There are strong indications that
there would be a mass defection from the Lagos state chapter of the ruling All
Progressives Congress (APC) to another political party ahead of the 2019
elections due the purported endorsement of Governor Akinwumi Ambode and Senator
Oluremi Tinubu for another terms in office.
We learnt on Sunday that the mass defection is
being spearheaded by some aggrieved members of the party over the recent
endorsement of Ambode for second term and Remi Tinubu for third term in the
Senate.
The aggrieved members, who described
the endorsement as, “a unilateral decision,” are mainly from the defunct
Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) and the All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP),
which merged with the ACN to form the current APC in the state.
Our correspondent learnt that Prince
Tajudeen Olusi (OON) at a meeting of the Lagos Central Senatorial District
Leadership Forum held in Victoria Island, endorsed Ambode and Remi Tinubu for
another term.
But a chieftain of the party and
gubernatorial candidate under the platform of defunct CPC in 2011 elections,
Ambassador Abayomi Mumuni, while speaking on behalf of the aggrieved members on
Sunday, berated Prince Olusi’s announcement and the unilateral endorsement of
Governor Ambode and Senator Tinubu.
Mumuni said, “We are still
experiencing the actions of the ACN, not the merger we signed before the
election. If not, why would the party take a unilateral decision by endorsing
(defunct) ACN candidates alone without considering the interests of other
merging parties who also have candidates?
“We may not see a complete APC in
Lagos come 2019, as the defunct CPC might consider stepping aside from the
merger arrangement except there is an immediate resolution on the
interpretation of the merger.”
Mumuni explained that the
lopsidedness and maltreatment against his members started after the merger was
sealed in 2015.
He said, “Since the merger, I still
perceive myself as CPC because the merger wasn’t visible in Lagos. Nothing was
offered to us (in CPC) and others (ANPP and part of APGA). We were excluded
from the Senate, House of Representatives and State Assembly seats. It was zero
patronage by the State Government”.
Mumuni also expressed disappointment
that CPC members in the state were also abandoned by the President Muhammadu
Buhari-led government.
He wondered why the former
presidential flagbearer of the same party (CPC) would abandon his members.
He said, “He (Buhari) forgot his
constituency, which is the CPC. He is now surrounded by those who called him
and his party unprintable names. These same people are telling us that he
(Buhari) has mortgaged us (the Southwest CPC). I told them there is no way I
would allow the merger to mortgage my people.
“Whether we were mortgaged or not,
we aren’t going to take what happened in 2015 come 2019.”
Mumuni regretted accepting the
mandate to contest as the CPC candidate in the Lagos State governorship
election, saying he would have defeated Senator Oluremi Tinubu in the 2011
Lagos Central Senatorial election.
He said, “I didn’t have the
intention to contest against Fashola. My mandate had always been the Lagos
Central Senatorial District, which is my constituency. I am a son of the soil.
My first election was against Obanikoro of AD in 2003. I contested against Ade
Dosumu in 2007. I would have defeated Asiwaju’s wife in 2011.
“But I changed my intention because
there was no governorship candidate for the defunct CPC in the South West,
except Barrister Shittu in Oyo State. With me, we were the only two CPC
gubernatorial candidates that supported President Buhari’s bid to become
Nigeria’s President. My withdrawal from the senatorial election gave Asiwaju’s
wife an edge in the election.
“In 2019, with zero patronage, I
don’t see the merger happening in Lagos. Actually, we might disengage ourselves
from the merger and return to our constituency – the CPC. There are no two ways
about that, except there is an immediate resolution and interpretation of the
merger.”
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