…Tinubu, GAC Asks Party Leaders To Produce Consensus Candidates In Volatile Councils
…Baba Eto May Lose Out In Ojodu LCDA, As Faleke Gets Nod To Produce Chairmanship Candidate
Ahead of Saturday, May 29 primaries for the local government elections in Lagos State, the All Progressives Congress (APC) is in a race against time to resolve the lingering impasse currently rocking several Local Governments as bickering and infighting among aspirants and party leaders has continued unabated.
On Monday, Thepledge had exclusively reported (Read here) that party leaders and some members of the Governors’ Advisory Council, GAC were at loggerheads, all in an attempt to gain upper hand on who emerges as the party’s chairmanship candidate.
The screening exercise which ended earlier this week seems to have done more harm than good as it had thrown up accusations and counter-accusations among party leaders and members accusing each other of attempting to sabotage a free and fair process.
In Ejigbo Local Council Development Area, the fate of the Senior Special Assistant to Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu on political matters, Peter Ajayi seems to be hanging in the balance following his inability to pass the screening exercise held at the party secretariat in Acme Road, Ikeja on Tuesday.
Thepledge learnt that while the incumbent Chairman, Hon. Monsurudeen Obe was cleared by the party screening committee, Ajayi met a brick wall as he could not produce all the credentials required to scale the exercise.
The development has generated relief in Obe’s camp as Ajayi had looked poised to upset his quest to get a second term.
But when Thepledge reached out to a member of Ajayi’s campaign team who preferred not to be named, he dismissed reports that their aspirant has been disqualified, insisting that he is still in the race to win.
When our reporter sent a picture of the screening exercise showing clearly that Ajayi was not cleared by the screening committee, Ajayi’s campaign team member responded thus, “We know them well. We are not new in the game of politics.”
In Isolo LCDA, a former House of Representatives member, Hakeem Muniru, who seems to enjoy a strong support within the grassroots, is having a hard time as Bayo Olasoju, the current Vice Chairman of the Council and also campaign manager of Wasiu Ayinde, popularly known as KI De Ultimate is currently having the upper hand in the race for who becomes the next council chairman.
Olasoju, Thepledge learnt, is relying on his bosses’ closeness to the All progressives Congress (APC), National Leader, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu and the Speaker of the Lagos State House of Assembly, Rt. Hon Mudashiru Obasa to pave way for his emergence as the party’s candidate for the July 24 election.
The battle for Isolo LCDA looks set to go to the wire with pressure being mounted on Muniru, a former protocol chief during the tenure of Tinubu to step down for Olasoju.
In Epe and Ikorodu, the story is the same. The Deputy Governor of the State, Dr. Obafemi Hamzat was accused of attempting to install some chairmen of the three councils within Epe and six within Ikorodu division, even as aspirants have frustrated efforts to produce consensus candidates.
In Agege, the battle line has been drawn as a fierce battle is brewing over the quest by Obasa to ensure his ‘boys’ get the chairmanship tickets without much hassles.
This move, Thepledge learnt, is to facilitate his 2023 ambition to clinch the Lagos West Senatorial District ticket.
Precisely, Obasa has penciled down incumbent Chairmen of Agege LG, Kola Egunjobi and Orile Agege, Sunday Babatunde to return for a second term unopposed.
The Speaker has also come under criticism for attempting to influence the emergence of candidates in the six councils under Alimosho, including Alimosho LG, Agbado Oke-Odo LCDA, Ayobo Ipaja LCDA, Egbe Idimu LCDA, Igando Ikotun LCDA and Mosan-Okunola LCDA.
“The Speaker has his eyes on 2023 and he is going all out in this council election to ensure his boys are in pole position to emerge as flag bearers. You know he will be coming up against a formidable challenge from Senator Musiliu Obanikoro, who is a well-known grassroots politician who knows his way around as well. So, the Lagos West Senatorial ticket is the driving force for the Speaker and as we speak, he is leaving nothing to chance,” a party leader in Alimosho told Thepledge.
In Ojodu LCDA, where House of Representatives member, James Faleke is slugging it out with a member of the Governors’ Advisory Council, Cardinal James Odunmbaku, aka Baba Eto, the pendulum seems to be swinging in favour of the federal lawmaker.
While Faleke is rooting for Alhaja Funmi Layeni, Baba Eto is bent on ensuring that his son, Segun Odunmbaku (who is currently the Council Secretary) is the party’s choice.
A reliable source within the party hierarchy said a meeting by the GAC on Tuesday, May 25 held in Ikoyi focused on the crisis that has erupted as a result of the build up to the council elections.
But rising from the meeting, the GAC, which is the highest decision-making body of the APC in Lagos, took far reaching decisions to prevent further crisis before and after the May 29 primaries.
In Ojodu, the GAC was said to have asked Faleke to produce the council chairman, while Baba Eto will have to make do with his son emerging as the vice-chairman.
But Odunmbaku’s camp insists that Layeni is not qualified to emerge as chairman of the council owing to her alleged questionable academic qualification.
Besides, they alluded to the fact that the Ogba axis has produced many Council Chairmen in the last 12 years, saying that it will be an injustice to deny other axes from doing the same.
Rising from the meeting, Thepledge also gathered that the GAC challenged the elders in the APC to intervene and resolve all the infighting among the aspirants in contentious councils, warning that if they refuse to solve the issues amicably and come up with a consensus candidate, then all aspirants will have to test their might at the primaries.
The source said the GAC members were of the opinion that incumbent chairmen who have performed in their first term should be given the nod to go for a second term.
“The concern of the GAC is that it is usually difficult to defeat an incumbent especially when they have performed. But the current situation with having several aspirants slugging it out with some incumbent chairmen is overheating the polity in the state and causing unnecessary crisis that will not benefit anybody,” the source said.
Meanwhile, despite a statement from Tinubu last Sunday distancing himself from backing any candidate and warning aspirants to stop attaching his name to their campaign, Thepledge gathered from an inside source within the party that a list consisting of choice candidates across the 57 councils has been sent to the former Lagos governor for ratification ahead of Thursday’s stakeholders meeting at the party secretariat.
A party leader from Somolu, who craved anonymity told this medium that the era of imposition is coming to an end because according to him, party leaders are becoming more and more sensitive to public opinion, which he ascribed to the social media. He said there is likely going to be a guided primary on Saturday.
“There will be primaries but it is likely going to be guided by powerful forces within the party. It is evident that the leaders are becoming increasingly sensitive to the wishes of the people which they are expressing in the social media. And that is why flagrant imposition of candidates is being avoided this time around, the source said. Source: https://www.thepledge.ng/exclusive-update-lagos-lg-polls-apc-crisis-gets-messier-as-aspirants-fight-to-finish/ |
