A fresh wave of political tension may have started brewing among All Progressives Congress (APC) in Agege Local Government Area with members divided after the Speaker, Mudashiru Obasa, announced to party leaders that his son, Abdulganiyu, would be the only contender for the council chairmanship seat, forcing many to abandon their campaign plans for the election schedule for July 12th, 2025.
The development which has attracted reactions from many APC members who were now divided along two different opinions with some backing the move on the believe that the Speaker has done more for the party and should reap the benefits while others against it described Obasa’s decision as wrong move and anti-democratic norms that he had been preaching over the years to them.
Before announcing his decision to the party leaders including the incumbent council chairman, Kola Egunjobi, and his Vice, Oluwagbenga Abiola, at a meeting held behind closed doors barely 48 hours ago, Obasa had instructed all aspirants for the council chairman seat not to make it public either announcing to members or through releasing campaign posters.
On Sunday, it was learnt that during the meeting, hopes of the aspirants who had started raising funds to actualize their ambition and the party leaders present at the meeting that were hoping to seat as well as deliberate on the matter were dashed after he declared that except for his son’s campaign poster that had gone public, others should shelve their ambition immediately.
Considering his status as the apex leader and member of the Governor Advisory Council (GAC), the highest leadership forum in Lagos APC, members at the meeting were said to have given their nod to the idea but with reservations that the earlier arrangements on the council election have been distorted except for the councillor seats.
Efforts to get more details of the meeting proved abortive with the members declining to speak on the outcome to avoid attracting Obasa’s wrath.
But sources from the Egunjobi’s office disclosed that the incumbent chairman is leading the campaign to install Obasa’s son as the next council chairman for Agege Local Government.
The source added that Egunjobi has directed members of his campaign to start grassroots mobilization for the Speaker’s son.
The initial agreement between Obasa and the leaders, as learnt, were that they would allow the members to declare their intentions for the chairmanship seat and from the aspirants, they either anoint a candidate or allow party primaries hold.
A chieftain of the party in Agege, who does not want his name in public to avoid been sanctioned by the speaker, disclosed to our correspondent that while holding on to this arrangement, Obasa instructed that aspirants shouldn’t make their ambition public until the party leadership conclude modalities.
He noted that while waiting for the announcement, the Speaker’s son released his campaign poster even when he had never being attending party meetings in their Ward.
The posters, which surfaced on multiple social media platforms, was seen as a strategic move by the Speaker to entrench his family’s political dominance in Agege.
The senior APC member added that the meeting which was earlier considered as a platform for the Speaker to debunk the report, rather, turned out to be an avenue for Obasa to confirm what had been making the rounds on who would be the next council chairman for Agege.
He noted that the announcement has shattered ambitions of many party members’ including the incumbent Vice Chairman for the council, Oluwagbenga Abiola popularly called Agbelebu, who had been nursing the ambition to succeed the chairman, Kola Egunjobi.
Another party leader from the council, meanwhile, queried the political experience and track record of the Speaker’s first child to handle such sensitive office.
He accused Obasa of denying legitimate party members of occupying public offices despite their political and public services experience in the state.
According to him, except that the President, Bola Tinubu, intervene, there is no one that can challenge Obasa on this matter because of his status within the party. And that is why we have accepted our fate on who becomes the next chairman for Agege Local Government.
“Any member that is not satisfied with this arrangement has one option which is to defect to another party and contest for the seat. Except from that, it is over for all aspirants nursing the chairmanship ambition”.
