Lagos APC Primary: Group vows to resist imposition of candidate

 A coalition of civil society organisations in Amuwo-Odofin LCDA, the Amuwo Arise for Good Governance (AAGG), has vowed to resist the substitution or imposition of candidates on the electorate in the district.

The group at a conference held in Lagos on Sunday decried the suppression of popular will and plan to substitute the name of Mr Folorunso Olaitan Segun who, according to the group, is the valid winner of the council’s Constituency 1 primaries for the Lagos State House of Assembly.

The AAGG, which said that its major objective is to entrench credible leadership and accountability in government, called on the national leadership of All Progressives Congress (APC), former governor of the state, Bola Tinubu, and the incumbent, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, to intervene for the rightful winner of the primaries, as announced, not to be short-changed.

Addressing the newsmen on Sunday over the party’s House of Assembly primaries held on Friday, the founder and convener of Amuwo Arise for Good Governance, Mr Cecil Okereke, said the constituency was affirming Segun’s candidature and “an end to the era of imposition.”

Alleging a rumoured repeat of the 2018 scenario when Segun also won the APC House of Assembly primaries but was prevailed on by the party to step down for the incumbent, Okereke said that his victory this time proved the massive love he enjoys from the people.

 “Be that as it may, it is important to state that constituents of Amuwo-Odofin, for the first time in its political history, are being allowed to exercise their democratic rights to choose their leaders without undue external interference,” he noted.

“The people have spoken, and have given their mandate to Folorunso Olaitan Segun. It, therefore, beats one’s imagination that anybody would want to make attempts to change the result that INEC has already officially declared, as alleged in some quarters.”

“At this juncture, we must state emphatically and unequivocally that any attempt by anybody or group of persons to mortgage the will of the people is tantamount to short-changing democracy and the noble progress made in terms of democratic development in Amuwo-Odofin.

   “Such evil move will however be vehemently resisted. The peace in Amuwo-Odofin should not be breached just to satisfy the selfish interest of somebody, especially at this time of the high level of insecurity in the country.”

Okereke disclosed that in the election keenly contested on Friday, 27th May 2022 by five aspirants among 20 delegates, Segun defeated the incumbent, Mojisola Alli-Macaulay, and three others, polling 12 votes, while Alli-Macaulay and Prince Adeshina Ado polled four votes each, and the fifth contestants had no vote.

 The returning officer, Mr Akin Omooba Falada, declared him the winner of the election, which was adjudged free and fair, in the presence of all the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) officials, party officials, stakeholders, aspirants’ agents and other observers, he noted.

According to him, it “was a historic day in Amuwo-Odofin polity as it signposts the beginning of a new era defined by a growing democratic consciousness in the people, and deepened internal democracy in the All Progressives Congress (APC).

“It also signified the end of an era which witnessed the glorification of imposition over and above the will of the people.

“The ruling APC House of Assembly primary election held on that particular day saw the emergence of Mr Folorunso Olaitan Segun, popularly known as Ola Western, as the party’s flag bearer going into the 2023 general elections to represent Amuwo-Odofin Constituency 1 in the Lagos State House of Assembly.”

AAGG expressed worries that though party supremacy will prevail, a continued subversion of the will of the people will erode the electorate’s confidence in the democratic process and lead to apathy, which will negatively affect the party’s electoral fortunes as the masses become more politically conscious.

With him during the media briefing were the Woman Leader of the Ola Western campaign team, Mrs Olamide Asuranmu, her deputy, Mrs Adeniji Jagbajagba, and the Youth Leader of Amuwo-Odofin, Olatunji Oladapo, among others.