Some elders of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) in Oshodi-Isolo Local Government Area of Lagos State have called on President Bola Tinubu, Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu and the State Party Chairman, Pastor Cornelius Ojelabi to wade into the division within the party hierarchy.
The party leaders including the Apex Leader, Elder Dele Ogunshakin and Chief Dele Ogundipe, made the call at the APC LGA Meeting on Monday in Lagos
The meeting which pulled more than 3,000 party members, was also to share New Year gifts, including cash support to members for the clebration.
Speaking, Ogunshakin noted that the way the current local government managers were running the party structure had brought a lot of disaffection and hatred among the rank and file of the party members.
According to him, the party nearly suffered total defeat during the 2023 general elections in the council because of the deep rooted grievance of some leaders against the council chairman.
Ogunsakin said that the council chairman, Mr Kehinde Al-Maroof had not done enough to bring party members together after the election that produced him.
He alleged that the Council chairman had been dealing with and concentrated mainly on his loyalists from the Aanunarigba group and abandoned members in the mainstream party structure.
“Is a Aanu Ni Arigba group APC? No! We should not allow this to continue into the next election.
“Since the chairman came in, he only deals with members of this group which is his own caucus when he started ambition. Anybody that is not in that group is not APC. That’s the bottom line of the division. We must not allow the party to be destroyed in Oshodi. The cohesion of the party at this local government is a graveyard peace. The founding members, those who started from 1998, today, a lot of us have been sideline. Just because we say we cannot be members of Aanu Ni Arigba group. We are APC members,” he said.
The APC Apex leader said that stakeholders in the party had however met with the party chairman and told him that “the peace in Oshodi is a graveyard peace. Come and intervene.”
He however expressed possibility of bringing back peace into the party with genuine reconciliation, “then there will be peace.”
“The governor cannot go and sleep on this. He must initiate genuine reconciliation and this is simple: give and take. Our reconciliation does not take 24 hours. We are not fighting because of individuals now. We are fighting for the interest. We don’t want what happened in 2023, where our President lost in Lagos to happen again,” the APC Apex leader said.
Ogunshakin said that due to the evident neglect of party members and grievance, the elders and some party leaders put heads together and mobilise funds to celebrate aggrieved party loyalists.
“So, we are here to appreciate, and to thank most sincerely the neglected members of APC for one reason or the other, by the council chairman,” he said.
Another leader of the party, Elder Dele Ogundipe, decried that those elected on the platform of the party failed to reconcile members after the 2021 local government elections.
Ogundipe said: “A lot of people will jostle for a position and at the end of the day only one person will get it; after that, we expect all to come together and become one APC.
“After the chairman was elected, he failed to bring the house together, and that is why we are having this issue.
“The leadership failure was what led to our huge reduction in the votes we had at the general elections in 2023. We were lucky, Labour Party, almost got the House of Representatives from APC also.”
Expressing surprise about the huge turnout of aggrieved members, Ogundipe said that the state party hierarchy should to listen to the cries before the 2025 council poll..
“Very soon, we are going to the local government election. I am sure what we had last time is not going to be what we have this time. We must ensure a proper and ready leadership. A leader that will bring all of us together. A leader that will carry all of us together so that we can have a united family,” he said.
Also speaking, Lady Evang. Adesola Oriyomi, one of the APC women leaders in Oshodi-Isolo said that the meeting became important because many loyal members had been sidelined and were aggrieved.
“We have come together in order to encourage them and recognise their efforts, and to share whatever we can give them. It is our party, our members must be valued,” Oriyomi said.
The meeting was attended by former and present political appointees and lawmaker including the General Manager, Lagos State Environmental Protection Agency (LASPEMA), Mr Daisi Oso.
Others are Mr Taiwo Ayedun, former Senior Special Assistant on Civic Engagement to former governor Akinwunmi Ambode, Mr Adebanji Atewogboye, Senior Special Assistant to Gov. Babajide Sanwo-Olu on Grassroots Sports Development.
Also, Hon. Akeem Sokunle, a former two -term lawmaker who represented Oshodi/Isolo Constituency 1 at the Lagos State House of Assembly, Mr Sadiq Gbolade, former council’s Supervisor for Works among others.
