Government Should Provide More Facilities In Epe – Abiodun Tobun

Hon. Abiodun Tobun is representing Epe Constituency 1 in the State House of Assembly.

The lawmaker recently won a third term into the assembly under the All Progressives Congress.

Tobun speaks on what he want the stat government to do for his people and his plans for the constituency in this interview he granted us recently.

Your party wants Senator Ahmed Lawan to be the Senate President, while others are interested in the seat. The same thing is happening on the Federal House of Representatives, where the party wants Hon. Femi Gbajabiamila to be the Speaker of the House. Won’t there be problem or a repeat of what happened in 2015 if the senators and representatives should go into contest?

The party would come together and the leadership of the party so that by June this year, the best candidates would emerge for the offices. The party has a role to play in the whole issue.

Should the party interefe in the process or allow the lawmakers to elect their own leaders

The party has a role to play. No one contested election with his own name, they contested under the party. Our names were not on the ballot papers, it was the party’s name that was there.

What would you advise the incoming Governor Babajide Sanwoolu of Lagos State to consider in forming his cabinet after May 29, 2019?

I want to urge the incoming Governor to select the people that would serve the interest of the majority of the people, uphold the tenets of the party and do the bidding of the generality of the people in line with the manifestos of the party. There are a lot of qualified party men that can serve, they should not choose people who have suffered setbacks in their domain. They should look for people that are qualified and competent to do the job.

If this is done, the commissioners would have listening ears and they will not be far away from the people. They will not be far from the people. I want the Governor to look at that direction for the benefit of our people. We have qualified medical doctors who are full of ideas, we have lawyers and other professionals. The Governor should look at the competence of the nominees and choose those who would not separate themselves from the people.

Are there peculiar needs of your constituency that you want the government to pay attention to

Epe is the most backward local government in the state. There is no link road to Epe from the city and from other parts of the state and country. If you are coming from Ibeju Lekki, there is no link road to Epe, if you are coming from Ikorodu, there is no link road there, even the road there is bad. The road from Ijebu Ode, Ogun State is bad. There is no industrial estate in Epe, there is industrial estate in Agbara, there is one in Ikeja. Also, Epe does not have BRT, even there is no signal light in Epe, and there is no pedestrian bridge in Epe. There is no good housing estate there. We have a lot of things that should be attended to. We have land, the Governor should give our people a vision. Let our people expand, let them feel the impact of the government. Our ‘baales’ should be upgraded to ‘obas’ so that they can also have better benefits. Also, our general hospital should be upgraded. The LASU Epe Campus should be upgraded, Michael Otedola College of Education in Epe should be upgraded to a university. The issues are too numerous. Most of the markets in Epe are bad. Our main market should be upgraded to international standard. Our fish market is of international standard, but it should be upgraded. We have a lot of things that they can do to enhance the socio-economic life of our people. If the roads are good, a drive from Epe to Lagos is less than one hour. So a lot of people would love to stay in Epe and work in the city. We have the ambience, we have the topography. Epe should be opened up for development.

What would be the face of 9th Lagos State House Assembly

We are 40 from the APC, we were 32 from the APC and eight from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the 8th Assembly, later seven of them crossed to our party. We will continue to do our best.

What would you do differently in your third term

I have mentioned them and I would pursue them. We will work with our colleagues and we pray that the executive would support us. If the Epe is good, a lot of people would live there and work in the city.