Cancer survivor Banky W to run for office in 2019

Nigerian musician Olubankole Wellington a.k.a Banky W will run for office in the 2019 general election.

The “Strong Ting” singer has declared his intention to contest for the Lagos Eti Osa Federal Constituency seat in the House of Representatives in the 2019 general election.

View this post on Instagram

They said we don’t have the money to run.. we say we our strength lies in our numbers. They said we don’t have the structure, we say we will attempt to build it. They said “what if you lose”? I say, what if we win? 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 not live with not trying. So while we may not have a godfather, we do have God. And we have vision. And intellectual capacity. And integrity. And the 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 that it is all we need. Thank you and God bless Nigeria. #Hope19 #EtiOsa #MDP

A post shared by Banky Wellington (@bankywellington) on Nov 10, 2018 at 2:34pm PST

Making a quick recovery after a series of surgeries to remove cancerous tumors in 2017, Banky has made the most of 2018 with a hit release “Love U Baby”, endorsements and several speaking engagements. Now motivated to make a bigger impact, he made the announcement of political aspirations at a convention in Lagos. He said he was aware it would not be easy to run given who he would be running against.

Referred to as the African Ne-Yo, the award-winning 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.”

Wellington, 37, 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.”

Banky W is not the first celebrity to run for public office, here in Kenya singer Charles Njagua Kanyi alias Jaguar is one of the many who has successfully run for political seats and is now serving.