…In Support Of Gov. BABAJIDE SANWO-OLU’s 2nd Term Bid
It was one election result that was devastating to members of the APC in Lagos State. It was also one that the APC leadership in Lagos State didn’t like. It is the story of how the APC lost out in Alimosho during the just concluded Presidential & National Assembly elections. A lot of APC members were so sure that their party would sweep the votes from that area.
But when the results came out, many Labour party candidates beat APC candidates. The news hit a lot of APC members in Lagos badly. What made the loss all the more shocking was the fact that the APC has many Big players in Alimosho. But the party has put that behind them. An insider told City People that the leaders of the party have gone back to the drawing board and reviewed where they made mistakes. And City People can tell you that corrections have been made. A lot of reconciliation has taken place to correct all the errors.
City People can authoritatively reveal that the APC has learnt its lessons and it has made more efforts towards winning this coming elections for Gov. Sanwo Olu. City People gathered that amongst party members the reason for losing at the presidential poll has been identified and all leaders within the federal constituency has rolled up their sleeves to mitigate the re-occurence of such again now and the nearest future.
The party has embarked on House to House Campaign that is tagged Woro-si-Woro. This has been embraced by all
Of course, when the news broke, party members began to trade blames. Some criticised the party leaders for not taking adequate care of their followers. Others blamed the followers.
Others accused the leadership of APC of over confidence, that it would traditionally win the votes of Alimosho. City People gathered that the woeful results of the Alimosho election was the result of the fight between the Asiwaju Tinubu Group and the Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola Group, over the control of that vast LG. For many years Aregbesola used to control the affairs of the dominant political group in that area. That was before he fell out with Tinubu, who now decided to take away the leadership from Aregbesola and empowered other party leaders.
One of the leaders in that area is Enilolobo, who is loyal to Aregbesola. There are other party leaders like Alhaja Idiat Adebule, the former Lagos Deputy Governor who is now the Senator elect of Lagos West, Adejoke Orelope Adefulire, SA to Pres Buhari on Millinenium Development Goals, Senator Yayi and others. Many people attribute the loss of Alimosho by APC to the fight within the ranks of the APC Mandate Group. Some state executive committee members have accused the leadership of the party of being dictatorial. A chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC), has advised the Lagos chapter of the party to be wary of the antics of political jobbers and hucksters, who are bent on creating confusion and derailing the efforts of the Mandate Group Chairman, Abdullahi Ayinde Enilolobo.
It says, Enilolobo is working towards the success of all APC candidates at the 2023 polls. Sahara Reporters had on December 30, 2022 indicted the Lagos APC leadership. Some state executive committee members accused the party leadership of taking decisions unilaterally and running the affairs of the party like a personal business.
A source had said, “Strong groups like ‘The Mandate Group, Justice Forum are equally unhappy with their being deactivated of participation in the political activities of the Party, even within their domains. “With the exception of a splinter group led by Alhaji Ayinde Enilolobo who came out to boost the Alimosho rally, to prove their loyalty following several allegations within The Mandate family, many elders and leaders have practically stayed away.”
A few days ago, a chieftain of the APC, Prince Adewale Arogundade had warned that the source’s display of insincerity, if not corrected, will only result in petty antics. “It is necessary that the records are set straight because of the general public. The statement issued by Arogundade said, “The Mandate Movement (TMM), otherwise known as The BATCO Mandate because of the election bid of the national leader of our party, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu is a strong group that cut across the 57 LGs and LCDAs in Lagos.”
“Few months ago, the group was recognised at the national level of the party and there is a letter towards this. Does a splinter group carry such weight?” he asked. “That he boosted the Alimosho rally to prove his loyalty is another reason to be wary of the deceptive writer. Every right-thinking person knows that APC is one big family, and Enilolobo’s loyalty has remained resolute in the party since the time of the Alliance for Democracy (AD) till date. Underestimate his weight in Alimosho and Lagos State at large at your own peril.
“Most of the problems we have in today’s politics is that people who cannot mobilise their family members are the ones who see it as an occupation. They see politics as a means to an end. And are the ones igniting different crises. At the end of the day, they become beneficiaries of the bad situation.”
He, however, maintained that Enilolobo’s enemies are yet to recover from the huge turnout recorded at The BATCO Mandate walk from Ikeja to Ojota through Maryland, which had ‘over 100,000 participants’, to show solidarity and support for the candidature of Bola Ahmed Tinubu and Kashim Shettima to win next year’s presidential election, as well as show the group’s full backing to the second term bid of Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu.
Arogundade said it’s not surprising that Enilolobo’s modest way of politicking has paved way for him and his kinsmen across the board. He assured that The BATCO Mandate Group, which is the mobilising structure of the party will deliver all APC candidates from Presidency to state assembly.
Over the years, the battle for the control of Alimosho has been a tough one, among the APC leaders. As the last elections drew near, the APC party leaders engaged in a lot of bickering.
Senator Olamilekan Adeola popularly called Yayi, who is the incumbent Senator representing Lagos West was no longer in the race. He has moved to Ogun State. He just won the Ogun West Senatorial seat. Idiat Adebule has replaced him. Insiders reveal that it was the infighting among APC party member that made the party lose, as the Labour Party took advantage of the vacumm created.
Why is there so much noise about Alimosho LGA? A political analyst explained that it is because of the importance of that zone. “If you win Alimosho LGA, you are likely to win the Governorship of Lagos State. It is the largest LGA/Federal Constituency in Nigeria, with a population that is greater than that of Bayelsa State or Yobe State.”
Can one say that the absence of Senator Yayi also affected APC’s performance at Alimosho last election? “Yes. That is understandable, as he has been the politician winning Alimosho LGA as Assembly man, as Representative and as 2 term Senator. His presence would have meant his using his achievements to get huge votes,” observed a party member.
Another insider revealed that it is the crisis in Mandate Group that caused it. The group is headed by Enilolobo, Aregbesola’s man and Asiwaju’s group contributed a lot to the defeat of APC. Many aggrieved members of the party joined hands with the Ibos to prove a point.
An insider revealed that why the loss recorded in Alimosho is painful to a lot of APC supporters is because Alimosho is the only place the party gets huge votes for candidates. And Alimosho is seen as Tinubu’s base because he has built over the years, a formidable political structure.
Before now, many didn’t know the significance of Alimosho, which is the largest local government in Lagos, broken into about 5 LCDA (Agbado/Oke-Odo, Mosan/Okunola, Ayobo/Ipaja, Ejigbo and Alimosho).
City People gathered that each time election is conducted, the votes coming from Alimosho usually supercedes that of 2 or more LGs in Lagos. Hence after other LG must have been concluded, they gather to count Alimosho. Over the years, for APC, Alimosho is their base for election because of the huge population it prevails.
Distribution of money also played a major part that led to the crisis, as the money the party got for mobilisation of its party members didn’t go round and that led to a fight.
That is why many people attribute the loss of Alimosho by the APC to the fierce fight between the Raufu Aregbesola Group on one side and the Orelope Group on the other side.
But the good thing is that the President elect Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, Governor Sanwo-Olu and other party leaders have stepped in to appease all frayed nerves.
