The apex leaders of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Ojokoro Local council Development Area (LCDA), have endorsed former boss of the Lagos State Signage and Advertisement Agency (LASAA), Mobolaji Sanusi, as their preferred candidate for the chairmanship seat ahead of the July 12 local government polls in the state.
The leaders said that the endorsement of Sanusi was a product of several weeks of engagement and a shadow primary where the majority picked him as the best aspirant to lead the party’s push towards retaining the council seat.
Meanwhile, the leaders have discredited the purported list of consensus candidates submitted to the state APC chairman, Cornelius Ojelabi, saying we urge the Lagos APC leadership to discard it because it did not emanate from us.
They stated this in a letter presented to Ojelabi on Friday, titled: “Clarifications on a purported Chairmanship list submitted to the APC State Chairman by an Ojokoro Group.”
In the letter signed by a former lawmaker, Ipoola Omisore, and former House of Representatives, Adisa Owolabi, on behalf of Ojokoro Apex Council, they stressed that the party should respect their decision.
The letter read in part: “We the undersigned are bonafide leaders of Ojokoro Local Council Development Area and our attention has been directed to a purported list submitted, ostensibly by Hon. Benjamin Olabinjo, the member representing Ifako Federal Constituency, to the state APC chairman, Pastor Cornelius Ojelabi.
“According to informal sources and third party confirmation from within and outside the APC Secretariat in ACME, the list was supposedly submitted to Pastor Ojelabi, through James Faleke, the member representing Ikeja Federal Constituency in Lagos State.
“However, we state without equivocation that the said list does not emanate from a quorum of the Ojokoro Apex Council and as such should be discarded by the state party leadership.
“The purported list reportedly contains twenty names. Herein, lies the fallacy of its originality because the entire membership of the original Ojokoro leadership list recognised by the party in the state contain 18 names.
“Where did the originators of this list get the additional names-possibly from their loyalists that are not leaders. This amounts to nothing but mere impersonation that deserves serious reprimand by the party leadership.
“More importantly, we want to draw the attention of the state party leadership to an earlier consensus building initiatives by peace loving Ojokoro Apex leaders to ensure a hitch free emergence of our Local Council Development Area, LCDA chairmanship party candidate in the upcoming local government elections in Lagos State.
“It was at one of such numerous meetings that leaders who were present, voluntarily agreed to signing a resolution adopting Mr. Mobolaji Sanusi as the APC candidate for Ojokoro in the upcoming local government elections.
Other decisions were equally agreed upon, voluntarily at that meeting.
“The beauty of democracy is supremacy of the majority. Therefore, it is interesting to highlight that 12 out of 18 Ojokoro leaders signed for Sanusi’s adoption as the party chairmanship candidate in the upcoming elections.
“Of utmost importance in this regard is the fact that three members who are listed Apex members with chairmanship aspirations were not allowed to sign because of the trite equitable legal principle of someone not being a judge in his own cause.
“Therefore, in line with our regulation, only 15 leaders could have readily been voluntary signatories to the resolution adopting Mobolaji Sanusi. Listed herein are those three apex members aspiring to contest for the chairmanship position but could not vote, include: Fausat Olajokun, Rasheed Makinde and Mobolaji Sanusi Esq.
“From the 15 leaders that were qualified to vote, 11 signed for Sanusi’s adoption. No reasonable person can doubt the consensus in 11 out of 15 qualified leaders adopting Sanusi as our party chairmanship candidate in Ojokoro.
“The binding resolution, freely signed by 11 leaders of Ojokoro remains binding and cannot be superseded by a subsequent list of largely adulterated ‘20 leaders’. We call on the party leadership to throw the list into the waste bin despite insinuations that few leaders from among the ones that signed for Sanusi also signed the reactionary list of ‘20 leaders’ submitted to the state party chairman by Faleke.
“Apart from this list’s inherent inadequacies, we also believe in law and equity that when two equities are equal, the first in time prevails.
“We present herein names of authentic leaders that freely signed for Sanusi’s adoption for purposes of absolute information and sanctity of truth, include: Ipoola Omisore(two-term member, Lagos State House of Assembly), Chief Oluyomi Olaogun(an octogenarian and politician of note in Ojokoro and Lagos State), Otunba Aremu Akindele(pioneer chairman of Ifako-Ijaiye local government), Adisa Owolabi( immediate past member, House of Representatives), Emmanuel Olotu(incumbent member of the Lagos State House of Assembly), Jelili Oseni(former councilor and incumbent APC LG Chairman in Ojokoro).
“Others are; Dr Waheed Adeleke Ipaye(former Sole Administrator of Ojokoro LCDA), Prince Adewale Bello(immediate past APC LG chairman in Ojokoro), A.A. Amosun (former APC LG Chairman in Ojokoro), Dr. Idris Salako(former commissioner in Lagos State), and HID Tijani(incumbent chairman of Ojokoro LCDA). Fatimo Oye-Balogun, notable politician and former woman leader of Ojokoro, also signed for Sanusi.”
While marinating that none of the aforementioned leaders could claim in all conscience, that their signatures were procured under coercion, the apex council, called on Pastor Ojelabi and Faleke not to allow “few self-serving leaders in Ojokoro to bring their reputation into disrepute.”
The apex leaders maintained that, “The surreptitious list hurriedly submitted to the party chairman was done in haste and in bad taste with dire consequences of creating malcontents including projecting our dear party in bad light.
“We state that our list adopting Sanusi is the authentic consensus list from genuine Ojokoro leaders, while the one in contention should be treated as an afterthought that could not stand the test of legal scrutiny.”
