APC ward congress: Aggrieved Lagos APC faction protest in Alimosho

A faction of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Alimosho local government of Lagos State, Liberation and Veteran Movement, on Saturday, protested against the exclusion of its members and manipulation of the ward congress by the leadership of the state.

Leader of the protest and House of Representatives hopeful, Prince Idris Balogun, at the congress venue at the Local Government Primary, Idimu, Alimosho, said the protest was provoked by the violation of the party’s instruction by the Abdullahi Enilolobo’s faction, who according to him, incited the presiding officers to kick-start the congress before the 10 am commencement time fixed by the party’s national congress committee.

Balogun flanked by protesting members of the Liberation faction disclosed that there was no congress held in Alimosho local government, adding that, what held was a kangaroo process and the manipulation of the people’s will.

He said, “There was no congress across Alimosho local government today. We have two factions in Alimosho; the Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola faction led by the State Organising Secretary of the All Progressives Congress, Abdulahi Enilolobo and the Liberation and Veteran faction ably led by the former deputy governor of Lagos state and Senior Special Adviser on MDGs to the President, Her Excellency Joke Orelope. I am a liberator, so I belong to Orelope’s faction.

Like I said earlier, no congress was held in all the wards in Alimosho. At the stakeholders’ meeting held in Lagos on Friday with Congress Committee from Abuja, our party leaders at the national and state levels had agreed to adopt consensus approach for the congress in order to avoid any crisis situation in the party at the state level.

To adopt consensus candidates, we have to gather at a place to deliberate and collectively agree on who to put forth to represent us at the party. So, we were told that the congress will be held Saturday starting from 9 am and we all agreed to meet at the congress venue.

But unfortunately the ward executives in Alimosho led by Enilolobo were at the venue around 7am contrary to the time scheduled by the party leadership. They conducted the congress and adopted consensus candidates without carrying other faction and party members along.

Enilolobo took advantage of being at the helms of party affairs at the state level to impose his choice of candidates on the generality of Alimosho residents. They conducting a kangaroo congress while many of the stakeholders are still on bed and by 9am when people started trickling into the venue, the congress officials had gone.

The congress committee from Abuja came to the stakeholders’ meeting where they told us to harmonise and resolve whatever issues that are between different factions to ensure a peaceful congress. They told us to reconcile our grievances and share the various positions in the party among the factions.

We adhered to these instructions but we never knew Enilolobo and his cohorts had other things up their sleeves until we woke to the news that Enilolobo faction had conducted the congress and left within 30minutes. When our group got to the congress venue, they had left.

With this crisis situation in Alimosho, I am certain our national leader, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu and the state chairman, Hon. Tunde Balogun would take the right step to correct the injustice done to the people of Alimosho by Enilolobo group.

There are 27 positions at the LGA, ward and state executives. The right thing to do is to share these positions among different interests within Alimosho. This is the solution to the incessant crisis in the district. This is the only way our leaders can manage the situation at hand but he is not willing to resolve the issues with them. His highhandedness needs to be checked by Asiwaju Tinubu and other party leaders.”

When contacted to react to the allegations, Alani Babatunde who is media aide to Abdullahi Enilolobo said, “The congress was held. It was peaceful and smooth. There was no crisis. We adopted consensus candidates as instructed by the party leadership.”

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