Ganiyu Egunjobi, the Executive Chairman of Lagos State’s Agege Local Government Area, has endorsed the candidacy of the son of Lagos Assembly Speaker Mudashiru Obasa for chairmanship of the All Progressives Congress in the next council elections, saying the young man “deserves to succeed me.”
In a conversation with a few journalists, Egunjobi addressed the growing issue that surrounded the APC primaries on May 10. He denied accusations of imposition and defended the validity of the process that generated candidates from all local government areas.
He was reported by Vanguard on Friday as stating, “I believe the reactions in those quarters where they are shouting ‘imposition’ is in the character of politicians in our clime.”
They would be praising the election process profusely if the outcome had been in their favor. Both the election committee and the state party leadership deserve praise for their strong performance.
After some APC members protested in Agege and Orile-Agege, accusing Speaker Obasa of selecting loyalists and family members, including his son Abdulganiyu, to run as flagbearers in the impending council elections on July 12, tensions increased.
Egunjobi, however, called the protest a sham organized by political desperadoes.
“I was astounded to see the people in charge of the alleged demonstration when I saw the video. It was anchored by a charge-and-bail attorney who is a political novice.He added that some of the resentful candidates, such as Sola Osolana and Bukola Sofidiya, only rejoined the party just before the primaries and lacked the moral and constitutional right to run. “For your information, until recently, this man was gushing about the Speaker, thinking singing the praise of Obasa would get him the party chairmanship ticket for Orile-Agege,” he said.
“We know some of their paymasters in the persons of a certain serving senator from Ogun State and a three-time House of Assembly member in our area, to mention but a few,” he hinted, without naming names.
Addressing the controversy over the candidacy of Obasa’s son, who is reportedly running as a vice-chairmanship candidate in Agege, Egunjobi defended the Speaker’s son as eminently qualified, drawing comparisons to political dynasties in the United States and Nigeria.
As he highlighted his own tenure, which ends in about two months, Egunjobi listed accomplishments such as the construction of roads, health centers, public school infrastructure, vocational training, youth empowerment programs, and local job creation. “We built a CBT center for JAMB candidates, upgraded our vocational training institute, and even created a deradicalization program for louts post-EndSARS,” he said. “This is someone who is well-read, a PhD student for that matter, and has been touching lives in Agege long before now. In fact, he deserves to succeed me.””We employ over 700 people, including security guards under ‘Paramole,’ who receive stipends to keep the peace.”
The chairman rebuked identity politics in response to a question concerning the Agege politics’ enduring Awori versus non-indigene divide.
Agege is where we were all born and raised. Now that I think about it, I am the most Agege Awori person in Agege. He came to the conclusion that the dichotomy was irrelevant and unfounded.
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