{"id":26269,"date":"2026-03-31T18:11:43","date_gmt":"2026-03-31T18:11:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/theblogonline.com\/?p=26269"},"modified":"2026-03-31T18:13:20","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T18:13:20","slug":"ebute-metta-west-cries-marginalisation-rallies-behind-animashaun-for-reps-seat","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/theblogonline.com\/?p=26269","title":{"rendered":"Ebute-Metta West Cries Marginalisation, Rallies Behind Animashaun for Reps Seat"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"p1\">Stakeholders in Ebute-Metta West, within Lagos Mainland Local Government, have raised the stakes ahead of the 2027 general elections, demanding equitable political representation after what they describe as over two decades of exclusion from key elective offices\u2014particularly the House of Representatives.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s2\">At a well-attended stakeholders\u2019 forum, community leaders, political actors, and party faithful voiced strong concerns over what they termed a persistent imbalance in representation within the Lagos Mainland Federal Constituency. They called on leaders of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and government authorities to urgently address the disparity in the spirit of justice, fairness, and inclusion.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-26273 aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/theblogonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/fa844695-7e00-46f5-84b6-496be3424539-300x300.jpeg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/theblogonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/fa844695-7e00-46f5-84b6-496be3424539-300x300.jpeg 300w, https:\/\/theblogonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/fa844695-7e00-46f5-84b6-496be3424539-1024x1024.jpeg 1024w, https:\/\/theblogonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/fa844695-7e00-46f5-84b6-496be3424539-768x768.jpeg 768w, https:\/\/theblogonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/fa844695-7e00-46f5-84b6-496be3424539-75x75.jpeg 75w, https:\/\/theblogonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/fa844695-7e00-46f5-84b6-496be3424539-350x350.jpeg 350w, https:\/\/theblogonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/fa844695-7e00-46f5-84b6-496be3424539-750x750.jpeg 750w, https:\/\/theblogonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/fa844695-7e00-46f5-84b6-496be3424539-1140x1140.jpeg 1140w, https:\/\/theblogonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/fa844695-7e00-46f5-84b6-496be3424539.jpeg 1280w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s2\">Speaking at the gathering, political activist and indigene, Mr. Dapo Williams, traced the root of the agitation to the structural composition of the constituency. He explained that while Constituency I (Yaba) comprises four wards, Constituency II\u2014covering Ebute-Metta East and West\u2014has seven wards, yet Yaba has dominated the House of Representatives seat for nearly 20 years.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s2\">Williams noted that although Ebute-Metta East has had a share of representation in the past, Ebute-Metta West has never produced a representative since Nigeria\u2019s return to democratic governance in 1999.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s2\">\u201cOur demand is straightforward\u2014justice, fairness, and equity. It is time for Ebute-Metta West to take its rightful place in representing Lagos Mainland at the federal level,\u201d he asserted.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s2\">He further emphasized that the community has remained loyal to the ruling party over the years, consistently contributing to electoral victories, and should no longer be sidelined in the distribution of political opportunities.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s2\">Adding his voice, former councillor and respected community leader, Hon. Samson Sambakiu, warned against any attempt to impose candidates, describing such moves as contrary to democratic principles.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s2\">\u201cWe reject any form of imposition. What we seek is fairness. Party leadership must reflect the will of the people,\u201d he said.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s2\">Also speaking, Engr. Oladipo Alade Falase described the agitation as a longstanding struggle dating back to 1999. He highlighted Ebute-Metta West\u2019s unwavering support for progressive political platforms\u2014from the Alliance for Democracy (AD) to the Action Congress (AC), Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), and now the APC\u2014despite being consistently overlooked in both elective and appointive positions.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s2\">Data presented at the forum showed that major political offices in Lagos Mainland, including the Local Government Chairmanship, House of Assembly, and House of Representatives seats, have largely been occupied by individuals from Yaba and Ebute-Metta East over the past 27 years\u2014a trend stakeholders described as a \u201cdeep-rooted imbalance.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s2\">They noted that by the end of the current House of Representatives tenure in 2027, Yaba would have held the seat cumulatively for about 20 years, while Ebute-Metta West would remain without representation.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s2\">In a unified decision, the stakeholders endorsed Prince Abdul Akeem Omolaja Animashaun, a legal practitioner and indigene of Ebute-Metta West, as their consensus candidate for the 2027 House of Representatives race.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s2\">Describing him as \u201cyoung, articulate, dynamic, and people-oriented,\u201d the group expressed confidence in his ability to deliver impactful and inclusive representation.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s2\">The forum also made a direct appeal to <\/span><span class=\"s3\">Bola Ahmed Tinubu<\/span><span class=\"s2\">, <\/span><span class=\"s3\">Babajide Olusola Sanwo-Olu<\/span><span class=\"s2\">, the APC State leadership, and members of the Governor\u2019s Advisory Council (GAC) to intervene and ensure fairness in the political arrangement.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s2\">\u201cThis is beyond politics\u2014it is about correcting a long-standing imbalance and restoring a sense of belonging to a vital segment of Lagos Mainland,\u201d the stakeholders stated.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s2\">The meeting ended with a firm call for inclusiveness, transparency, and adherence to democratic ideals in the selection of candidates as political activities gradually build toward the 2027 elections.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Stakeholders in Ebute-Metta West, within Lagos Mainland Local Government, have raised the stakes ahead of the 2027 general elections, demanding equitable political representation after what they describe as over two decades of exclusion from key elective offices\u2014particularly the House of Representatives.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":26271,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[11508,11506,11507,11509],"class_list":["post-26269","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-politics","tag-animashaun","tag-ebute-metta-west","tag-marginalisation","tag-reps-seat"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/theblogonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26269"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/theblogonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/theblogonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theblogonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theblogonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=26269"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/theblogonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26269\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":26274,"href":"https:\/\/theblogonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26269\/revisions\/26274"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theblogonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/26271"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/theblogonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=26269"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theblogonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=26269"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theblogonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=26269"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}