Nigerian singer, Olubankole Wellington, with stage name as Banky W, is gunning for a seat in the House of Representatives.
He has declared interest in the Eti-Osa Federal Constituency seat in Lagos and he is campaigning, as a member of the Modern Democratic Party, to snatch the seat from the ruling All Progressives Congress in the next February election.
The musician made the announcement at the debut convention of the Modern Democratic Party (MDP) in Lagos. He said he was aware it would not be easy to run given who he would be running against.
“It is with the greatest sense of humility, purpose and destiny that I humbly announce to run for the 2019 Federal House of Representatives.
“I am under no illusions that this run will be easy considering who we are going up against, this is almost impossible.”
NAN reported the award singer picked the slogan ‘Hope 19’ and entrusted the election process on ‘hope’.
“You see, my entire life has been a story of just dreaming dreams, praying about those dreams, setting goals and working until they come true. I can live with trying and failing, I can’t live with not trying.
“They said we don’t have the money to run, we say our strength lies in our numbers, they said we dont have the structure, we say we will attempt to build it, they said ‘what if you lose’? I say what if we win?”
“So why we may not have a godfather we do have God, vision, intellectual capacity, integrity, right intentions and last but not least, a whole lot of ‘Hope’.
“At the end of the day, ‘Hope’ may be all we have, but I believe it is all we need.”
Wellington added that the richest people in Nigeria live in the constituency, therefore Eti Osa is vital to the development of Nigeria.
“Eti Osa houses many rich people in Nigeria, therefore for Nigeria to work Eti Osa must work.
“We want to fix Nigeria, But we must begin by fixing our communities.
“Our generation needs a realistic rallying point, we need to begin in communities, earn our way into the system and up the ladder”.
Banky W joins some entertainers and celebrities who have declared to run for public offices in the 2019 general election including Kanayo O, Kanayo and Shinna Peller.