, Mrs. Sola Adebule, Ibironke Gbenle and Victor Mbamalu, declared, at a town hall meeting, to henceforth  demand effective and accountable  representation from office holders.

Held at the  Anthony Village Recreation Ground, only nine of the 14 candidates seeking election into the Senate, House of  Representatives and House of Assembly attended the meeting. They were Mr. Uchechukwu Donatus (ADC, Lagos House of Assembly); Mr. Courage George (ADC, House of Representatives); Mr. Anuoluwapo Akerele (CPC, House of Representatives); Hon. Dayo Bush-Alebiosu (ACN, House of Representatives); Mr. Olatunji Adesanya (CPC, Lagos House of Assembly); Adedoyin Adeyemi (LP, House of Representatives); Mr. Lanre Ajose (PDP, Lagos House of Assembly); Prince Olusegun Adefioye (APGA, House of Representatives) and Mr. Abeeb Olayinka Mustapha (ANPP, Lagos House of Assembly).

At the event, the residents asked the candidates questions on their programmes, contributions to community development, how they would tackle unemployment, provision of infrastructure, power and water supply, etc.

The incumbent House of Representatives member for Kosofe Constituency, Dayo Bush-Alebiosu, was specifically asked his achievements in the last four years and why he should be handed another mandate.

The candidates answered these questions warmly to the admiration of the residents, who obviously left the gathering with a clear idea of who they would vote for at the polls.

From left, Mr. Lanre Ajose, PDP candidate, Lagos State House of Assembly, Kosofe Constituency; Mr. Habeeb Mustapha, ANPP, Lagos House of Assembly; Mr. Adedoyin Adeyemi, Labour Party, House of Representatives; Mr. Olatunji Adesanya, CPC, House of Representatives; Hon. Dayo Bush-Alebiosu, ACN, House of Representatives; Mr. Uchechukwu Donatus, ADC, Lagos State House of Assembly; Mrs. Anuoluwapo Akerele, CPC, Lagos House of Assembly; Mr. Collin George, ADC, House of Representatives and Prince Olusegun Adefioye, APGA, House of Representatives, at the town hall meeting between residents of Anthony Village and candidates of all the political parties representing Kosofe Local Government of Lagos State at Anthony Recreation Centre, Anthony, Lagos, yesterday. Photo: Lamidi Bamidele.

However, the residents chided candidates who did not attend the parley, which they considered as a slight because they were duly invited and they confirmed they would come.

At the meeting, Mr. Amuka, one of the conveners, noted that Anthony Village has always had enlightened residents, including the late lawyer and human rights activists Chief Gani Fawehinmi (SAN), and Dr. Beko Ransome-Kuti, for whom a minute silence was observed. He urged the candidates to know what the community stood for.

Echoing the views of many speakers at the event, he said: “We are a knowing group of people and those who have gone have left this country and given this country the kind of service that the country misses them for. There have been no substitutes for Beko Ransome-Kuti and Gani Fawehinmi.

‘’We are very pleased as organisers of this event as a response, not only from the people but also from those who are aspiring to represent us. We have noted that one or two candidates have not come. Please, let them know that we consider that a serious slight on the community.

“What has happened is part of the change that this country is going through. The fact is that we will let our votes count. Come April 2, we are all going to go out and, from that point, we will not just vote, we will monitor our votes and get results.

“The people we elect to office should know that they can no longer take the people who elected them to office for granted. They are supposed to be serving us. They are not our masters. And, the message from what you have heard from these people today is that they must be accountable to the community.

‘’We take this quite seriously. Our secretariat is here. We are going to demand from those we have elected, summon them to attend to us  from time to time and, if they do not respond, we have access to newspapers, television and radio and we will let the people know. From now on, it is a new beginning for this country,” he stressed.