Deputy Governor of Lagos State, Obafemi Hamzat
By Our Reporter
Weeks after the Lagos State chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC), conducted its primary elections to select candidates for the scheduled July 24 2021 local government polls, the centre seems to no longer hold for the party.
Since the State’s Caretaker Committee chairman, Chief Tunde Balogun and the Secretary, Lanre Ogunyemi, announced the result in a statement, titled, ‘List of 57 Lagos State APC Chairmanship and Vice Chairmanship candidates for the forth-coming 2021 Local Government Elections,’ it has continued to generate ripples in the rank and file of the party.
Most of the dissatisfied contestants, who lost the primary elections, rejected the results, on the ground that the exercise was marred by violence in many places where the election did not hold. They also observed that democratic tenets, which APC is known for, were jettisoned during the primaries. Some leaders were also accused of having manipulated the process to foist their choice candidates in many local governments rather than allowing the choice of party members.
For instance, the result declared in Surulere, where two people allegedly died during the fracas that occurred while the primary was ongoing, is also in contention. In Surulere, the incumbent Speaker of the House of Representatives, Mr. Femi Gbajabiamila was accused of having his candidate, who is assumed unpopular, foisted on the electorate. The development led to a crisis that later took the lives of two victims. There is also contention over the result declared there.
It did not stop there, the Deputy Governor of Lagos State, Obafemi Hamzat, allegedly lied to the national leader of the All Progressives Congress, APC, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu that the political Leaders In Epe, Eredo and Ikosi-Ejirin Council Areas were against the continuation of the three chairmen who are all serving their first terms, despite the instructions from the Tinubu led GAC that all chairmen serving the first term should be given the ticket to go for second term. But because of Hamzat’s political ambition, he removed the three chairmen and replaced them with his own loyalists ahead of 2023.
A video that is viral online says it all. The video showed where Hamzat said it was the political Leaders In Epe, Eredo, Ejirin that stood against the chairmen. In the video, the traditional rulers and Political Leaders In Eredo were seen endorsing Niyi Saliu, the incumbent chairman of as the consensus candidate. The endorsement was also backed up with a big ceremony with the signatures of all the traditional rulers and leaders endorsing the candidate.
The Hamzat led team that conducted the local government primary has been accused of working to destroy the cohesion in the APC through the imposition of their cronies as against popular candidates that will win election for the party. From Apapa to Ojo, Ojudu, Ifako-Ijaiye and Surulere, it’s the tale of woes as popular candidates were removed through violence orchestrated to present a fait accompli. In fact, there’s no candidate in Mushin now for fear of implosion.
