ALIMOSHO PARTY EXCUTIVES FACE DISSOLUTION AS FACTIONAL CRISIS DEPEENS

Truce appears imminent as leaders in Enilolobo faction goe into frenzy over the sword of Damocles; dumps the struggle for ‘G18’ relevance

By Toyo C. Ngem and Mariam Balogun

It is becoming more pronounced that the entire party executives of the All Progressives Congress (APC) across board in the Alimosho Federal Constituency might be dissolved anytime soon in order to restore a lasting peace in the Local Government and its five Local Council Development Areas (LCDAs).

Civics Weekly gathered that this option is being considered by the party leadership at state level, following refusal of the BATCO-Mandate faction, led by Alhaji Abdullahi Enilolobo, and the faction of former Deputy Governor, Dr. (Princess) Adejoke Orelope-Adefulire, to find a common ground of purpose to reconcile their differences and work harmoniously in line with the list of a purported “balanced sharing” of positions given by the state.

The Joke-Orelope faction comprises of the defunct Veterans Group and Alimosho Liberation Movement, which Her Excellency succeeded to collapse into one group following her moves to reconcile all party caucuses soon after she was inducted into the Lagos Political Hall of Fame – the Governance Advisory Council (GAC). And for the purpose of coming 2023 General Elections, she evolved her group into and independent campaign body that now operates under the aegis of Asiwaju Solidarity Movement (ASM).

Meanwhile, the BATCO-Mandate camp appears to have gone into frenzy over this threat of dissolution hanging as the sword of Damocles. Accordingly, subsidiary local leaders are said to be dumping the ‘G18’ leadership cause for their own respective leadership survival and relevance in their respective local councils, just as Enilolobo also battles for a new leadership relevance in his Egbe-Idimu LCDA.

It was revealed to this magazine that the state leadership of APC is deeply in distraught over the lingering factional crisis rocking Alimosho, which appears to have no end in sight even as the election is fast approaching. Investigation revealed that the two factions have rather intensified their conducts of parallel meetings at the ward levels.

As sources revealed, the ASM group was said to have declared its resolve to commence the separate running of the party through its share of the executive members at the LGA and Ward levels after “waiting endlessly” for the desirable integration by the Enilolobo camp, which goes by the metonymy of “Mainstream” establishment faction. To that effect, the ASM group of Warb B held its first of such parallel meeting the penultimate Sunday, December 3, 2022 at the yet official venue on Adeshina Street in Idimu central area of Egbe-Idimu LCDA.

This magazine gathered that this move,which attracted the party faithful turning up for attendance in their large numbers, caught the BATCO-Mandate faction unawares and subsequently jolted its leadership into panicky that made it to call its own meeting the following Sunday, being December 10th at the same official venue. Alhaji Enilolobo was initially touted being expected to address the members. This perhaps buoyed the mobilization of members that also attended in large numbers too. The member of Lagos State House of Assembly representing Alimosho Constituency 02, Hon Kehinde Joseph, belongs to this Ward B, but he was not in attendance as well. He is yet the Party Candidate for a return back to the Assembly in 2023.

Before now, the factional party executives belonging to ASM in Ward B had hitherto preferred to abandon attendance of Ward meeting with the BATCO-Mandate’s since the latter, as the establishment camp, had refused to allow the Ward Secretary recognized by the State perform his function.

For quite a while, Ward A (Isheri Olofin) and Ward E (Egbe) have been running and continue to run parallel meetings. The Enilolobo faction however holds the short end of the stick in these two wards, as they abandoned the official venue for the Joke Orelope camp. The former now uses the Constituency Office of Kehinde Joseph in the Pipeline area of Isheri Olofin for its Ward meetings, having abandoned the official venue of Isheri Olofin Town Hall for the latter camp.

Attempt by the Ward E BATCO-Mandate to resume meeting at the official venue of Market area on Liasu Road a couple of weeks back was reported to have proved disastrous with violent clash among the factional members.

Ward C (Idimu/Council) has continued to run parallel meeting since inauguration of the party executives about the first quarter of this year. While the Ward Chairman belongs to the ASM, BATCO-Mandate however holds the ace here by holding its meeting at the official venue of #1, Adimula Street, being residence of the late pioneer chairman of the party for decades, Chief Solomon Ogundola, before his demise. In fact, as this magazine gathered, the Enilolobo camp has vowed that one of the conditions for peace to reign in Egbe-Idimu LCDA is for the Ward chairmanship to return to its group.

Ward D (Agodo), where the LGA Party Chairman, Alhaji Akibu Soliu belongs, retains the joint meeting of both camp at the official venue of Ashy Hotel in Agodo. The relative peace to be found in this ambience, according to sources, could be due to the successful swapping of the Ward Chairman for the Women President between the two factions to the advantage of BATCO-Mandate. Alhaji Soliu belongs to this faction.

It was nevertheless gathered that the resolve of ASM to take the fight to the BATCO-Mandate on the issue of holding parallel meeting was taking following the “illegal” LGA General Meeting of the party purportedly convened by the LGA Party Chairmen through “abnormal channels” in all the LGA/LCDAs under the Enilolobo camp.

As Civics Weekly gathered, the LGA meeting for EGBE-Idimu LCDA was convened through the Youth Leader and it was subsequently held “without any notification” to the ASM faction, thus effectively sidelining the group. Also in Alimosho LGA (Egbeda/Akowonjo), the notice of meeting was allegedly issued by the Party Chairman, Mr. Tosin Akodu, ignoring the General Secretary, Mr. Ibrahim.

As sources revealed, the Secretary was said to have made bold to challenge this intrigue by giving a counter notice that he was not aware of any upcoming meeting. The Chairman nevertheless replied back again that “as the Party Chairman” he had the “right to convene the meeting” directly by himself. Thus so, the Alimosho LGA meeting was also held without the inputs or attendance of the opposition ASM.

In Agbado-Okeodo under the control of ASM faction with Alhaji Taofik Mukaila, a strong ally of Joke Orelope as the Chairman, the LGA meeting had both factions in attendance. All members of the LGA Executive, such as the General Secretary belonging to the Enilolobo camp, reportedly had the freedom to perform the tasks of their respective offices. The Council Chairman, Hon David Famuyiwa, according to reliable sources, was said to have “changed” from the past. “He now works for the harmonious relationship among the two factions, even though he belongs to BATCO-Mandate”, a source within ASM confirmed. The influence of the APC Zonal Organizing Secretary and formal Commissioner for Information in the Lagos State Cabinet, Hon Lateef Ibirogba, is also acknowledged to be playing a role in balancing the equilibrium of peace in the area.

In Igando/Ikotun LCDA where the Party Chairman, Alhaji Haruna Ayuba, also belongs to ASM, it was also a successful meeting attended by both factions and held under a convivial atmosphere. This, according to some sources, could be due to the leadership of both factions, Hon Tayo Oduntan for ASM and Hon Jimoh Ajao for BATCO-Mandate, that were said to be managing their differences with maturity.

The Mosan/Okunola LCDA’s LGA party meeting that did not hold around the time came up this past Monday, December 12, 2023. As Civics Weekly gathered, the history of parallel meeting was said to have continued as the BATCO-Mandate yet refused to embrace association with the ASM-led LGA Executive. As the story goes, Alhaji Yisa Yusuf (aka Y.Y.), who hitherto had maintained the sole leadership of the APC in the LCDA for decades, has refused to acknowledge and accept the choice of Hon (Mrs.) Opeyemi A. Akindele (aka Adunni) as the LGA Party Chairperson.

In fact, the case of Mosan/Okunola is getting notorious for aberrations and violent tendencies. There had been reports of BATCO-Mandate sealing up the official Party Secretariat against accessible use by the Adunni-led executives. Rather the banner of BATCO-Mandate ‘Secretariat’ purportedly hangs down on its façade wall. As once reported by Civics Weekly, the State leadership of the party, particularly the Governor, was oblivious of this, having received official complaint to that effect.

Information further gathered about developments in this LCDA revealed a case of physical assaults pending in the Divisional Police Headquarters for the jurisdiction over a fracas that broke out in a supremacy tussle for the use of a party meeting venue, which happened About the last quarters of October. Sources disclosed to this magazine that a repeat of such assaultive attack was carried out this past Tuesday, December 13, 2022 and accusing fingers were yet pointing in the direction of some members of a group identified as “YY School of Thought”.

In the investigative efforts of this magazine to find out what stand the party leadership at the state could be taking against this widening schism that portends a “great threat” to the party’s feasible victory in the coming general elections, those who spoke on condition of anonymity did not mince words in disclosure that the party seems to have had “enough of the threat” from Alimosho corridor.

They said the state leadership had been watching events in Alimosho with “keen interests” in how dreadful the “sustained acrimony” could be to the disadvantage of the party. Accordingly, the leadership “might wield the big stick” anytime from now if the both factions in dispute fail to reign in themselves.

One source said: “The state is watching developments in Alimosho. The fact is that if they fail to do the needful while the state has given them enough latitude to act maturely, there could be no alternative than to dissolve the entire executive committees across board and across the six divisions of the Federal Constituency. The Caretaker Committee to be put in place will remain there to conduct the elections and there may not be room again for the ‘recalcitrant faction’ to purge itself of its untoward conducts.”

When our correspondent called attention to the phrase “recalcitrant faction” used in the statement to mean an understanding that the state already had a knowledge of the culprit faction holding the party to ransom, the source had this to say: “even if we are to concede that as a fact, the final peaceful resolution of the lingering crises can only lie in the dissolution of the entire executive committees as it recently happened to Shomolu”.

Another source to confirm the hanging harmer of dissolution also said: “When Shomolu continued to push its luck too far, the factional parties in conflict may have believed the state leadership was a weakling when it comes to enforcing party discipline. Though Alimosho, as the state leadership believes, has also reached the elastic limit of its given space for intrigues and demagogue it could push its luck; but it has a peculiar case to call for caution in wielding the big stick.

“You know the entire area has the largest concentration of polling units, I think about 1,400 if I’m to approximate it. So, the case is like a mosquito that perches on the scrotum to feed; it needs caution to be killed. But then, the state also knows that there should be a date to say enough is enough in order to enforce party discipline”.

Asked again if the dissolution would also affect the ward level executives too? The given answer differs this time: “It may be limited to the LGA only; given that this is the head making the trouble at that local level. And, as you must know, once you have removed the source of trouble the peace will set in automatically", the source said.

Meanwhile, feelers from across the Alimosho Federal Constituency have it that truce may be rearing its beautiful head to visibility through a decentralized approach to reconciliation by respective local leaders at their various LCDAs. The discernible observers, who explain that the situation has become the Yoruba case of k’olomu d’omu iya e gbe – literally translating to individuals minding their respective businesses – said this development may not be disconnected with this threat of dissolution.

Likewise, those in hope of peace from this approach believe that the local leaders may have seen the need to dump their initial struggle to keep the ‘G18’ central leadership of Alimosho in continued relevance of the old order. Some of the leaders were also reported to have noted that the new order of compulsory amalgamation of the two factions by the state had truly eroded the value and functions of ‘G18’. Therefore, as they reportedly argue, the whole intrigues have turned out to the case of their respective leadership survival and relevance in their own local council jurisdictions.

Further investigations also showed that this development as emanating from within BATCO-Mandate group could as well be a case of “fatigue of the war” their mainstream faction had “needlessly” waged, following recognition of the ‘rebel’ faction with the 55/45 per cent sharing ratio by the state.

The verity to this fact of decentralised model of reconciliation may be established in the case of recent widely publicised meeting of Alhaji Yisa Yusuf (aka Y.Y.) of the BATCO-Mandate and Hon Abel Badejo of the ASM faction in Mosan/Okunola LCDA. It also exists in Egbe-Idimu LCDA, where the BATCO-Mandate leader, Alhaji Abdullahi Enilolobo, is using the emissary of Alhaji Soliu Akibu, the party LGA Chairman, to fight his cause of leadership relevance in the council.

The Mosan/Okunola truce, which was credited to the direct efforts of Joke Orelope’s commanding leadership of Alimosho, holds that the factional “APC leaders have resolved to sheath the sword and work together for the betterment of the party in the coming general elections and beyond”.

It reads further: “This is another landmark development coming on the heels of the troubleshooting efforts of Her Excellency, Princess Adejoke Orelope-Adefulire (OFR-MGAC) for a united front towards the 2023 elections and beyond in Alimosho Federal Constituency”

The truce meeting held this past Sunday was said to be hosted by Alhaji Babs Kareem, another strong member of the Joke Orelope camp, and had Engr. Balaja and Prince Yemi Adeleke in attendance for witness and facilitator respectively.

It is yet important not to dismiss the mixed reactions that have trailed and queried the sincerity of intention to discern from the meeting. Those vouching for the genuine cause of the meeting argue that since “Y.Y. made the move”, it was enough to see that he truly wanted a truce out of the “war fatigue”. Some also added that he seems to have become more friendly and accommodating to all in the recent time, particularly after the death of his close political stogie and ally, Alhaji Moshood Bello (aka Mobell).

Those with dissenting view are of the opinion that the meeting had a colouration of the coming local government election too glaring but yet opaque enough to obscure the purported truce in shindig. They argue that the facilitator, Yemi Adeleke, is preparing to contest for the next local council chairmanship election and his consultations may have given him the wisdom that he would need the endorsement of both factions under a unity of purpose.

This school of “Thomases” further strengthens this line of argument with the fact that the Council’s LGA Party Chairperson, Hon. Adunni Akindele, who has the same ambition, had long been lobbying Alhaji Yusuf, but never succeeded in bringing the BATCO-Mandate camp to the desirable joint meeting of both factions under one umbrella. Accordingly, they conclude that it was therefore too early to confirm any genuine truce on the part of Y.Y. until the next LGA meeting of the party.

Curiously, they would appear to have been vindicated as BATCO-Mandate yet failed to attend the due LGA meeting held on Monday, December 12, 2022 with the ASM camp. Besides this, it was also reported that an ongoing meeting of a ward was disrupted on Tuesday and accusing fingers pointed to the direction of a group linked to Y.Y again.

In Egbe-Idimu LCDA, this magazine gathered at the time of going to press that the disputing factions were set for a reconciliation meeting scheduled to hold at the house of Chief Adebayo Adedayo (aka Blacknight), a leader in the camp of Joke Orelope. The meeting, purportedly facilitated by Alhaji Soliu Akibu of the BATCO-Mandate, was being expected to have five leaders each from both sides for a total of ten in attendance. Sources revealed that Alhaji Enilolobo would be part of the meeting. Whatever the outcome, according to observers, may be a pointer to whatever may become the new position of Enilolobo in Alimosho politics, granted that both factions would see reasons to shift grounds in the interest of peace.

But it is yet being queried in some quarters, as to what value these new localized serial meetings will add to making a significant change needed to avert the dissolution threat. Those with this skepticism are pointing to the seemingly insignificant impact from the previous two-week long reconciliation tour to the various factional camp leaders embarked upon by the state officials. The arbitrators comprised of the State Vice Chairman, Lagos West, Chief Sunday Aboyade and the Zonal Organizing Secretary, Hon Lateef Ibirogba, leading the six LGA party chairmen.

Nevertheless, as analysts concluded, where threat of the sword of Damocles dangling above them makes the motivation for this “decentralised” approach to the search for truce, will Alimosho APC come to enjoy the peace of factional harmony in progress of time to the general election? Time will tell in days ahead.