All Progressives Congress chairmanship candidate for Ojokoro Local Council Development Area of Lagos State, Hon. Dipo Okeyomi, has sensationally explained why he churns out about N10m monthly in charity, to fend for the needs of the less-privileged in his constituency.
Okeyomi, speaking with The Point in his office on Thursday, said his background as “someone from a financially poor background” and “the private agreement I had with God in the closet of my room” necessitated his having to distribute money to the poor and work tools to artisans on monthly basis.
“For instance, I hung on the tailboard of a commercial trailer from my mother’s community in Akoko, Ondo State to Lagos.
“On getting to Lagos, I started out as a bus conductor, then a bakery assistant before I gathered money to further my education.
“There were periods I would endure hunger for two, three days because there was no money and now that the Lord has opened doors, I cannot afford to withhold help whenever anyone is hungry, in distress or having to capital or tool to start off business or work,” he explained.
Okeyomi added that in the last six years, he had been distributing work tools to artisans in Ojokoro LCDA and other communities in Lagos State, apart from giving cash assistance to widows and petty traders in the area.
“This, I have been doing through my non-governmental organization, The Change Agent, which also has membership in foreign countries where some expatriates have been identifying with our lofty goals.”
On the source of his wealth, the chairmanship contestant disclosed that he had two big farms in two different communities in Ekiti State, which earned him about N160m monthly, apart from contract awards in respect of his occupation as a security consultant.
He also disclosed that when elected chairman, he would create invite foreign investors to set up farm settlements and other enterprises in Ojokoro, with a view to creating jobs “for the army of the unemployed that we are contending with here.”
Okeyomi described the Lagos State governor, Mr. Akinwumi Ambode, as “a human dynamo” in terms of the various capital projects he had embarked on, “within just two years of assuming office.”
He also described former Lagos governor and the national leader of the APC, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, and the governor of Osun State, Mr. Rauf Aregbesola as his role models in the political arena.
“The two great leaders set agenda for people to follow and also groom up we the younger ones to prepare for leadership roles, and the positive results are everywhere for anyone to see,” he explained.
