Crisis Rocks Lagos APC As Idris Balogun Writes Tinubu

A new crisis has erupted in the Lagos State chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC) after a party chieftain, Prince Idris Balogun, accused ‘loyalists’ of Nigerian Interior Minister Rauf Aregbesola of seizing control of the party in the Alimosho federal constituency.

iexclusive News Nigeria reports that in a letter dated July 27, 2021, to the APC Lagos Secretariat and the party’s National Leader, Bola Tinubu, Balogun said that events in the political arena in the constituency need significant concern and attention.

Speaking on the problem, he said that a group of people posing as Aregbesola’s employees took over the party’s activities because of their close relationship with the minister, who, according to him, had Tinubu’s ears.

Balogun claimed that with the establishment of the Alimosho G-18 gang, the centers had failed to hold (in charge of nominations of the Chairmen, Councilors, Assembly members both at the State and Federal).

“After Alimosho’s utter failure of votes cast in the 2019 general elections, contrary to what we were renowned for, the National Leader of our great party openly branded Alimosho APC as a failure – the video is everywhere.

“This caused us great embarrassment, and many other party members felt it was time to redeem our political image, restore hope to party members, give them a sense of belonging, compel our elected officials to use the money statutorily meant for the development of our community directly to them, and stop diverting public funds meant for development to service the so-called G-18 leaders.

He also claimed that his group met with some of the party’s stakeholders in the state to resolve some of their complaints in the party’s best interests.

“As part of our resolutions, the party decided that party leadership should be decentralized, that candidates should be allowed to run for office, and that elected officials should be independent.

“Our efforts ultimately paid off, as the party officials decided, in their magnanimity, that the just-finished local government elections should serve as a springboard for resolving our grievances.

“We heard that our National Leader (Tinubu) had directed all first-term Chairmen across the state to run for re-election.

As a result, we had to start again and come up with a new agreement because the new order benefits one LGA and three LCDAs.

“It was subsequently agreed that Igando-Ikotun LCDA, where the Chairman is completing her two-year term, should be entrusted to us while we wait for SLGs and Supervisory Councilors, as we only have 14 councilors and three vice-chairmen.

However, we were once again shortchanged, as the number of Councilors allotted to us was decreased to ten.

Our expectations for the vice-chairman in the LCDAs of Mosan-Okunola and Egbe-Idimu were crushed once more.

“It all started as a rumor to us, but it became a truth that Hon. Ahmed Olajide Oseni’s name was cleared for the 24th July election but was substituted the night before the poll.

This was not amusing to us but rather offensive and disrespectful.

Who gave the go-ahead for the changes?

What is the legal position on name alterations and substitutions?

Why are we oblivious to the changes?

What were the criteria that led to his replacement following the election?

“We write to express our displeasure with the political oppression, sidelining, and imposition of an undeserving candidate in the person of Hon. Mutiu Adebiyi, the current vice Chairman of Egbe-Idimu LCDA, against the party’s agreed candidate for vice-chairman, Hon. Lukman Idowu Ishola, with the utmost respect to the party (APC) National hierarchy.

“Hon Idowu, who had paid his dues politically and socially to be the second citizen of the council in the next administration, and the youth have confirmed that Idimu and Isheri constituents have not been represented in the current administration because both the incumbent Chairman, Hon. Kunle Sanyaolu Olowoopejo, and his vice, Hon Mutiu Adebiyi, are from Egbe, which is only a fraction of the entire LGA,” said the youth