Kunle Adelabu
The Returning Officer for the All Progressives Congress (APC) Local Government Congress in Ikorodu Local Government and chieftains of the ruling party in Ikorodu, have commended the peaceful conduct of the LG Congress at the weekend.
27 LGA APC Executives, three National Delegates and five Delegates across Wards, were elected at the Congress which was held at the APC Secretariat, Awolowo Road, Oke -Ota Ona, Ikorodu. They were elected based on consensus.
While Otunba Olasunkanmi Tijani, the Divisional APC Chairman, and his former excos were returned, Asiwaju Olorunfunmi Basorun, former Secretary to the State Government and a GAC chieftain, Prince Jamiu Saka, a chieftain of the APC and Dr Lanre Dixon, also a party chieftain, were elected as National Delegates. They will be joined by the former Deputy Governor and another GAC chieftain, Prince Abiodun Ogunleye, who is an automatic delegate to the National Convention.
Returning Officer for the Congress, Prince Oladega Ibrahim, speaking with THE IMPACT at the venue, described the process as peaceful and commended members of the party in Ikorodu.
“I am the Presiding Officer for the APC LG Congress in Ikorodu where the process of the congress ended peacefully.
“APC, as a party, is a leadership party because the leader has strong influence on the members of the party. They find ways to coordinate things to make sure the members of the party would enjoy those who would be coming in either from ward level to the LGA and to the national delegates.
“So, we see that consensus is allowed in the party and the leadership of the party chose consensus and you could see that the moment the names were announced, members of the party overwhelmingly supported all the names that had been decided by the leaders and when I say leaders, it means from top to down is an arrangement that has been suitable for them and it has been working”, he said,
Hon. Gbenga Oshin, former member, Lagos State House of Assembly who chairs the congress planning committee, also commended the process.
“The process has been peaceful and you can see the unity which we are known for. It was done successfully without any rancor which is why we are Ikorodu -Oga.
“The purpose for today’s congress is to elect a 27 -man exco committee for the division and then 3 -man national delegates which we have done successfully. Delegates were chose from each of the Ward. We have 19 Wards and five delegates were elected from each electoral Wards in Ikorodu”.
He appealed to any member of the party not favoured by the process to support those that have emerged and wait for their turn.
“You must have those who would be aggrieved because we are talking about a 27-man committee out of thousands of people. It is bound to happen, but at the end of the day, we have made them understand that they can’t all fill positions at once and that it is a gradual process; turn -by -turn. We might have another set of people next time and that’s understandable and that’s why everything went well”, Hon. Oshin said.
A member of the planning committee, Otunba Olanrewaju Kuye, also commenting on the process, said: “This is very peaceful and straightforward. We have no problem because we have spoken with ourselves and what we agreed on was strictly followed, which was consensus. You can see everybody allowed their voices and with that, we have no problem”.
He assured that the returned party excos will improve on their performance with the new mandate being given to them.
“I have no doubt in their capacities because most of them are serving their second term. They have done well before and they would do better now. I have no fear”.
Alhaji Waheed Animashaun, the APC Chairman, Ikorodu Central, also attested to the success of the Congress, while appealing to any aggrieved party member to wait for their turn.
“We have done the congress and it’s very successful. Everybody adopted consensus candidates. We have passed a motion and it was seconded and overwhelmingly approved by delegates.
“My message is that whoever is expecting one position or the other but is not privileged to get it, should not be disappointed. They should be patient because positions available in the party are not many that everyone could occupy at once. But I can assure our members that they are all going to be taken care of. They should continue to be patience.
Dr Nurudeen Agbaje, Special Adviser to the Governor of Lagos State on Rural Development, also speaking about the congress, said that:
“Today’s congress has shown the strong support and drive that this party has. I see people came out in their multitude today to honor and to show their interest and the acceptance of those people that are being elected today, and that should tell you that the congress we did in Ikorodu today is very peaceful, straightforward and to show the confidence that the people that are being elected are truly those that that people wish to vote for, and they were selected to represent them at the state level.
“As we can see, I don’t even see many people who are even affected. All you can see is that people are just happy and smiling”.
