A group of aggrieved leaders and followers under the aegis of Grassroots Veterans (GV) in Alimosho Federal Constituency in Lagos State chapter of All Progressives Congress (APC) has debunked rumours that it was contemplating joining the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), saying it was unthinkable for them to leave the house they all built together.
This was just as the group of leaders and party faithful, who still expressed their grievances, said they were fully committed to the ideals of APC and was, therefore, resolved to work for the success of the party in the forthcoming elections.
They, however, sounded a warning that should the party suffer any disadvantage from the forthcoming general elections in Alimosho Federal Constituency, such should not be laid on the doorstep of Alimosho Grassroots Veterans as all efforts to fully reconcile all the problems that arose from last party primaries.
Chairman of the group, Chief Adebayo Akande, made this declaration on Friday while addressing newsmen alongside other leaders at a stakeholders meeting held at Okunola in Alimosho area of the state.
The APC chieftain, Akande spoke against the backdrop of some unresolved disagreements in the state chapter of the party, following the outcome of APC primaries that held last October, which had left not a few leaders and party faithful aggrieved.
“We want to debunk the erroneous information going on within the political field that leaders and followers of Grassroots Veterans in Alimosho Federal Constituency have gone to PDP.
“We hereby ascertain that nothing of such is ever in the minds of the leadership. We are members of APC and founding members of the party and as such, it is not visible or thinkable for us to leave the house we built together.
“Alimosho Grassroots Veterans are only asking for equitable justice in the governance in the Alimosho Federal Constituency.
“As stakeholders, we intend to work for the success of the party in the forthcoming elections. Let it be known herewith that the top echelon of this group dissociates themselves from any engagement with either PDP or any party nomenclature in spite of pressures.
“We are fully committed to the ideals of the All Progressives Congress and her leadership,” Akande said.
According to him, the group has displayed enough patience, perseverance, tolerance, endurance and understanding since the primaries, lamenting, however, that all reconciliatory meetings had been attended by the group to no avail, including seeking the intervention of the National Leader of APC, Senator Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
The group chairman, Akande said that the lingering political crisis and divisions in the area were caused because sharing of party executives and positions favoured only one side of the divide to the injury of the other side.
“All the party executives and the local government executives from the secretaries to the supervisors were only from one side, thereby disenfranchising the other aggrieved side.
ALSO READ: Elections: NUJ urges journalists to work in accordance with professional ethics
“Without doubt, you will accept the fact that this group has stretched out its hands for peace and reconciliation.
“Let it be known to the world that any disadvantage from the forthcoming general elections in Alimosho Federal Constituency should not be laid on the doorstep of Alimosho Grassroots Veterans if the needful is not done,” he said.
Also speaking, Chief Olu Badejo, a leader of the group and pioneer executive chairman of Mosan Okunola LCDA, said that the meeting became imperative so as not to confuse their teeming supporters on who to vote for during elections.
Badejo, a 77- year-old leader, said that the group was not leaving APC for anyone but just demanding justice for members after the fallout of party primaries.
“We have great followership; we do not want to divide the house which we belong. It is not possible to deliver Alimosho to APC without us,” he said.
On his part, another leader, Chief Olu Bakare, said: “Wherever you find the oppressed, I will be there. People are oppressed and I am not happy about it and will not accept it.
“We have tried our best to make sure we are together, but we have been neglected and the cry of the people ignored, but we are not leaving this party.
“We have over 70 per cent of politicians in Alimosho here,” he said
Also speaking, Chief Babs Kareem, another leader of the group, who noted that Tinubu’s promise to call the aggrieved for reconciliation had not held, said that the injustice could affect the fortune of the party.
The event had so many aggrieved party faithful and leaders in attendance.
and then