Abimbola is a Young man who was born in Lagos Nigeria on the 24th of May,1988. From WAWU palace and my mum is from agbowa ikosi Epe. I grew up in surulere, Agege, and Gowon Estate. I was always visiting my grandma in badagry, and I had my primary and secondary education at Gowon Estate, and the polytechnic, I studied computer science. I worked at GTB for some years before diverting into personal businesses such as; real estate, recreation as I own lounges popularly known as Bimz lounge.
My parent has always been centered on honesty and empathy, it’s something I always saw my parent do, I was taught how to feel people’s pain and my mum was never going to be caught in a lie, she would say the truth irrespective of the consequences, she was always honest.
Badagry is the heart of Lagos state, badagry is rich, it can be a Dubai of Lagos state, it can even be better than Dubai because it has a lot such as culture, tourism, ancient artifacts, the seaport and many more. For instance, on the island in Lagos city, the expensive places are mostly the places with sea view and so is Badagry, there’s enough waterfront, this is a means of making people happy, taxes from this places is enough to make badagry great. On the days I would visit badagry I was always happy because of the coconut trees, the seafood, badagry is the reason I’m a lover of seafood all these things make me so happy, the fresh fish and all. The cool breeze helps you relax and reflect, everything is just great and it’s not as developed as expected, badagry has the least improvement which is worrisome.
I feel basically what is affecting the development of badagry is that people don’t know much about badagry, the light needs to be put on badagry, people would usually not classify Badagry as part of Lagos state, and that narrative needs to be changed. This is a place people need to visit and love, people only recognize *whispering palms* and also just see badagry as a connection to the seme border, they don’t see Lagos they don’t see Nigeria. Although the roads are being worked on and when it’s completed there’s a lot of prospects, also people are scared of investing in badagry because they don’t know the government’s stance on badagry, no one wants to invest and then wake up one day to a piece of news saying Badagry is not under Lagos state and is rather classified under another country. The name badagry needs to be screamed out just the way Lekki was brought to the limelight, let’s bring people to badagry for events, let’s create reasons for badagrians to visit home, we need to give badagry the publicity it deserves.
GROWTH, badagry has tourism, culture and the sea. If it is well developed, if we can bring back the black heritage festival and host it like other festivals in Lagos, badagry will be held in high esteem.
Before the campaign my involvement in the community has been a lot from way back, myself and my brother of blessed memory used to work hand in hand with our dad, we give out free eyeglasses, check-ups, free phones, laptops, free school bags, women empowerment where we gave out stalls for people to start their business, we’ve been involved from way back since birth and the love for badagry has been there, I always vote and register in badagry, I spend all my holidays there too because I enjoy the bliss that comes with being in badagry.
My ambition is to become the house of assembly member for badagry constituency 1 and my motive for that is because I want to put badary out there, it’s painful when I’m around people and they are speaking about the places they come from but there isn’t much to say for badagry. Although it’s a very broad project as an entrepreneur it’s a possible mission, and there’s a limit to what one can do without power and connection as an entrepreneur but once one is a member of the house you’ll be able to make so much impact, you’ll be able to use your office to bring people to invest in badary, you’ll be able to get the governments attention on badagry, people will be able to see the possibilities in Badagry, the government will see the avenue to develop so many things that will, in turn, lead to good revenue for the state as a whole.
With no intention to downplay anyone’s work or effort, I think it’s starting from the people representing badagry on the state and federal level because that is the first step to recreating and developing badagry and also the mindset of the people, they’ve given people a chance to think where they currently are is good enough, making them think badagry is only good for sales and border access and that needs to be changed, people need to see how powerful badagry is and the potentials it carries, the mind of the people need to be awakened, the people should see the badagry as a jewel that needs to be refined and given a finer look. Most importantly those representing badagry on federal and national levels need to reposition the way others see badagry, change the shallow narrative that people have as regards badagry.
As I’ll always say; we are looking at Human development, if you want to develop an area you’ve to start with the people in the area. Empowerment and education are key, if you look at the activities we’ve had going on you’ll see they’re centered on empowerment and education. When I was growing up …….. in badagry used to be one of the best secondary schools to attend if you could qualify to the school even your parents will reward you for that. Education needs to be worked on and in the aspect of development we are looking forward to bringing investors to badary, showcasing the land potential in badagry, the tourist part of badagry, it’s heritage needs to be showcased, we need to make badagry a hospitality and tourist center, we want people to travel from far and near to badagry for vacation, relaxation and so much. Youth development is also paramount, I’m a youth and I can say for sure that when we invest in the youth we’ve invested in the elders and the generations to come, we need to bring up programs and many more empowerment schemes.
I’ll say both of them work hand in hand, experience is needed and capacity is needed, coming from a family that has been so involved in the growth and development of Badagry I’ve a very tangible experience and the capacity.
My work experience as stated earlier was with the bank and I’ve been an entrepreneur for over 5 years. As regards capacity, it’s not something that will be done by just me but I have got the necessary connections to bring people to Badagry to come and invest in it, making the black heritage festival like other Lagos festivals and also use it to educate people about the place. I’ve worked with and for people and I’ve been able to establish myself very well and so this shows my capability. I have the experiences and I’m ready to impact them into the growth of badagry.
my message to the leaders who always sabotage aspirants who come from the diaspora is that they should give it a rest, they should be tired of the fact that badagry is not getting the proper development and recognition it deserves rather it’s time for them to see the light, it’s not about the fact that the person is coming from afar rather they should see the intention and the burning passion for development and the love the aspirant has at heart, they should keep an open and clean mind and join forces with the aspirant to develop make badagry great.
I’m not a money bag, I’m a young person who has so many memories attached to badagry and I’m passionate about developing it, I’ve never been a fan of people buying and selling votes, rather I always advocate for people to vote for who is right, I won’t buy votes, the intention is not even there and I’ve been sensitizing people on the need to do the right thing, of what use or good is it to enjoy change for the little period the campaign is ongoing when you can vote right and benefit from the development that will take place in the four years of leadership? Why jeopardize long-term happiness for just a few months of enjoyment?
All I’ve been doing is letting them see the plans I’ve and for them to see that the little being done now can be better if they can support the dream by voting from their heart.
I will say I hear people say a lot of things but I’m not aware of any case of such in the primaries and if that be the case we will scale through it.
Yes my father has unconditional love for the development of Badagry. You will recall that every tangible development in the area of modern tourism development for Badagry were initiated by my father . The attention of the world was drawn to Badagry through The Badagry Slave Route Project and the Black Heritage Festival in which my father was a major stakeholder. I have a family line of Progressives in the Badagry Politics. My Grand Father Honorable Samuel Abiodun AJOSE was elected as a Councillor in The Egun Awori District Council representing Badagry Central from Badagry main town to Ajegunle. This an many more has impacted my aspiration, I’ve seen those before me do it and I’m positive I can do more.
I have clearly stated that the youth are a major part of my plan asides the general development, we need to empower them to see that they are the badagry itself because they’re the future, we acknowledge the elders and they’ve been doing their part and the youth are the ones who will come up to replace the elders and as the Yoruba will say “there are no amount of new clothes a child wants to have that will sum up to the amount of rags an elder owns” but the youth are the core part of the development, we need to have them involved fully in the growth of badagry, it’s time for the youth to take responsibility, bring them into the government to see how it’s done. As regards the PVC aspect we’ve been encouraging them to register and get their voters card, we’ve made them understand how powerful they’re as registered voters, we’ve made them see the hope and belief and the height of things that can be changed only if they will register and vote.
We live within the general manifesto of our party APC.I will lobby for the development of Badagry in the area of Tourism Development, Water Transportation,Environmental Management, Provision of infrastructure,Provision of affordable social services: Education, Health, Transports etc,Promotion of Agriculture using modern technology. I intend to carry out these programs in accordance with the manifesto of our great Party APC. The APC is a progressive party which has provided sustainable and transparent governance in Lagos State and South West Of Nigeria.
