Some members of the All Progressives Congress in Yaba Local Council Development Area of Lagos State have kicked against the alleged imposition of a chairmanship candidate for the upcoming July 12 local government elections.
They accused a member of the Governor’s Advisory Council, Senator Anthony Adefuye, of imposing his son, Bayo Adefuye, on them as the flagbearer of the APC in the LCDA.
In separate petitions addressed to President Bola Tinubu and the Chairman of GAC, Tajudeen Olusi, the aggrieved members lamented what they called an “undemocratic” and “unacceptable” attempt to sideline grassroots aspirants.
The petitions were signed by Domingo Babajide from Ward A, Kemi Aboyarin (Ward B), Adediran Olorunnimbe (Ward C), Taoreed Abiona (Ward D), and Alani Ifatokun (Ward E).
Others are: Oladunjoye Omoniyi (Ward F), Olaofe Fatai (Ward G), Idayat AbdulRasaq (Ward H), and Shakiru Adebowale (Ward I).
They claimed that Adefuye hailed from Somolu LCDA and had no prior political affiliation with Yaba LCDA until his brief appointment as Sole Administrator, which lasted less than a year.
The aggrieved APC members insisted that there was no primary election in the LCDA, just as no consensus meeting was held among all aspirants.
This, according to them, directly contradicts both the letter and spirit of APC’s internal democratic principles.
“The attitude of Senator Adefuye to impose his son on us in Yaba at all costs is not only worrisome but also amounts to selfishness. While we have more than 12 aspirants jostling for the seat of Yaba LCDA, Senator Adefuye suddenly encouraged his son to come and indicate his interest to contest the seat.
“We embrace APC, we love our President, but we will not accept Adebayo Adefuye in this local government (Yaba LCDA),” the petitioners said.
They appealed to Tinubu and the GAC chairman to intervene in the matter before it degenerates into a crisis that might cost the party victory in the election.
Reacting, Adefuye dismissed the allegations, describing the petitioners as “losers” with no political relevance.
In an interview with Sunday PUNCH, Adefuye insisted that his son hailed from Yaba LCDA and had been politically active in the area, saying, “This is not the first time he (Bayo) will be contesting in that local government area, and the leaders in Yaba are all behind him.
“I don’t want to be involved in the issue. Anybody is free to write a petition; they have written petitions in nearly all the local government areas. Until will go back to doing it the way it should be done, there won’t be petitions again, but as long as we continue to do it this way, there will always be petitions.
“What we did was to try and choose the best candidate by whatever method, without fighting. They said if we conduct a primary election, there will be a fight, but that fight will only last for a day because everybody will know who won.
“All these people writing petitions, can they win in that local government, can they defeat him (Bayo)? He defeated them during the House of Assembly primaries, but it was Asiwaju (Tinubu) who appealed to him to forgo the ticket, and he was compensated with the position he is today.”
