A faction of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Lagos State led by Bola Ahmed Tinubu has said that Babatunde Fashola, a former governor of the state and current minister of works, power and housing, and Muiz Banire, national legal adviser of the party, were not behind the formation of the Fouad Oki-led faction of the party in the state.
Recall that two state executives of the APC emerged in Lagos last Saturday, after two parallel state congresses were held, with the Tinubu-backed faction holding its congress at the party state secretariat in ACME Road in Ogba in which Tunde Balogun emerged the chairman, while the other faction simultaneously staged its congress at the Airport Hotel in Ikeja, and elected Fouad Oki as the state chairman.
But speaking in an interview with BusinessDay, Biodun Salami, deputy publicity secretary of the party in the state, said that Fashola and Banire had publicly denounced the group, adding that there was no evidence that the faction had links with the two party leaders.
“They are only looking for recognition and he is doing all this for his personal interest. Fashola and Banire are not with him; they spoke and denied knowledge of the faction. Several of the people in his faction have been pulling out; the heat is on them; they cannot survive in Lagos we have a way of doing things,” Salami said.
According to him, the Oki-led faction could not complain about any irregularity in the state congress because the faction did not take part in the ward and local government congresses, stressing that forms were sold for interested members of the party by national officers of the party.
Salami dismissed allegation that the congresses were held in the 37 seven local council development areas (LCDA) which were not recognised by the election guidelines and the electoral law, adding that the party acted within the provision of the law.
The party chieftain said Oki was only seeking political relevance and working to fulfil his personal agenda which informed his decision to set up a parallel state executive of the party in the state.
“They are the one in problem; I am sure very soon they would be looking for a soft landing, but we don’t want that now, let them finish what they have,” Salami said.
According to him, “As far as Lagos is concerned, most of the elite politicians are in APC and the people appreciate what the governor is doing. They cannot complain because they did not take part in the ward congress and local government congress as at that time Fouad was the vice chairman why can’t he use his power to change it?
“The 57 local governments are recognised by law; there was even a Supreme Court judgment on that. We have been on this since the Fashola administration. How can somebody that benefited from the process just come now and be saying all this?”
Iniobong Iwok
