SUBAIR MOHAMMED spoke to the chairman-elect of the Lagos4Lagos faction of the Lagos APC, Hon Sunday Ajayi on the internal squabbles, funding of his faction and other issues.
At the recent APC state congress, four party chairmen from four factions of the Lagos APC emerged, is there any move to reconcile the aggrieved factions?
We conducted ward and local government congresses and now the state congress. It is glaring for everyone to see that Lagos4Lagos is the dominant faction in the Lagos APC.
There is no doubting the fact that Lagos4Lagos is the leading and most recognised of the factions. We held our congresses to stamp our footprint and take over Lagos state and it was properly conducted in line with the guideline of the national secretariat. So, we are expecting the national secretariat to come up with its appeal panel as stated by it. The national secretariat is the final arbiter as far as party affairs is concerned and its decision will determine our next move either to head to the court or not. Nobody can stop anybody from heading to the court. But as it stands today in Lagos state, Lagos4Lagos is the leading and the only authentic faction recognised by the national secretariat of the party.
Who is the piper that dictates the tune for the Lagos4lagos?
Our members are the pipers that dictate the tune for the movement. We crowd fund all our activities and that is the way it has been since the last six years. We have records of the financial commitment of our members. For the state congress, each member at the local government level contributed to hire buses that conveyed them to the congress venue. Anybody claiming to be bankrolling Lagos4Lagos should come out and say so. We are Lagos4Lagos and we have the highest number of registered members in the state.
Can you tell us what your grievances are?
Basically, it’s about impunity and imposition on the will of the party members. All the aggrieved members of the Lagos APC starting from the council chairmen to the councillors are in Lagos4Lagos. We don’t want anybody to impose a candidate on us few months to an election. During the 2019 governorship election, they brought a man from nowhere; a man that is not known to us and presented him as our governor. This must stop! Lagos must work for Lagos. Lagos APC is not a one-man affair. We must collectively decide who takes what position in the party. We are the only faction that did ward and local government congresses while the sitting governor did not attend his LGA congress which means it wasn’t held. This is wrong.
Is this not a deliberate attempt to destroy and disintegrate the Lagos APC?
Has the Lagos APC not disintegrated? Apart from the emergence of factions, I can tell you for free that there is a serious crisis in the party. How many of the people that were to be delegates attended their State congress? They were fighting within themselves. Even a group led by former Governor Akinwunmi Ambode had its state congress. If you are alleging that Lagos4Lagos is working towards destroying the Lagos APC, this same Lagos APC has 2.5 million registered members and they contested a local government election without any faction contesting with them but they couldn’t record 600, 000 votes. So, is their house not disintegrated?
Lagos4Lagos is laying claims to being the most popular in the state yet it failed to produce a single local government chairman, why is this?
That was because we boycotted the local council polls. The primaries were not properly conducted. They manipulated the process and that was why we abandoned it. The primary was a sham.
Should Lagosians be looking forward to a form of negotiation between Lagos4Lagos and other factions, if yes, what form would this take?
We cannot rule out the possibility of negotiation but if there is going to be any, the leading faction must take the big horn, is that not? We have the membership strength and recognition, so we’ll determine what form the negotiation would take. If there is going to be any negotiation, all what we are pressing for must be acceded to, internal democracy must prevail within the party. And anytime we need to choose anybody to represent us at any election or in whatever position, the decision must be taken by every card carrying member of the party. We don’t want anybody to impose his or her candidate on us. But regardless of whatever, one thing is certain and that is, Dr Olajide Adediran is vying for the governorship seat of the state come 2023.
On the platform of APC or what?
It could be in APC or on the ticket of another political party but be assured that he is running for the governorship position in Lagos state in 2023. We have the membership strength and popularity. Having seen video evidences of the ward and local government congresses we conducted, the national secretariat agreed that we are the most popular in the state.
What do you think can be done to save Lagos APC from the imminent implosion?
It’s left to the national secretariat of the party. They have the facts and figures and they know what steps to take to salvage the situation. We have submitted the results of our congresses and they have received and stamped it. We have also paraded our strength for them to see, so it’s left for them to do the needful. But whatever decision they take now will determine the outcome of the party in the subsequent elections. In fact, it has actually started to affect the party. In 2019, Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu became the governor of the state with 11 per cent of the voting strength of Lagos State. He recorded 711, 000 votes out of over 6.6million. It can only dwindle if the needful is not done. They need to give us democratically elected officers to save the party from implosion.
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