Leaders of the All Progressives Congress in Lagos State have advised party stakeholders and chairmanship aspirants across the 57 local governments and local council development areas to embrace consensus, ahead of Saturday’s primaries for the July 12 council election.
The party leaders spoke at the party’s Stakeholders Meeting on Wednesday at the party’s secretariat, ACME Road, Ogba, Ikeja.
They urged aspirants and their supporters to stay peaceful before and during the primaries.
Addressing party stakeholders, the state Deputy Governor, Dr Obafemi Hazmat, said consensus was a way of the party, urging aspirants to give concessions to allow the emergence of the best candidates.
He spoke shortly after the Chairman of the Bariga Local Council Development Area of Lagos State, Kolade Alabi, suddenly slumped during the meeting.
The PUNCH reports that there was intense heat at the venue of the meeting, with multitudes of party stakeholders and supporters in attendance.
This followed a clumsy situation at the entrance of the venue in the morning, with security men preventing many people from entering, including journalists, until the gate was later left open after sustained pressure.
It was not clear what caused the chairman to collapse while seated a few minutes after he gave an address with the Speaker of the state House of Assembly, Mudashiru Obasa, due to speak next.
Obasa, who had held the microphone to speak, could not do so again as everyone focused on resuscitating the chairman, who was later rushed for medical attention.
In his remarks, Hazmat, who declared the meeting closed afterward, was empathetic, saying, “One of us just fell. We must stop this. We must respect him, we thank God that evil did not befall us, it’s a lesson from God. We all came here with our legs because we’re healthy. God will not take our health from us.”
On the position of the party in the LG poll, he said, “A lot has been said as much as possible, and consensus is key; that’s how we do it in our party. We are the only party in Nigeria. The umbrella (the PDP) has been torn. So for that reason, we must not shame our fathers, our fathers have spoken and shared their experience with us. Let’s embrace consensus, we are one party.”
The News Agency of Nigeria also reports that the Chairman, Governance Advisory Council in the state, Chief Tajudeen Olusi, said that with about 500 chairmanship aspirants, there was a need to adopt a consensus to pick candidates.
Olusi said, “It has become imperative for all of us to support and cooperate with the party. Five people cannot occupy a single seat.
“We have in some places where 12 aspirants are contesting for a councillor seat. We should take things easy, talk to ourselves, and concede to one another.
“We should seek continuous peace and progress of the party. Conceding to one another is not new in our party. We should embrace it.”
Speaking, Chairman of the APC Electoral Committee, Babatunde Ogala (SAN), urged party leaders, particularly Hazmat and Obasa, to prevail on aspirants to accept consensus.
Assuring stakeholders of the committee’s resolve not to let the party and aspirants down, Ogala said, “What is at stake is very much. Our Presidency is at stake. Our party’s image is at stake. Lagos is seen nationwide as a key sector.
“In fact, don’t be surprised that other states are just waiting to see the outcome of these primaries to learn from it. So, I am conscious of that and will not let you down.
“We will not let the President down. Let me assure you that in carrying out this task, we have tried to be very fair. We have put integrity into place and we have been very thorough.”
Stating that the committee had been following the party’s guidelines to the letter, Ogala said that the screening had been fair and “there was no element of influence.”
On the process of the election, Ogala, who noted that the guidelines prescribed indirect primaries, said, “Consensus is a clearly recognisable democratic process, just as the indirect primaries is a clearly recognisable process and direct primaries.”
According to him, the chairmanship primaries will be held at the state party secretariat for logistics reasons, while councillorship will be held in various wards on Saturday.
He said that the 57 committees had been put in place to conduct councillorship primaries at the ward level, assuring, “it will be fair and open.”
Ogalla said that only aspirants with an agent each would be allowed into the venue of the election on Saturday, threatening that the committee would disqualify any aspirant found flouting the guidelines.
Earlier in his opening remarks, the Lagos State APC Chairman, Pastor Cornelius Ojelahi, urged all stakeholders to prioritise the party above all ambitions.(Punch)
