Ahead LG poll: How 18 Lagos ex-LG chairmen got APC automatic tickets

INTRIGUES that preceded the 2015 governorship race in the Lagos State chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC) are beginning to play out ahead of the forthcoming local government elections in the state.

Sunday Tribune gathered that the major gladiators in the party are locked in a supremacy battle over the choice of chairmanship contestants for the 20 local government areas and 37 local council development areas in the state.

It was learnt that part of the fallout of the pre-2015 governorship poll may have accounted for the automatic tickets given to 18 of the former chairmen currently seeking an opportunity to contest in the fresh local council polls in the state.

The chairmen were being compensated for what influential figures described as their loyalty during the governorship race that pitched the APC national leader, Chief Bola Tinubu against some governorship contestants and their promoters at the threshold of the general election.

There has been intense lobbying and maouevrings among the party members and caucuses with the different camps engaging in claims and counter-claims of undercuts.

Tinubu had thrown his weight behind former Accountant-General of the state, Akinwunmi Ambode in the race that featured no fewer than 18 other contestants among whom were the immediate past Speaker of the state House of Assembly, Honourable Adeyemi Ikuforiji; former state Commissioner for Works and Infrastructure, Dr Obafemi Hamzat; Senator Ganiyu Solomon; former Commissioner for Special Duties, Dr Tola Kasali; former Commissioner for Health, Dr. Leke Pitan and Senator Gbenga Ashafa.

The former governor, Mr Babatunde Fashola (SAN), now the Minister of Power, Works and Housing, had supported another contestant, Hamzat.

He was said to have tried to rally support for his favoured contender by promising logistics to the former chairmen of the local government if they should support his choice as APC candidate.

But the chairmen were said to have played along while they remained steadfast in their loyalty to Tinubu without betraying their oath of office.

In appreciation, Tinubu was said to have declared at a general meeting of the APC last Wednesday that 18 of the chairmen, who only had single tenures, would enjoy automatic tickets for the chairmanship election, advising those who had obtained nomination forms to pocket their ambitions for now.

Those who were dissatisfied with his decision were advised to seek a refund of the N500,000 they paid for nomination forms of the party if they wished.

An average of 15 aspirants from each of the 57 local government and local council development areas indicated interest for the office of chairmen.

Some of the local governments include: Ifako- Ijaye, Ojodu, Ikosi- Isheri, Surulere, Coker Aguda, Ajeromi- Ifelodun, Osodi- Isolo, ikorodu West, Agbado Oke, Onigbongbo, Igando- Ikotun, among others.

They have since undergone screening by the ad-hoc committee set up by the party preparatory the submission of their names to the Lagos State Independent Electoral Commission (LAISEC).

Though the decision to impose the candidates on the party has not gone down well with some elders and aspirants in the party, it was learnt that the action affected the supporters of a few of his core loyalists currently in the National Assembly and in the cabinet of the state governor, Governor Akinwunmi Ambode, who had obtained chairmanship forms.

Meanwhile, some of the aspirants and their leaders are said to be lobbying so that the APC leader could facilitate appointments for them at the state level, or for the position of vice chairman and supervisors after the local government election may have been have been conducted and won.

While some of the affected chairmanship aspirants have taken the decision of Tinubu in good faith, a number of others were under pressure from APC elders to accept the post of vice chairman.