Kunle Adelabu & Olatunji Ademola
It was 100% votes for the sole Senatorial aspirant of the All Progress Congress (APC) for the Lagos East Senatorial seat, Mr Adetokunbo Abiru, as delegates across the 19 Wards in Ikorodu Local Government Area (LGA) voted massively for son of the soil in the primary election that was held on Thursday, September 3, 2020.
The coveted Senatorial seat, which the former Group Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer, Polaris Bank PLC, is aspiring to occupy became vacant following the suddenly death of the former occupant, Sen. Adebayo Osinowo who died few months back.
In the election, which was held across the Council and supervised by representative of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Mr Akosile Adeniyi, and that of the APC from National and State levels, Abiru garnered the total votes of all the accredited delegates present.
The election was monitored by our reporters in lkorodu, Igbogbo, Ipakodo and Imota areas of Ikorodu Local Government.
At 3.12pm, the Returning Officer for Ikorodu Local Government, Amb. Kelvin Peters, who is a delegate from the National Secretariat of the APC, announced that Abiru won the election with 21, 128, in the presence of the INEC Electoral Officer for Ikorodu, Lagos State APC representative and Divisional Police Officer for Ikorodu Divisional Headquarters.
He added that Abiru garnered 100% of the total votes.
“We have only one aspirant who is Adetokunbo Mikhail Abiru and he scored 21, 128 votes.
“This is to certify that Adetonbo Mikhail Abiru, having scored the highest number of votes cast, won the primary election and hereby declared winner”, he declared.
“This is signed by the Chairman and Secretary of national party of the APC. Based on the requirement, I, hereby, give copies of the result to first INEC representative, also, to the Police and the agent of the aspirant”.
He thanked party structure in Ikorodu, especially the Chairman of Ikorodu Local Government, for the support for the success of the primary election.
In an interview with THE IMPACT after announcing the result, Amb. Peters said that the primary election in Ikorodu was well organized.
“The process was well organized, covered by security agencies; well supervised by INEC; well arranged and it was peaceful”, Amb. Peters said.
“The collation was done according to the laid down guidelines of the APC. Results were brought in by those that were responsible for bringing in the results. Those were the Returning Officers assigned to the 19 wards of this local government.
“Results were brought in at the right time and collected at the Local Government headquarters and the process which is successful is now over”, he said.
Meanwhile, Alhaji Taiwo Longe, APC Chairman in Ikorodu, described the election as peaceful.
“The primary election is very peaceful. We have only one aspirant in the primary election and all that we did was ratification of his candidacy. Our party members whom we have mobilized came out to ratify our sole aspiration, Abiru”, Longe said.
The party chairman said that the APC will win the Senatorial bye-election come October 31 because electorates have confidence in the party.
“By the grace of the Almighty Allah, we are on ground and we are going to win the bye – election with our candidate. We are a progressive party and we have been on ground for over 20 years ago and we have been consistent.
“APC is a winning party with what we have done nationally compared to what the other party that was in power for 16 years did. This gives us the confidence that the masses have confidence in us. Masses will take us into consideration and vote for us”.
The Council Chairman, Ikorodu Local Government, Hon. Wasiu Adeshina, also speaking with our reporter at the Council Secretariat after the Collation, said that Ikorodu populace has spoken with one voice by voting massively for Abiru in the primary election.
“Now, people have spoken that Abiru is their choice. They have voted massively for him as the candidate of our great party and he is definitely going to win the bye – election come October. Our people in Ikorodu will turn out massively for the APC candidate”, Adeshina said.
“Electorates in other four Local Governments are also going to vote for him because he is a capable candidate with track record in public and private services”, he added.
Hon. Wasiu Agoro, Chairman, Imota Local Council Development Area, said that Abiru is not only the preferred candidate of the party leadership, but also that of the generality of the people.
“The process was peaceful and acceptable to all our party members.
“Our party leadership made good decision in making Abiru our candidate and you can see for yourself that he is acceptable to our members. Going by feelers that we are getting, he is very well loved by the people.
“With the response and results of today’s process, our people have stated emphatically that the party choice is acceptable to them and they have made that known through their votes today and they are going to do same on the bye – election day.
“I am using this medium to call on the generality of Ikorodu people to come out en masse and vote for the APC candidate on the bye – election day to prove that we are truly the number one APC council in Lagos State”, he stated.
Profile of Adetokunbo Abiru
Tokunbo Abiru was born 25 March, 1964.He was the immediate past Group Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer of Polaris Bank Limited, Nigeria until August 2020, a position he resigned from to aspire for the Lagos East Senatorial seat.
He was a former Commissioner for Finance in Lagos State, under the administration of Mr Babatunde Raji Fashola, SAN.
Abiru holds a B. Sc. (Economics) from Lagos State University. He is also an alumnus of Harvard Business School and Lagos Business School (Executive Education Programmes.
He is a Fellow of The Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria (ICAN) and an Honorary Senior Member of The Chartered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria (CIBN).
He rose to the position of Executive Director at First Bank Nigeria Ltd (2013-16 and was appointed in July 2016 by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), as Group Managing Director to lead the turnaround of the regulator-induced takeover of the then troubled Skye Bank, in a bid to preserve the stability of the overall Nigerian Financial System. The successful completion of the assignment gave birth to today’s Polaris Bank Limited.
Tokunbo has also served on various reputable boards including: Airtel Mobile Networks Limited; FBN Capital Limited (now FBN Quest Merchant Bank Limited); FBN Bank Sierra –Leone Limited; and Nigeria Inter-Bank Settlement System Plc (NIBSS).
