Stop ‘Foreigner’ from taking over Ogun west senatorial district – APC elders tell Adamu

Some APC leaders in the Ogun West Senatorial district have appealed to the party’s national chairman, Abdullahi Adamu, and Governor Dapo Abiodun to intervene and stop the “illegality being committed” on the zone’s senatorial ticket.

They claimed that intervention has become necessary following the support of Lagos West Senator Olamilekan Adeola (Yayi) as an APC candidate in the Ogun West Senate by some party officials.

They urged that the Senate ticket not be given to Adeola, whom they referred to as a “foreigner.”

During a meeting of Ogun West stakeholders in Ilaro, Yewa South Local Government Area of the state, party elders spoke, including Senator Iyabo Anisulowo, the former Minister of Education (State).

Former Commissioners, Local Government Chairmen, and members of the State House of Assembly from the region attended the conference titled “Preserving The Integrity of Ogun West Senatorial District.”

Adeola, who just came to the state to compete for the Ogun West seat, has been locked in a struggle with certain APC leaders in the region, also known as Yewa/Awori, who have questioned the morality and legitimacy of his desire after over two decades in Lagos State politics.

They further claimed that the accountant turned politician “is not a state native.”

In separate statements at the stakeholders’ conference, the APC leaders labeled Adeola’s goal as “an aberration and unlawful.”

They also dismissed reports that certain Ogun West leaders had endorsed Senator Adeola as the party’s flagbearer, claiming that such a position did not reflect the region’s common interests.

“The take-home message from this gathering is that we will not allow a stranger to come here and take our riches and inheritance,” Anisulowo added.

“I’m not questioning his right to come here and live here; I’m questioning his politics and his desire to grab what is rightfully ours.”

Mrs Mary Ogunjobi, an 84-year-old APC Chieftain, stated, “What we are doing today is attempting to demolish Ogun West in order to offset the endorsement of a foreigner.” Our property (the Senate seat) is not for sale. Anybody that sells our property will suffer for it.”

Anisulowo and Ogunjobi encouraged the youngsters to speak out against the plot to give the “stranger” the Ogun West senate seat.

Hon Jimoh Akinlade, the former Chairman of Yewa South Local Government, urged the party’s leadership to address the issue before it “becomes an embarrassment for the party.”

The elders concluded in a communiqué published following the meeting that regional leaders and party stakeholders have neither approved nor ceded the APC senatorial ticket to Senator Adeola.

“We condemn in totality, the attempt by the serving Senator representing Lagos West Senatorial District, Olamilekan Solomon Adeola, known as ‘YAYI’, to jump ship and seek the mandate of Ogun West Senatorial district while still holding on to the one he currently occupies; blatant illegality of the most despicable order.

“We, therefore, use this medium to reinforce the indisputable fact that the genuine Elders, Leaders and Stakeholders of Ogun West APC are not in support of the illegal move, and neither have we endorsed anyone for the Senate seat of our senatorial district, talk more of Senator Olamilekan Adeola – who by clear provisions of the constitution and the electoral act is not qualified to contest elections in Ogun State; and anyone or group that who has done so is speaking for themselves and not for Ogun West.

“Finally, we call on the National Working Committee (NWC) of our party, under the leadership of Senator Abdullahi Adamu and Prince Dapo Abiodun to intervene and halt the illegality being perpetrated in Ogun State.

“We like to also urge them to use their good offices to implement the admonition of the leader of our party, President Muhammadu Buhari, who said that the processes of the party and the tickets of offices must not be allocated to moneybags and the highest bidder.”

“The individuals who declared Senator Olamilekan Solomon Adeola is a foreigner are those who don’t want democracy to survive,” Adeola’s Media Aide, Kayode Odunaro, responded quickly. They are those who desire to engage in exclusionary politics.

“Why are they afraid? Yayi is more of a homeboy than all of them. We are in a democracy, there is no law that says Senator Olamilekan Solomon Adeola cannot contest.

“They can go to court. They are very undemocratic. Yayi is a son of the land.”