Showunmi Gives Hope to Farmers in Ogun West, Says The Alternative is Responsive.

A socio-political movement, "The Alternative" has taken its continued campaign against voter apathy, vote buying, and others to the grassroots in Ogun, reawakening the consciousness of Nigerians in rural area, while educating them on the need to vote against vote buying,  voters apathy others.

The movement kick-started the move on Wednesday, during "The Alternative" empowerment for Agbe Gbe'lu Agro Network Limited, Ogun West chapter, which is a group of farmers in Ogun State.

In his welcome address,  the Convener of "The Alternative" movement,  Otunba. Segun Showunmi, disclosed that "The Alternative" is set to embark on a mission to reawaken the political consciousness of Nigerians at the grassroots level. 

He maintained that the movement's goal is to empower citizens to take ownership of the electoral process and demand accountability from their leaders.

Showunmi, who was represented by a National Member of the Movement,  Mr. Adai Edwin, noted that the era of vote buying, broken promises, and politics of bitterness is over. Instead, the movement aims to promote a culture of political awareness and civic responsibility among Nigerians.

Showunmi emphasised that voting is not just a right, but a civic responsibility that determines one's citizenship, urging citizens to wake up on election day and cast their votes, not as a favour to anyone, but as a duty to themselves and their country. 

In his words " The message is very simple,  we need to first of all reawaken the counsiouness of Nigerians in the grassroots level,  the era of vote buying,  the era of politicians making promises and not being able to deliver, the era of politics of bitterness,  the era of where people are not coming out to vote those eras are gone"

" The National movement of opposition political parties, which is "The Alternative", is set to reawakening the consciousness of Nigerians to understand that everything isn't about the immediate action. Our major purpose is to see to it that the grassroots are politically conscious whereby during the election time, they should be able to come up with a candidate they can trust not the one they have been imposed on, but a candidate that have the intrest of the people at heart regardless of the political party they represent, the era where we are struggling to see our leaders,  struggling to do things that ordinarily political holders should do, that era is over".

 "Again,  what we are trying to make them understand is that the time of election is a very serious season and therefore it is expected of them to act now, we cannot have this high numbers of people at the grassroots level and not being able to get a sizeable number of votes, the voters turnout is very low, and therefore we have taken it upon ourselves to sensitise them to understand that civic responsibility of every citizen is their right, and therefore they must understand that they are not doing anybody a favour".

 "On the election day the ability for you to wake up and cast your vote is actually what determines and make you a true citizen of this country and that is the message,  because our purpose is really to see  that we bring political consciousness to the people in the grassroots not only what people can get, it is a two way thing, citizens have their responsibilities on the day of elections and the leaders also have theirs it is when we come up and make them understand this purpose of political activities then we can begin to chart a way forward for true democracy in Nigeria"

Also speaking, the Southwest Chairman of the Movement,  Rev. Olusola Salau assured the farmers and people of maximum support through the Movement.  

He noted that the Movement is for all irrespective of political interests or differences,  adding that the focus is to give Nigerians what they deserve and provide responsive leaders. 

He disclosed that part of the movement's responsive action was its ability to secure a warehouse for farmers in the state capital to ensure they can sell their produce at a good rate. 

He also revealed that plans are ongoing to empower farmers with Tractors,  and other major equipment to enable them to shift from traditional farming to mechanised farming. 

"We have heard about your lamentation that you sell your produce at a lower rate than the normal rate, We have rented a warehouse in Abeokuta for all farmers  to enable you to sell your produce at a good rate" 

"We are also going to provide you with more equipment, which will still be delivered to the farmers".  

Earlier in his welcome remarks,  the National Director of Agbe Gbe'lu, Farmer  Ola Emmanuel, lamented that the government has not been doing any good when it comes to the empowerment of farmers in Nigeria.  

He expressed that the government is working contrary to its projection by investing in buying SUVs vehicles for political office holders, instead of buying tractors for farmers to enable food security in the country. 

He said " We have not been given any

 empowerment,  which is why we have come together to make ourselves an entity. We lack tractors here, fertiliser,  and other modern equipment that have been given to people by the government; we have not gotten anything yet. So we need someone who can do it all for us, and we also need a borehole on our farms to enhance our farming business. 

"As farmers what we really need at the moment is transition to develop from the use of cutlass and hoe, we are very deliberate and specific about this, we want farming in Ogun state and Nigeria as a whole to transform from the use of cutlass and hoe to minimum technical equipment for agriculture" 

"We cannot continue with the use of cutlass and meet the food production demands from the President for the country,  and unfortunately, we farmers can't raise funds to buy all these equipments, for instance we need tractors for the project to be effective. That transformation needs serious government intervention, If the government is not responsive to us,   we expect that a developer in the country should also be responsive". 

In conclusion "In Conclusion, as parts of Otunba Segun Showunmi 's poverty alleviation programme, the Alternative Movement presented fertiliser,  sprayer and others.