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APC members reject Apapa candidate

By Adaku Onyenucheya
07 July 2017   |   1:29 am
Members of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Apapa Local Government Area of Lagos State have expressed reservation over the choice of Elijah Owolabi as the chairmanship candidate of the party in the coming July 22 council election.

APC

• I was properly elected, he says

Members of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Apapa Local Government Area of Lagos State have expressed reservation over the choice of Elijah Owolabi as the chairmanship candidate of the party in the coming July 22 council election.

The aggrieved members during a stakeholders meeting said there would be uproar in the community if the leadership of the party in Lagos refused to replace Owolabi before the election. It was alleged that Owolabi is neither from Apapa nor Ward E as he claimed, and he is not also the desired candidate of the community.

They alleged that some cabals within the party in collaboration with a strong force in Apapa were the one that handpicked Owolabi.While they called for fair zonal representation, the stakeholders, said Apapa Local Council is made up of five wards (A, B, C, D and E) and there should be representatives from those other wards.

Leader of the stakeholders, Bayo Adesanya representing ward C, said the community is not happy with all the lopsided appointment in the political offices, as the politics being played in Apapa is allegedly that of exclusion.

He said the on going crisis in the party, would jeopardize its chances in the coming council polls and may pave the way for opposition parties to capitalize and win the election.
According to Adesanya, “The community rejected Owolabi on different grounds that he is not sellable, lacks knowledge of political duties as well as his inefficiency during his tenure as the Local Government’s Secretary.“Ward E has been dominating the political terrain of Apapa for the past 10 years.

MEANWHILE, Owolabi, who has refuted the allegation that he was not from Apapa, said he was an indigene of Lagos Island and that he grew up in Apapa where he has been in politics for over 25 years.

According to him, “I am one of the active political players in Apapa Ward B, where I contested for the Lagos House of Assembly seat in 2011 but was asked to step down by the leadership of the party for some reasons.

“Although, I have been in Ward E I moved to Ward B in 2009 to participate in an election where my name was registered in polling unit 12 of Ward B. Those agitating my removal are not genuine members of APC.”He also debunked the allegation that he was not properly elected in the primary, saying, “out of the 160 delegates, 115 voted for me.”

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