THE TOP-TWELVE REVELATION TABLE FOR GOVERNOR SANWO-OLU TO KNOW ALIMOSHO APC THE MORE

- A Seeming Open Letter to the Governor by Concerned Alimosho Person

Call this an impulsive response of the Alimosho leadership’s factional camp to the recent bragging around of the Alhaji Abdullahi Enilolobo camp over their hosting reception by Mr. Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu; it is right, bright and justifiable. It is even justiciable because the bragging camp could as well be liable to a suit in law court for telling lies against the innocent Governor that he granted them “the express approval” to come back to Alimosho and resuscitate the banned “Mandate Group” caucus in the identity of “BATCO-Mandate” to facilitate his (Sanwo-Olu’s) re-election”. It queries the rationality of a discernible mind to think that the Governor would gravitate his re-election bid to a morbid obsession such that a cause against the collective decision of the Lagos Governance Advisory Council (GAC) would become his expediency! But thank God, the party’s State Chairman, Apostle Cornelius Ojelabi had cleared air on that at a recent Lagos West Senatorial District Stakeholders’ Meeting of the party held last week.

Nevertheless, nothing could be more informing of this reaction better than other numerous false claims that included the continued bragging about with larger followership, as well as the dubious claims to being the custodian of the party’s “Apex” leadership called the “G18”.

As all this becomes conclusive enough to understand as their camp’s convention of flying blatant lies, this “Concerned Alimosho person”, which holds Mrs. Adejoke Orelope-Adefulire in high esteem, not only as the substantive Leader of the party in Alimosho, but for the emerging orderliness in the progressives camp, thinks it will not be in doubt that the same way Enilolobo camp would have undoubtedly told Mr. Governor deceptive lies about the so called “G18” in Alimosho today. To be sure, the body is today a mere relic of its past glory since Enilolobo inherited the leadership by proxy from Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola, now Interior Minister. Hence, I decided to furnish the Governor with the comparable Table of the Top Twelve Leaders of both factions with their respective pedigree in other to help our Governor with the better understanding of where the party truly is in the local government.

ADEJOKE ORELOPE-ADEFULIRE CAMP

1. Adejoke Orelope Adefulire – currently the Senior Special Adviser to the President as Director General, Sustainable Development Goal (SDG); former Deputy Governor of Lagos State; a former two-term Commissioner in the cabinet of Lagos State Government; former member, Lagos State House of Assembly and former member, Lagos State Independent Electoral Commission (LASIEC) with remarkable contribution to creation of the five Local Council Development Areas (LCDAs) along with the Alimosho Local Government.

2. Hon Olufemi Adebanjo – Member, House of Representatives, representing Alimosho Federal Constituency for the second term; former member, Lagos State House of Assembly (Alimosho Constituency 01); former/pioneer Executive Chairman, Alimosho (Egbeda/Akowonjo)LGA; two-term Member of the Lagos State Executive Cabinet as Special Adviser to the Governor.

3. Hon Bisi Yusuf – Three times Executive Council Chairman of Ayobo/Ipaja LCDA and three-time member of the Lagos State House of Assembly yet running

4. Hon Adetayo Oduntan – Three-time member of the Lagos State House of Assembly (Alimosho Constituency 02) and two-time aspirant for the House of Representatives, Alimosho Federal Constituency.

5. Hon Abiodun Mafe – Two-time Executive Chairman of Mosan/Okunola LCDA with strong pedigree party affairs as former member of party executives.

6. Hon Lateef Ibirogba – Two-time Commissioner in the Lagos State Executive Cabinet; former Secretary to the Local Government (SLG), Agabdo/Oke Odo LCDA, and currently the Zonal Organizing Secretary (South West) of APC

7. Chief Sunday Babatunde Aboyade – Former Executive Secretary, Alimosho Local Government Education Authority; Former Vice-Chairman, Lagos Neighborhood Security Committee (LNSC), Ikeja Division; consistently State Electoral Officer for Alimosho LGA since 2003 and now the Vice-chairman (Lagos West) of the All Progressive Congress (APC) 8. Chief Williams Badejo - Pioneer Executive Chairman of Mosan/Okunola LCDA.

9. Chief A.A. Akinyemi – Former Executive Chairman, Alimosho Local Government as whole Federal Constituency 1999 - 2003

10. Hon. Adelabu Onibiyo - Two-term member, Lagos State House of Assembly, Alimosho Constituency 01; former Supervisory Councilor, whole Alimosho Federal Constituency.

11. Hon Morenike Adeshine Williams – A former two-time Executive Vice-chairman, Igando/Ikotun; two-term Executive Chairman, Igando/Ikotun, former aspirant for House of Representatives, Alimosho Federal Constituency.

12. Apostle Osifade - this is one founder member of the Alimosho progressives, whose experience of maltreatment from the contemporary establishment will leave a sour taste when recounted. He also is back into the fold, courtesy Adefulire’s initiative of re-igniting the old firebrand in the electoral powers of Alimosho.

ABDULLAHI ENILOLOBO CAMP

1. Alhaji Abdulalhi Enilolobo – Former Zonal Youth Leader, Southwest; three-time State Organizing Secretary, Lagos State Executive Committee. No any experience in elected or appointment in public service.

2. Hon Jimoh Ajao – Former Supervisory Counselor, Alimosho Local Government of whole Federal Constituency; First and two-term Executive Chairman, Igando/Ikotun LCDA; former Special Adviser to the Governor on Housing.

3. Hon Kehinde Joseph – Former Ward Chairman, one term member, Lagos State House of Assembly, (Alimosho Constituency 02) and now the Party Candidate for the State Assembly, (Alimosho Constituency 02).

3. Mrs. Uzamat Akinbile-Yusuff: Two-term member of the Lagos State Executive Cabinet as commissioner, currently for Tourism and Culture.

4. Hon Ganiyu Ayuba Adele Former Special Adviser to Governor in the State Cabinet and currently the supposed APC Candidate for the House of Representatives, which authenticity is being strongly doubted with shindig controversy.

5. Alhaji Yisa Yusuff Ajiboye: Acclaimed local party leader for Mosan/Okunlola LCDA without any experience in public elected or appointment service.

6-11. Executive Chairmen of ALimosho local government and the five Local Council Development Area (LCDAs): Three of these are serving out their second terms.

As yet an inevitable addendum to the column of Her Excellency, Orelope-Adefulire, Alhaji Abiodun Ejigbadero, who may have been a latter entrant into the politics of Alimosho, has become one strong force contributing to the growth of the party in his own leadership right. Once in a chanced encounter of this writer with another member of the State Cabinet, Ejalonibu Amodu, the Special Adviser to Governor Sanwo-Olu on Housing; he appeared to be priming his alignment with this camp, peradventure that he decides to return the values of his appointment to Alimosho from his Island base.

While it may not be known what political credentials Enilolobo would have assigned to each of his 32-member entourage to the Governor while introducing them, it may not be doubtful that some element of falsehoods could have had a place in it. But as it should be clear to Mr. Governor from this table now, those who had held and still holding the Alimosho’s elective and appointive offices’ slots has about 90 per cent composition in the Joke Orelope’s camp. Consequent upon this, if political leadership is a function of followership capacity, it should be quite discernible in simple arithmetic that the woman’s column should have the larger proportion of the party members to her side today. The reasons to make empirical facts of this will become open as we read on, particularly the matters of elections mismanagement that caused the gradual depletion of the party faithful in the Enilolobo camp in migration to the alternative.

Given that as it may, it is next imperative to give analysis of what the above comparative table is supposed to mean in evidence. Undoubtedly, the Joke-Orelope column would seem to parade a consistency of party leaders and elders that should suffice for the class of founders of the Alimosho Progressives from the years of zero party to the Alliance for Democracy that ushered in this Fourth Republic. There is no doubt that they must have found the peace of mind they need with the humility of the former Deputy Governor today. The significant point to note about them is that all of them, except A.A. Akinyemi and Adeshina-Williams, constituted the “Apex” leadership at incipient of Rauf Aregbesola’s leadership about the year 2020 thenceforth. But then, A.A. was yet the co-founder of that body in his era of Alimosho LGA Chairman.

In terms of electoral value, these elders and leaders were the great mobilizers of voters that were giving the deciding victory votes for which the progressives party have been forming the government of Lagos State in the early years of this democracy They were the people that earned Alimosho Local Government the once prideful appellation of ‘Tinubu country’ from their commitment to what a true political party should be. Nothing can better suffice in evidence for these people as the true earners of the old glory better than the sharp and sustained progressive decline in the Alimosho’s vote returns to the victory pool of the progressive’s vote. The progressive decline was a direct correlation to the gradual exit of these people from the progressive’s fold in phases either to join the opposition party or fall to ‘siddon look’ syndrome.

What brought about this flight was nothing but the “sudden arrogance” that became the hallmark of Alhaji Enilolobo, as many of the chieftains saw it to be, and he suddenly saw his leadership opportunity – inherited from then ‘The Young’, Alhaji Rauf Aregebsola, as his order of supernatural deity that lacked a beholding of any respect for elders and a new skill for amazing wealth at the expense of party members’ welfare.

It was particularly comforting that Alhaji Enilolobo would recently acknowledge that under his party leadership the votes return of Alimosho had been decline. He was only apt to attempt exonerating his character and leadership style as the cause.

Speaking to party members at the last LGA meeting with “History and Fundamental Facts” as topic of his subject, he blamed it all on the rising population of Igbo residence in Alimsoho. While a comprehensive analysis of this oral thesis may not be of immediate interest to be accommodated here, the blame of ethnic factor is nevertheless far less significant to the cause from progressive disenchantment of the party faithful through a sustained shortchanging and deliberate denial of due election funds. It is on record that in this immediate past 2019 general election, while Enilolobo managed to pay N3,000 for polling agents without any provision for canvassers, Joke Orelope camp paid N7, 500 to polling agents and N5,000 for canversers, as reliably gathered, for each of the elections while Enilolobo’s was for all the elctions.

Give it to them, these elders and leaders with Joke-Orelope seem to have their electoral value of their hay days yet intrinsically with them as many of them are today contact men of their respective communities in Alimosho. It may as well be discernible from a recent political event in the Local Government that these elders and leaders actually had their rift with Enilolobo and not with the progressives’ fold as an institution. This speaks to the crowd that made the inauguration of Chief Sunday Aboyade as the Vice-chairman, Lagos West, of the APC. Photos do not tell lies as could be seen in the gallery below.

That event was the first ever Alimsoho progressives’ political family without any iota of Enilolobo’s relevance not to talk of his inputs. In fact, as the divine will of God would make it clear, reliable sources revealed that Enilolobo actually ordered his factional BATCO-Mandate clan to stay away from the event. Banking on his conventional false impression that he owned the crowd of party faithful, he had thought the event would be a flop with such order, but it turned out to be an empirical basis to accept the emerging time of his wit end in matters of Alimosho Progressives politics.

It is good that these elders and leaders are returning back home, prompted far more by the ambition of Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu. They have resolved to make a big success of it in Lagos for a germane reason. About two or three of them this writer spoke with were particular emphatic to say that their return to the progressives was informed by the Rauf Aregebsola’s threat.

It is not known if Mr. Governor would want to give a similar audience to the Joke-Orelope’s camp, this concerned Alimosho resident and public analysts and friend of APC has only found it expedient to help our Governor with the desirable materials to apply in resolving the lingering issues of disharmony in the party. But yet, it must be acknowledged that it has been resolved judiciously with the 55%:45% sharing ratio, but the refusal of Enilolobo camp to accept the reality of its fate seems to be cause of prolonging the issue. The final solution would therefore be the need for the party to assert its supremacy once and for all. Ego destroys and not repairing.