OJELABI: ANY GROUP CLAIMING TO BE BATCO-MANDATE, JUSTICE FORUM IS NOT PART OF LAGOS APC

By Toyo C. Ngem

- ‘It exposes the lies of Enilolobo camp against Governor Sanwo-Olu’ – party chieftain

- There will be no slush campaign funds to be mismanaged by party leaders – Ojelabi warns

The Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC) Lagos State chapter, Apostle Cornelius Ojelabi has warned that any group of party members claiming any affiliation with BATCO-Mandate or Justice Forum were not part of the Lagos APC. He made this revelation at the party’s stakeholders meeting held yesterday at Iba area in Badagry Division of the state. A party chieftain said the warning come at no better time to “unveil the lies the camp of Alhaji Abdullahi Enilolobo had been telling against the innocent Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu. And speaking along the same line,

some political observers in the Federal Constituency that believed the warning over continued projection of caucuses above the party interest could have been directed at a faction of the party members in Alimosho because it came on the heels of the rumour making the rounds from the camp that Governor Sanwo-Olu had given Enilolobo the express freedom to go and “resuscitate BATCO-Mandate” for his governorship campaign in Lagos. Amidst his address to the party stakeholders, the State Chairman also hinted that the era of some party leaders looking forward to campaign slush funds to be mismanaged would not hold in the coming 2023 general elections.

Ojelabi, according to our reporter who witnessed the event, had taken time to analyse the problems of the party from one local government to another. On getting to the case of Alimosho, he was said to have warned the warring factions to “ please give peace a chance”. This was when he also warned that no party member beholding to any banned party caucuses would be spared.

What however made many in attendance believed that the chairman’s warning against caucuses could have been directed at a group in Alimosho was not only because he raised the issue while discussing the Local Government, but more because he recalled the microphone from the MC to make the clarification soon after he thought he had finished talking about it. As some party members revealed to Civics Weekly, they noted that it was becoming an open knowledge that the Enilolobo faction had continued to flaunt its pride of BATCO-Mandate membership as the mainstream power base of the APC in the Local Government. It is also said that the group has continued to use its disenchantment with the sharing formula of its 55% to other factions 45% to make the peaceful reconciliation difficult.

According to complaints of the other factions, which they claimed had inundated the state leadership at the party and government levels, the Enilolobo camp has refused to accept or heed to the reconciled and harmonized list for the new party Executive Committees for both the local government and Ward levels should be use for the composition and conducts of all party meetings.

Source from Agabdo oke-odo and Mosan/Okunola LCDAs told this magazine that the Enilolobo faction put the party secretariat under lock and key just to deny the official party chairmen their rightful access to them. “And with gross impunity, the Mosan/Okunola LCDA group put the banner to indicate the place as BATCO-Mandate Secretariat. That is where they now hold their supposed factional LGA party meeting and falsely claim the place to be the authentic place of the party meeting. Whereas, the Hon Adunni’s authentic party meetings has continued to hold at the recognized venue by the State”, one of the sources said. It was also gathered that the Mosan/Okunola Party Chairperson, Hon Adunni had filed this complaint before the State’s party leadership and Governor Sanwo-Olu, who promised to look into the issue. Another source also revealed that where they (Enilolobo camp) had any cause to hold the meeting together with other factions in line with orders from the state, “they bully the opposition with compulsory recitation of the BATCO-Mandates anthem”. Sources close to the state leadership also confirmed in evidence that the state was aware of all atrocities of the supposed Bandate-Mandate Group. They cited the last meeting of the two factions with the Deputy Governor, Dr. Obafemi Hamzat, in the presence of the State Party Chairman. Those who should know said the meeting was consequential to the promise made by the Governor to look into Adunni’s complaint.

Ojelabi was said to have raised the issue of continued flouting of the standing order of banned caucuses in Lagos State with Enilolobo. And in contribution to that, the Deputy Governor was said to have given a strict warning to Enilolobo to go and stop that. What would however follow this a couple of weeks later was the claim that Governor Sanwo-Olu had given a counter directive to them against the last Deputy Governor’s that they should go back to “resuscitate”, the BATCO-Mandate for the State’s governorship election. As this magazine gathered, the Governor had hosted a 36-member group led by Alhaji Enilolobo at his Marina Government House. “The outcome of that meeting as the feedback they brought back to Alimosho was that Sanwo-Olu had told them to go ahead with their BATCO-Mandate as a platform for his governorship campaign. While no one believed them that the Governor, who was part of the GAC (Governance Advisory Committee) body that banned party caucus would give them such blanket ticket for disobedience of the party. Perhaps, as any right thinking person should the coincidence to mean, this lies must have filtered to the State and thus informed the chairman’s warning”.