APC leaders dismiss rival claims in Agege primary controversy

The leadership of the All Progressives Congress in Agege and Orile-Agege area of Lagos State has reaffirmed that High Chief Ganiyu Egunjobi and Barrister Azeez Ninalowo won the party’s primaries for Agege Constituency 01 and Agege Constituency 02, respectively.

Egunjobi is the immediate past Chairman of Agege Local Government, and on Wednesday was declared the winner of the APC primary for Agege constituency 01 in the poll held on Wednesday, and monitored by the Independent Electoral Commission, INEC.

Held across the five wards in the constituency, the ex-council boss scored 9,132 votes, while his former deputy, the recent past Vice-Chairman of the council, Gbenga Michael Abiola, came a distant third.

According to a statement by Egunjobi’s Media Aide, Rotimi Sulyman, on Friday speaking on Thursday at a meeting of stakeholders comprising the three traditional rulers in the area, Baales, and other community leaders including the leadership of traders and artisans’ unions, APC chieftain, Alhaji 𝗔𝗱𝗶𝘀𝗮 𝗔𝗱𝗮𝗿𝗮𝗻𝗶𝗷𝗼 commended aspirants and the party faithful for conducting themselves peacefully during the ongoing primaries of the party.

Adaranijo, who stated that the meeting agenda was to review the outcomes of the party’s primaries in the area so far, however, singled out Abiola for chastisement.

Contrary to electoral officers’ pronouncement of Egunjobi as Agege Constituency 01, unofficial claim has it that the ex-Council Vice-Chairman won the poll.

Reacting to the report, the elder statesman dismissed the speculation, saying it was misleading.

“As you can see, we just rose from our meeting whose purpose was to discuss the outcome of our primaries so far. We thank God that it has been free of violence and met our expectations as leaders.

“However, we have been taken aback by beer parlour and hair salon gossip in which some clowns in certain quarters are misrepresenting the fact of the outcome of the Agege Constituency 01 poll, which Agege’s former council Chairman, Egunjobi, won in full view of INEC officials and other electoral officers who conducted the election.

“What remains the fact is that Egunjobi won hands down while the fiction in circulation claims Abiola is the winner,” Adaranijo told newsmen.

He added that the former Council vice chairman could not have won, saying he had long alienated himself from the party activities and treated party faithful with austere civility and frozen politeness.

“How would someone who, from the time his ambition to succeed Egunjobi as the council chairman was scuttled, developed zero emotion for the party members and leaders, playing no part in its activities, win the party’s primary. APC is too formidable to tolerate political truancy,” he said, alleging that the leader of the party in Agege, Speaker of the Lagos State House of Assembly, Mudashiru Obasa, was his benefactor.

“If not for the benevolence of Obasa, he was nobody. The Speaker made him his Special Assistant, later Agege Council Sole Administrator, from where he became the Council SLG and subsequently the Vice-Chairman. Unfortunately, he’s now biting the finger that fed him at the prodding of some meddlesome interlopers,” Adaranijo said.

The Baale of Onipetesi/Ajakaye, where Abiola comes from, Chief Yekini Ajakaye, that of Dopemu, Chief Shuaib Ajani Afogunlowo, and the Chief Imam of the area, Sheikh (Alh) Abdulgafar Sulaiman Elediye, also spoke in a similar vein.

In his own remark on the sidelines of the party governorship primary held on Thursday in the area at Agege Stadium, Obasa claimed that alleged dissidents within the All Progressives Congress, APC, were behind the controversial report, saying.
“When you are a member of a party, you should always participate in all its activities. Why would anyone who isn’t here claim to be part of us?

“You can’t be absent from all primaries and still claim that you are with us. We have conducted House of Representatives, Senate, House of Assembly, and Governorship primaries, yet some disgruntled party members have consistently stayed away. It is not possible. They are not part of us.”

Recall that, supporters of Gbenga Abiola, popularly known as Agbelebu, rejected the outcome of the primaries for Agege Constituency I, insisting that no legitimate exercise took place across the approved voting centres.

Agbelebu supporters, operating under the banner of the Agbelebu Solidarity Forum, described the result announced after Wednesday’s exercise as “fake” and alleged that party members were prevented from participating freely in the process.

Abiola, a former Vice Chairman of Agege Local Government and immediate past Sole Administrator of the council, contested the assembly ticket against Egunjobi, who was declared the winner of the primary.

Both politicians are seeking to succeed Obasa in Agege Constituency I, following Obasa’s emergence as the APC candidate for the House of Representatives seat representing Agege Federal Constituency.

In a statement issued on Thursday, the Director-General of the forum, Jamiu Ademosu, alleged that the process across the wards was characterised by intimidation and harassment of party members.

“Agbelebu won the election fair and square. We reject this illegal result. It is against the spirit of democracy,” Ademosu said.

He maintained that no valid primary election was conducted at the designated centres within the constituency and claimed that genuine APC members were denied the opportunity to participate in a transparent process.