I DO NOT RECOGNIZE JOKE ORELOPE AS MY LEADER IN ALIMOSHO – SULLEIMON JELILI TELLS GAC MEMBERS

He should not make himself a clog in the peace Enilolobo is now building, Alimosho group tells him

Story by Mariam Balogun

More facts emerged as to the unsettled peace and harmony status in some of the Local Government and Local Council Development Area (LG/LCDA) chapters of the All Progressives Congress, APC, in the Lagos West Senatorial District. This came to the open when members of the Governance Advisory Council (GAC) in the District held an Open hearing of grievances from party leaders a few days back, It was revealed that Alimosho Local Government and Mosan/Okunola Local Council Development Area in the Alimosho Federal Constituency were among the local councils yet bedeviled with internal crises less than two months to the General elections.

The Executive Chairman of Alimosho Local Government, Sulaimon Jelili, surprised the gathering when he said that he did not recognize the leadership of a GAC member seated among them from Alimosho – the former Deputy Governor and currently the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Sustainable Development Goal (SSAP-SDG), Her Excellency, Dr. (Princess) Adejoke Orelope Adefulire (OFR). This literally confirmed the unsettled crisis in Alimosho, just as Engr. Taofik Lawal took the case of “illegal” dissolution of the LGA party executives in his Mosan/Okunola LCDA to the seated GAC members.

However, some members of the party have warned the Alimosho Council Chairman to caution himself and mind his utterances so that he does not make himself "a clog" in the new peace Enilolobo is trying to build in Alimosho

All this came to the open at Ifako/Ijaiye where the party leaders from across the Senatorial District gathered to move for the desirable party cohesion ahead of the general elections coming up within the first quarter of this year 2023.

In attendance among the GAC members were the District Leader, Chief Rabiu Oluwa; former Deputy Chairman of party, Cardinal Odumbaku (aka Baba Eto); the two former Deputy Governor of the state, Mrs. Sarah Adebisi Sosan and her immediate successor Adejoke Orelope Adefulire. Also in attendance were the members of National and State Assembly from the District; the council chairmen and their respective councilors; the LGA party executive members and other notable stakeholders from the District.

In his opening remarks, the State Vice Chairman, Lagos West, Chief Sunday Aboyade, said the gathering was for the purpose of building the desirable unity and cohesion for the District’s APC to go into the 2023 general elections. He advised members to realise that Lagos West carries about 50% of the victory burden the Lagos State APC hopes to deliver, adding that the burden would be lighter if the APC went into the election with the symbolic force of a bunch of broom the party logo signifies. Party members present, were therefore encouraged to speak out their minds and be truthful so that party leaders present would know where the trouble yet remained.

Speaking afterwards, Hon Jelili claimed that peace had returned to his Local Government “under the leadership of Alhaji Abdullahi Enilolobo”. But Civics Weekly gathered that the impression this gave to those present was that Alimosho is yet a divided house where the council chairman does not recognize the resident GAC member in his constituency as a leader. Interestingly, the GAC member concerned was among her peers at high table. A source told this magazine that there were possibilities that the other GAC members would want to consider the Jelili’s remark as an “affront and insult” to their individual person.

Engr. Taofik Lawal from Mosan/Okunola LCDA opened a can of worm over how the hopeful peace in his council was traded off through a quid-pro-quo antics of changing the LGA party executives by “two proxies of only two local leaders in the council”. He advised the leaders not to believe any voodoo story of peace in Mosan/Okunola that anyone may come and sell to the party.

The APC Chieftain, who claimed to have just rushed down to the event from Abeokuta, said the so called party leadership in the LCDA were “lovers of money” who could do anything “to sell out” the party at a cost anybody might be willing to pay. He said if they say money is the root of all evil, it is an axiom that finds veracity in Mosan/Okunola. Thus, according to him, this is the reason peace would continue to elude the council either across the factions or within factions except the state leadership took a drastic action to call those leaders to order.

He revealed that in the name of making a reconciliation for peace, two out of many leaders in the council unilaterally claimed to have changed the LGA party executive members that evolved out of the state leadership efforts to balance power at the grassroots. He added that what could be annoying was that the state’s authenticated executives had sat for 24 serial edition of meetings, wondering to what basis any section of local leaders would want to change such a working team without the inputs of the state.

Civics Weekly gathered that many of the leaders on seat were surprised to hear the narrative of such change in LGA party executives without recourse to the consent and knowledge of the state. One of them was reported to have queried if the regular meeting of LGA Excos had actually reached or counted to 24th. The affirmative answer he received made him to note the feasible value in the points being made by Engr Lawal.

Just a couple of days back, this magazine granted Lawal an interview where he condemned the political intrigues going on in his LCDA. He described it as a move to rubbish the leadership of Joke Orelope which he would not stand aloof to see as scaling through to success.

Meanwhile, a political group in Alimosho – Alimosho for Peace Initiatives (API) – has warned the Alimosho Council Chairman not to do anything that would derail the ongoing peace and harmony Alhaji Abdullahi Enilolobo is taking steps to build in the area. In a statement from the group’s Egbe-Idimu LCDA Coordinator, Mr. Olushola Ajeigbe, he observed that everybody in Egbe-Idimu Local Council Development Area could testify to the fact that Enilolobo is committed to making peace reign in Alimosho.

He said: “We condemned any actions, either by way of utterances or conducts from any quarters, which may tend to portray Enilolobo as the trouble maker in Alimosho. Accordingly, therefore, we condemn the statement of Hon Sulleimon Jelili, the Executive Chairman of Alimosho Local Government, if indeed, he declared not to recognize the leadership of our GAC member from Alimosho, Her Excellency, Joke Orelope-Adefulire.

“We want to say categorically that Alhaji Enilolobo is a gentle and humble man who appreciates Joke Orelope’s seniority in politics and age. At this time that election is fast approaching, it is never in the interest of our group, the BATCO-Mandate, that Alimosho goes into the elections with a divided APC family. That is why Enilolobo is committed to making peace reign”.

The group claimed to have observed that it was becoming too often for Hon Jelili to attack or make statements that could undermine the leadership and person of Joke Orelope at the slightest opportunity of encounter with her. They said if Jelili had any issue to settle with the revered member of GAC, he should face his cause without bringing in Enilolobo for cover.