The All Progressives Congress House of Representatives candidate in the upcoming Surulere I bye-election in Lagos State, Faud Laguda, says he is certain of victory.

The 12 candidates are jostling for the Surulere 1 House of Representatives seat.

The Surulere Federal Constituency I seat became vacant due to the resignation of the former occupant, Femi Gbajabiamila, who after winning, was appointed by President Bola Tinubu as his Chief of Staff.

The bye-election is billed for February 3.

Mr Laguda spoke at the Demond Elliott support for widows programme in Lagos on Sunday.

The programme was organised by Mr Elliot, a member of the Lagos State House of Assembly, representing Surulere 1 state constituency.

Mr Laguda said he would win the election freely and fairly, urging the electoral commission to conduct a peaceful election so that the electorate could come out and vote en masse.

He said he believed that he had the support of the majority of the electorate, adding that his selling point was continuity and improvements on what Mr Gbajabiamila had been doing.

Mr Laguda promised to come up with bills and also facilitate more projects that would further bring development to the constituency if elected.

“I promise to continue with the good works that had been embarked on by Gbajabiamila. If I win the election, Surulere residents will enjoy what the former speaker had been doing for them in multiple folds,” he said.

Mr Laguda said this was a new beginning because he would facilitate massive projects and come up with bills like Gbajabiamila had been doing for the benefit of his constituents.

Speaking, Mr Elliot said the programme was to give support to the widows and widowers in the constituency.

He said, “Actually we do this programme every year but because I discovered that many people do not know anything about the things we do in the office, I decided to make this one public.

“The second reason for this gesture is that this is January and a lot of spending took place in December, following the yuletide. Many people will be struggling a lot in January so we feel that the widows and widowers don’t really have their partners to help them. To this end, I decided to support because this is just foodstuffs. Most importantly this is to let them know that we are not far from them. Apart from what we are giving, the interaction we are having with them makes them happy.’’

Mr Elliot said he would be presenting two LAG ride buses to residents as a form of empowerment programme.

He noted that the two buses would make it seven LAG ride buses that he had so far presented to his constituents in Surulere in the last eight months.

The lawmaker appealed to residents to come out on February 3 with their permanent voter cards to elect Mr Laguda.

(NAN)