I was confident of my victory – Johnson
I was confident of my victory – Johnson
By Damilola Kushimo
The elected House of Representatives member representing Oshodi-Isolo Constituency II, Engr. Ganiyu Johnson, who contested the last Saturday’s election under the umbrella of the All Progressives Party (APC), said he was full of confidence that he would win the last Saturday election despite efforts and political gimmicks deplored by his opponents.
He said he knew this when he started his campaign as people both Yorubas and non-Yorubas declared supports for his ambition, adding that the way people trooped out on the election day also heightened his victory confidence.
Johnson told Echonews that he was sure of not only winning the election but winning with very wide margin.
However, when the result was finally announced by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) on Monday, the APC candidate won with 19,426 votes to beat his opposition in the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), Emmanuel Nnodim, who scored 15,872.
Speaking while the election was ongoing on Saturday, he said: “I’m sure that people of Oshodi-Isolo Constituency II would vote for me and I’m going to win by the grace of God. Not only winning; I will win with a very wide margin.”
After a long period of battling with the card reader, which initially failed to read his finger print, the
House of Representatives Candidate of the All Progressives Party (APC) in Oshodi-Isolo Constituency II, Engr. Ganiyu Johnson finally got accredited and cast his vote at exactly 11:00am.
Johnson, who felt distressed finding it difficult to cast his vote as the card readers initially failed to read his card on many attempts, had got to his polling unit 013, Okota around 10:09am.
after long waiting in the queue, the candidate was allowed to vote when the card reader eventually worked out.
Speaking on the process, Johnson said: “The process is a little bit slow but we are hoping they will catch up. it is expected that it is so initially, but with time they will catch up.”
Asked whether he was hopeful the exercise would be concluded at the scheduled time since it started late, Johnson said he was positive that the process would gain momentum and catch up with the scheduled time.
He also expressed assurance that the turnout would be encouraging despite the delay in the process and the earlier postponement of the election upper week.
He however commended the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), saying the commission has improved on its equipment and logistics.
Earlier, the former Lagos State Chairman of the All Progressives Party (APC), Otunba Henry Ajomale, and the wife of Ganiyu Johnson had cast their votes without any hitch.
Responding to journalists, Ajomale said: “They started late but as you can see, it is peaceful here, everybody is queueing and exercising their fundamental Human rights. We hope it is like this throughout. I’m going to win my polling unit because I’ve always been winning my polling unit. I’m satisfied with the performance of INEC because they’ve been doing a good job. The voting is moving on smoothly now, as they started. It didn’t take me much time, I don’t think I spent up to five minutes.”
The Commissioner for Home Affairs, Lagos State, Dr. AbdulHakeem AbdulLateef, described the process especially at his polling unit 007, Oke Afa, Ejigbo as being smooth and peaceful , saying the security personnel did their job very well.
He expressed his delight at the turnout of the voters, saying he was earlier afraid of voting apathy which might have emanated from the shift of the initial scheduled time of the elections.
“The process has been smooth and peaceful, the security agents really worked hard and people really came out contrary to our apprehension because we were afraid of voting apathy, but people came out to exercise their voting right and it has been peaceful all through.
“The lateness of the INEC officials was not an issue because we cannot have a perfect system . In my polling booth, people had even started giving one another numbers in an orderly manner before the arrival of the voting materials. I think Nigerians just need to trust the system and things will come out fine.”
Speaking on the winning chance of APC in Lagos, AbdulLateef said: “Our expectation is that, Lagos is traditionally APC and we have a government that is performing, so we expect the people to free choose for themselves so we expect to win.”
Also speaking on the APC victory, the Isolo APC LGA Chairman, Barr. Gani Bello said the turnout was outrageous, adding that it was a sign of victory for the party.
“The turnout was fantastic. It’s the best turnout we have ever seen since we have been voting here, even though the exercise began late. We were expecting good result at the end of the day. As a part chairman, prior to this time I had tried to associate with the boys, men, women, we held meetings with them, we related with them, they told us their problems and we related them to the executive chairman and the governor.
“So far, we have been having good results in our relationship with the chairman and our relationship with the governor and that is why the people are interested in the progress of the party. That is why they want to vote for us. I’m highly optimistic, I’m just waiting for the vote to be counted,” he said.
