Chairman of Agege Local Government Area of Lagos State, Ganiyu Egunjobi, says there’s nothing wrong with the emergence of Lagos Assembly Speaker Mudashiru Obasa’s son as the All Progressives Congress chairmanship candidate for the forthcoming council polls.
Throwing his weight behind Obasa’s son, the outgoing LG chairman declared that the young man “deserves to succeed” him in office.
Egunjobi stated this while addressing select journalists on the mounting controversy that followed the May 10 APC primaries.
He dismissed claims of imposition and defended the legitimacy of the process that produced candidates across local government areas in the state.
According to him, “I think the reactions in those quarters where they are shouting ‘imposition’ is in the character of politicians in our clime.
“I’m sure if the results had gone their way, they would be lavishing praise on the electoral process. The election committee put up a good show and should be commended, same with the leadership of the party in the state.”
There had been tension and protests in Agege and Orile-Agege by some APC members who accused Speaker Obasa of planting loyalists and family members, including his son (Abdulganiyu), as flagbearers in the scheduled July 12 local government council elections.
Egunjobi, however, dismissed their action as a charade sponsored by political opponents.
The LG boss added, “I watched the video of the so-called protest and I was amazed to see those who led it. A political neophyte, who is a charge-and-bail lawyer, anchored it.
“For your information, this man until recently was gushing about the Speaker, thinking singing the praise of Obasa would get him the party chairmanship ticket for Orile-Agege.”
Egunjobi added that some of the aggrieved aspirants, including Sola Osolana and Bukola Sofidiya, only returned to the party shortly before the primaries and so lacked the moral and constitutional right to contest.
“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 said.
Speaking on the controversy over the candidacy of Obasa’s son said to be running as a vice-chairmanship candidate in Agege, Egunjobi insisted that the Speaker’s son is eminently qualified, saying the development is akin to the existence of political dynasties in the United States and Nigeria.
He said, “This is someone that is well-read, a PhD student for that matter, who has been touching lives in Agege long before now. In fact, he deserves to succeed me.
“People blabbing ‘imposition’ in respect of the Speaker’s son’s matter are not fair to the young man and Agege.”
Reeling out his achievements during his own tenure ending in about two months’ time, Egunjobi said they include the construction of roads, health centres, public school infrastructure, vocational training, youth empowerment programmes and job creation.
He added, “We built a CBT centre for JAMB candidates, upgraded our vocational training institute, and even created a deradicalisation programme for louts post-EndSARS.
“Over 700 staff, including security personnel under ‘Paramole’, are on our payroll, receiving stipends to maintain peace and order.”
Answering a question on the long rivalry between the Awori and the non-indigenes in Agege politics, the council chairman retorted, “We are all born and bred in Agege. Come to think of it, no Awori person in Agege is more Agege than me. The dichotomy doesn’t hold water and is inconsequential.”
