Nigerian hip-pop artiste and actor, Olubankole Wellington, popularly known as ‘Banky W’, was seen co-ordinating voters at his polling unit in Lekki, Lagos on Saturday.

Wellington, who was the House of Representatives candidate of the Modern Democratic Party for Eti-Osa Federal Constituency, lost to Ibrahim Obanikoro of the All Progressives Party.

The artist, who spoke with our correspondents on the sidelines of the governorship and House of Assembly elections at Polling Unit 016, Ikate, Lekki, said his political ambition was still intact.

“It (defeat) is not the end of my political ambition. For me, that was just step one. Now, we have to build the movement; we have to sustain the momentum and build now towards 2023. If we achieved what we achieved in three months, imagine what we can do with four years. So, this is just the beginning for us by the grace of God,” he said.

He noted that the turnout at the polling unit was not quite as much as that of the Presidential and National Assembly elections.

He said,

“What we are trying to do at our polling unit is that a few of us got together and we rented canopies and chairs and we printed ticket numbers because the lines were very disorganised the last time.

“Today, as you come, you get a ticket so you know when it is your turn to vote, and things have gone a lot smoother this time.”

Asked why he and others, including Chioma Omeruah, a comedian known as ‘Chigul’, and Adebola Williams, took the initiative to co-ordinate other voters, he said, “I am a member of this community and I want to see my community do better. I think we have to get to a point where we don’t wait for our leaders to get things right; we can get things right ourselves.

“I think that each of us have to take some ownership in the country that we want to see. So, it would have been very hypocritical of me to say, ‘Oh, my election didn’t go the way I wanted it to, so I am not interested any more.’ No, this is when people like me should come and help out. It is not about self-interest; it is about making sure that our democracy, on a whole, gets to where we want it to go. And if that is what we want, then we all must play a part in it.”