Sen. Adeseye Ogunlewe is a chieftain of the Governance Advisory Council (CAC), the highest decision making body in Lagos State, and one of the apex leaders in Ikorodu Division.
Ogunlewe, popularly known as the ‘Field Marshal’, was a former Minister of Works and a Senator who represented the Lagos East Senatorial District between 1999 to 2003, on the platform of the Alliance for Democracy.
He is a Prince of Igbogbo and one of the foremost political leaders in the town. He spoke with Kunle Adelabu, the Publisher/Reporter – in – Chief, THE IMPACT newspaper, on the crisis surrounding the selection of the APC candidate for the forthcoming council elections in Igbogbo/Bayeku LCDA, rotational system between The Mandate Movement (TMM) and Justice Forum (JF), and why a youthful candidate must be picked among others. Excerpt:
THE IMPACT: Sir, there has been a serious crisis in the selection of a Chairmanship candidate for the All Progressives Congress (APC), in Igbogbo/Bayeku LCDA, what is your position on all of these?
Sen. Ogunlewe: There are two or three issues at stake. The first is the rotational policy that we met on the ground between the Justice Forum and The Mandate Group. From time to time, whenever the JF picks the position of the council chairman, The Mandate will pick the position of the Vice Chairman and Chairman of the party. So, this time around, the chairman of the council is Daini (Builder Sesan Daini) who is from the TMM and he has been there for eight years, while the Chairman of the Party is a JF member. Because of the persistent acrimony between Basorun and I, I didn’t want that to continue because people are capitalizing on our strained relationship to divide the community and get away with whatever that they want. This time around, I said no, because of his age and personality, I decided to let him pick the Chairman, being the leader of JF and I will pick the Vice Chairmanship position as Mandate leader, but people misconstrued it that I am working with Basorun which is not correct at all. Why is this not correct? Basorun has an apex body composed of other leaders who have been holding meetings in his house for only God knows when. They discussed everything there and the council chairman is always there to report to them. If they give them anything from any quarter and even by JB (Rep. Babajimi Benson) and Senator Abiru, that is the place where they usually shared everything. They never considered me because they believed that I am not part of them to the extent that during the last dispensation, they did not consider me for a single councillorship and supervisory positions in the council. In actual fact, when they wanted to consider me, it was Basorun that opposed it because I was not part of them, and instead they gave my brother, Prince Segun Ogunlewe who gave me the slot which I gave to Yinka Ogunlaja. There was a time when money was released for campaign by Abiru, and I was not considered because they believed that I was not part of them. But to me, that is in the past and that is why I asked Basorun and his apex body to decide who they want as the chairmanship candidate, and I also assured them that I would support whoever that they pick. But some people misconstrued that for support for Basorun, but that is not correct. Rather, I am giving power and authority to that apex body that has been holding power in his house to pick any candidate that is a member of the Justice Forum, and that I will not challenge it and that is where we are now.
Another angle is that in Baba Ogunleye’s house (Prince Abiodun Ogunleye, former Deputy Governor and the apex leader of the APC in Ikorodu Division), l went to him and suggested that they should let the screening committee to be uniform across the council. He took the decision to the main apex body and my position was defeated and the proposal that each leader should go to their LGAs to conduct their screening won the day which is very logical because politics is local. In Igbogbo/Bayeku LCDA, I was not consulted and the committee was constituted without my input. The committee is composed of members of the apex body holding meetings in Basorun’s house and they made Asipa Kaoli the Chairman. From information, it appears that there is a division among them and that is not my concern. The intriguing part of it is that when they completed the screening, they took the report to Baba Ogunleye instead of giving it to Baba Basorun who constituted the screening committee. So, Baba Ogunleye called to inform me that he saw a letter from the screening committee, and I told him to return the letter to Basorun, because he was not the one that constituted the body and when he said that he wanted to come and address us in Igbogbo, I kicked against it and let him know that will never happen because we are autonomous and capable of handling our affairs in Igbogbo. That is where we are now.
THE IMPACT: I was with Asiwaju Kaoli Olusanya yesterday (Wednesday) and in an interview, he said that the crisis in Igbogbo/Bayeku LCDA was caused by leaders who are trying to impose their own views on others and did conclude that there has been an intervention which has led to an agreement among the major stakeholders and that they have agreed on…..(cuts in)
Sen. Ogunlewe: There is no problem with their agreement. I am not interested in who they pick as the chairman. They should agree with someone and I have told them that I will support whoever that they presented. They are free to pick any candidate and that would be acceptable to me. I don’t really care who they pick.
THE IMPACT: That means that you will agree with whoever that the stakeholders agreed upon?
Sen. Ogunlewe: Yes!
THE IMPACT: What kind of a candidate for the Chairmanship position that will be acceptable to you, that you are looking out for from the apex body?
Sen. Ogunlewe: A young person that is acceptable to the youths, and that can relate well with the students and the community. The students are marginalized and we need a chairman that can listen to them and hear them. The last time that they received a bursary was 2021, and you can ask them. If we don’t involve the youths now, when are they going to take over? Let the youths be in the forefront and we the elders stay behind them to guide. I don’t want them to bring an old person that will not be acceptable to the youths, it would create problems.
THE IMPACT: A few days back, some faceless persons published a petition which was circulated on the internet. In the petition, your person and that of Asiwaju Basorun were maligned. What is your response?
Sen. Ogunewe: I don’t know about that. What did they write in the petition?
THE IMPACT: … that both of you are trying to impose….(cuts in)
Sen. Ogunlewe: That is not me.
THE IMPACT: But your name was mentioned in it.
Sen. Ogunlewe: That is wrong. I did not participate in the process that led to who became the candidate. I am not a member of the Justice Forum. I am a chieftain of the TMM. So, can a TMM member bring or impose a candidate on the Justice Forum? It is their business.
THE IMPACT: In that petition, it was claimed that Chairman Sesan Daini is a member of Justice Forum and not TMM…(cuts in)
Sen. Ogunlewe: Why was he coming to our meetings?
THE IMPACT: Oh!
Sen. Ogunlewe: Yes! Daini attends TMM meetings. There are three of them – Agoro in Imota (Chairman, Imota LCDA), Banjo (Chairman, Ikorodu North LCDA) and himself (Sesan Daini, Chairman, Igbogbo/Bayeku LCDA).
THE IMPACT: Do they attend at the Divisional and state levels?
Sen. Ogunlewe: At the state level, No. 7, Oduduwa Way, the three of them were there. I can produce the minutes of the meeting.
THE IMPACT: What will be your message to the leaders and the generality of Igbogbo/Bayeku people?
Sen. Ogunlewe: We have to be united. We have been marginalized. I was at LASU and I was welcomed by a young boy with a PhD., Dr Anjorin who is from Imota. There are three or four others with doctorates that are also from Imota and I couldn’t see anyone from Igbogbo. When we wanted to select Mrs Hassan from Ijede into the Ikorodu Town Hall Management Board, I asked them to submit names and I received 12 names of women that are chartered accountant from Ijede, but we don’t have two in Igbogbo. I have raised this concern that we must buckle up or else, we would be backward forever. Ijede has a General Hospital and another one has been built in Imota which is a specialist hospital, but in Igbogbo, we don’t have a standard Primary Health Centre and we are more in population and the educational facilities here doubled theirs and they are more prosperous than us. Unfortunately, we are the Constituency II’s leaders, what is going on? People capitalized on the differences between myself and Basorun, telling us that we are waiting that they cannot come to Igbogbo. But now, I have said that I am not fighting again and that the man (Basorun) should take the leadership position and I will play the second fiddle. So, what is my offense? Should I continue to fight when I have said that enough is enough? I am giving him the preference to pick and the youths have met him to tell him their choice and it is the youths that have the votes and not me.
I am not Basorun’s friend and I have never greeted him for 40 years and I have never been to his house for 40 years and I can never go there. I don’t have his number and I cannot phone him and he doesn’t phone me. I am not his friend at all and we can never be friends. It is a family matter, but when it comes to Igbogbo issues, I will cooperate and collaborate with him in the interest of the youths and Igbogbo. I don’t need them and that is the reason I established AOSTEM to fulfil my own ambition and my ambition is to see Igbogbo children grow with distinctions. That is all I want to achieve. I don’t take a kobo from them and l always wish them well so that they too can develop the community. So, all that they are saying and writing in petitions doesn’t concern me.
