The Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Honorable Yusuf Lasun, has told anyone who cares to listen that he’s the next governor of Osun State.

Lasun declared his intention to contest the September 22 governorship election in Osun state on the platform of the All Progressive Congress (APC), on Thursday, June 7, 2018.

Addressing a crowd of his supporters at the secretariat of the party in Osogbo, Yusuf said the people of Osun State are ready to hand him their votes as the next governor of Osun State.

Lasun reiterated the need for a free, fair and transparent primary election and appealed to the party leadership not to impose any aspirant as the candidate of the party so as to avoid unwarranted crisis in the party.

Not leaving APC

Yusuf also used the opportunity to debunk insinuations that he was planning to dump the APC. The Deputy Speaker said he is a major stakeholder in the APC and that he would remain in the party to actualise his dream of becoming the next governor of the State.

 “I’m not just contesting in the forthcoming governorship election in the state, I have come to tell you that I’m the next governor of this state after Governor Rauf Aregbesola by the grace of God.

“If the primary election of our party is free, fair and transparent, I can assure you that I will win the ticket and the people of Osun State will vote for APC when the party presents me for the election in September”, Lasun said.

Commending Aregbesola

61-year-old Rauf Aregbesola will see his eight years as governor of the Southwest State come to an end in the summer and Lasun has promised to continue with Aregbesola’s programs because he considers them laudable.

Yusuf commended Aregbesola for the strides his administration has scored in the past seven and a half years and promised that he would consolidate Aregbesola’s youth empowerment programme known as Osun Youth Empowerment Scheme (OYES).

Deputy Speaker Yusuph Lasun says he’s Osun’s next governor

 (Ahmed Mustapha)

“When I become the governor of Osun, I will consolidate the OYES programme to reduce unemployment among the youths in the state. We will engage the youths particularly through agriculture.

“I’m one of the owners of the biggest farms in Osun State today and I want our youths to develop interest in agriculture. I will deploy majority of the OYES cadets to farms. So, any youth that is not ready to go to farm may not need to come to us because I will also be going to farm myself”.

The Chairman of Osun APC, Prince Gboyega Famodun commended Yusuf for his contributions to the party and assured him that the candidate of the party for the election will be chosen through a very transparent process.

Famodun admonished the aspirant to play his politics with all sense of humility and urged him to heed both the public and private advice he has been handed.

“If it is the will of God for you to be the governor, so be it, but one thing that is sure is that it is only one person that will pick the party’s ticket for the election,’’ Famodun said.

27 aspirants on the platform of the APC have so far expressed their intention to contest the party’s primary ahead of the governorship election.

The APC governorship primary in Osun has been slated for July 7, 2018.

Lasun’s parliamentary career

57-year-old Yusuf Lasun was elected Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives on Tuesday, June 9, 2015, at the inauguration of the 8th House.

Lasun has however been a member of Nigeria’s federal parliament since 2011. He represents the Irepodun/Olurunda/Osogbo/Orolu constituency of Osun State in the House of Representatives.

Osun joins Ekiti as the other Southwest State voting for a new governor in 2018.