Following the landmark Supreme Court judgement on July 11,2024 where local governments was granted financial autonomy, many state governments are preparing to organize credible elections where competent leaders will emerged.
Not left out of this development is Ogun state who has picked November 16,2024 as the day for the election of new leaders to its 20 LGAs. While the issue of Candidates paying expression of interest form fee is been queried, another issue, that of top government officials trying to impose candidates on the local councils is presently ravaging the third tier of government in the state.
With the Supreme judgement having a caveat that only Local Governments with duly elected leaders will qualify to receive their monthly allocations as at when due from the federation’s account, the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC in Ado-Odo/Ota Local Government Area, convened a Screening Committee, comprising Senior party leaders in the Area to thoroughly screen prospective aspirants with the aim to put forward the most qualified amongst them.
The screening committee which was headed by Sentor Kamal Odunsi staged screening process few days ago having over 10 aspirants jostling to become the party preferred choice for the election. Those in the known revealed that one Hon.Segun Ojolowo-Ojuko took the shine followed by one Engr Odunlami Oladapo a.k.a Omo Ọkà at the screening and the expectation was that either of them will be chosen as the APC candidate for the election.
But there was twist of event few days after when it was announced that all candidates will have to face another panel called Nomination Committee who will finally decides who become the party candidate. This development was greeted with negative reaction with party faithful saying it’s a move to impose candidate on the people of Ado-Odo/Ota.
According to a leading political figure in the Local Government, who agreed to speak with newsmen on the condition of anonymity, he said ‘the screening committee were genuinely out to seek the best from amongst the aspirants to stand as the Party’s candidate for the Chairmanship position’.
“Our aim is to actually look for someone whose record is devoid of any stain, strain or blemished in his or her private and public service, honest, integrity, public acceptability and can be trusted to deliver dividends of democracy to the good people of Ado-Odo/Ota LGA. Despite our genuine intention of the Screening committee members, little did we know that ‘booby traps’ were set ahead of us to scuttle our work and fulfill the parochial interests of some very senior party members in the Local Government, these elements were bent on ensuring only predetermined decisions to come to pass at end of the day.”
The ‘booby trap’ that was set according to the party leader began unfolding on Sunday 18, August, where the outcome of the assiduous labour of the screening committee was denigrated and destroyed by the Nomination Committee. The new panel was said to have nominated a man who was not in the first five position of the screening process, one-time caretaker Chairman of the council and a presenting serving Liason Officer to the Local Government, Hon. Wasiu Lawal, a perceive favourite of her Excellency Engr. Noimot Salako-Oyedele, Deputy Governor of Ogun State.
Another leader of the party from Iju Ward who was interrogated lamented that this will be the third time that the Deputy Governor will be foisting her choice candidate on Ota people.
The party leader, who would not also like to be mentioned, explained that in the last Chairmanship election, Hon. Bankole, who came first in the last Party screening was replaced with Hon. Sherrif Adewale Musa who came a distant fourth and ended up becoming the Chairman of the Local Government, adding that the result was evidence in the three years that the latter spent as Chairman.
The party leader divulged that before the last LG election, some drama played out where during the process of appointing the caretaker Chairman between Wasiu Lawal and Segun Ojolowo-Ojuko, the deputy governor held a meeting in her Lagos resident with her uncle Hon. Olakunle Kazeem Salako (OKS) where she disclosed that Wasiu Lawal was her choice for the position.
However, because OKS wanted to contest for the same office he decided to step out of his sister’s camp and supported Segun Ojolowo-Ojuko which subsequently led to Wasiu Lawal’s woeful loss during the stakeholders’ election held at the deputy governor’s Lagos resident. Still not satisfied with the outcome of the process, the deputy governor was alleged to have gone further visiting the leaders and begging them to upturn the result of the election in favour of her candidate – Wasiu Lawal.
It was added that the second citizen in the state did the same thing during the process of picking the candidate for the local government election between Sheriff Musa and Solomon Bankole. She was said to have also used her position and power to rob the council of their preferred candidate by imposing Musa on all the leaders and the entire local government.
A member of the screening committee disclosed that the few people who are rooting for Hon. Wasiu Lawal, are doing so because he would be a veritable instrument in the Deputy Governor’s next political move to become a Senator. It was also reliably gathered that another apex leader, Senator Gbolahan Dada, who was at the screening, insisted that, ‘for the first time, Ota should push forward just one person and that person must be determined by the outcome of the screening exercise held by the duly constituted owing to the fact that things have been done with sentiments in the past and Ado-Odo/Ota LG has been the one at the receiving end.
As gathered, he also threatened to call the Governor, if those who are hell bent on imposing a choice Candidate, who has not convinced the screening committee enough that he is up to task on the good people of Ado-Odo/Ota LG this time around.
Agitations on the lips of many of the politically conscious Youth in the Local Government are; if the Deputy Governor is allowed to succeed in the imposition of another of her own as the next LG Chairman, it will be a ‘one slap too many’ on the cheeks of good people of Ado-Odo/Ota, who have large numbers of illustrious sons and daughters that are potentially suitable, able and capable to occupy the seat, pointing at the abysmal performance of the outgoing imposed on the LGA.
Politics10 months ago
Society9 months ago
Politics9 months ago
Politics10 months ago
Society11 months ago
Entertainment10 months ago
News9 months ago
Politics8 months ago