LAGOS APC RESUMES BUSINESS AS SWC, SEC MEET OVER INAUGURATION, OTHER MATTERS

OJELABI ATTENDS TO PETITIONS FROM LGAs, DECLARES IMMEDIATE PREPARATIONS FOR THE NEXT ELECTION

Story by Mariam Jimoh

INDICATION appears that formal business activities may have resumed at the Acme Road, Ogba, State Secretariat of the All Progressives Congress (APC) this past Thursday, May 11, 2023. Official report says the beehive of activities witnessed by Civics Weekly was the arrival for the meeting of State Working Committee (CWC) and “enlarged” State Executive Committee (SEC) chaired by the State Chairman, Apostle Cornelius Ojelabi (JP). It was also gathered that the State Chairman attended to petitions from across the state, including one from Alimosho.

The meeting was said to be the first after the conclusion of 2023 general elections. Accordingly, as official report revealed, parts of the agenda treated were review of the past elections and preparation for the inauguration ceremony for Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu’s second term of office. Matters of litigations arising from the past elections were also opened for deliberations.

The report read: “Yesterday, the Lagos APC State Working Committee and also "enlarged" Executive Meeting at the party Secretariat was chaired by the Chairman. Members in attendance pondered on the matters arising from the elections, the preparation for the swearing in ceremony, the litigations from the elections and other issues affecting our members.

It was also resolved at the meeting that the review of the elections had helped the party to identify the areas of lapses to address as the bedrock of preparations for the next elections. A source said: “The local government elections are around the corner and I strongly believe that is what is at the heart of the party chairman and the state leadership now”.

Another source told this magazine that the matters of post-election litigations included those initiated by the APC and those instituted by the opposition parties. “Yes, the APC had cause to raise petitions against some of the results declared by the Independent Electoral Commission (INEC). While there is over a dozen petitions by the opposition parties severally, APC has not less than four complaints before the court too”, the source said.

On the swearing in ceremony, the source went further to describe it as “a big event” because election victory “is a war victory”. He said while the state government had inaugurated the committee for the planning, the party had to discuss what roles it would play. “Don’t forget, the party refers to all members from the state down to the zonal level. They are all parts of the soldiers that fought the war. So, everyone must be part of the victory celebration. That was why the Chairman said the meeting ‘touched on party members’ too”, the source said.

Asked to list some of the local governments from where the purported petitions received by the state came, Oshodi/Isolo, Alimosho and some others were mentioned. The source said: “Well, affairs of the party have started earnestly and I don’t think the party is ready to entertain any acts of indiscipline this time from any quarters. The petitions received so far have been treated with dispatch and they are receiving due attentions”, the source said.

According to the source, the complaints so far received border on feuds arising from the management of the past general elections, which caused disaffections among factional camps in the party. Of course, some bordered on matters of “insubordinations”.