Members of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) in Ojokoro LCDA, Lagos State, on Tuesday staged a protest over alleged imposition of candidates for the July 12 Local Government election.
A similar protest erupted at a party stakeholders’ meeting on April 14 in the same area ,ending the meeting abruptly.
During Tuesday’s protest, supporters of some chairmanship aspirants in the LCDA gathered at the party secretariat, from where they marched to the council secretariat to express their grievances.
Some of the protesters chanted, “He is not part of us, no room from strangers in our LCDA”, “Elders and leaders are to build things and not destroy “, ” and “We want an indigenous leader to lead us, not a stranger”.
Others threw their fists in the air, chanting : “Don’t sell Ojokoro to strangers”, “Don’t give us a stranger,”We want people from within,not outsiders”.
Other protesters carried placards with various inscriptions such as ‘We don’t want it, we don’t like it, strangers cannot lead us”, “Hon. Ojelabi, the APC Chairman, save APC Ojokoro , “,No imposition ,Obasa is forcing on us, and “We demand free and fair process”.
Speaking with NAN, Mr Olusegun Akinoso-Olawaye, one of the leaders of the protest, said that the party leaders should not ratify any imposed candidate .
Akinoso-Olawaye said: “Don’t place a leader on people. Let all the aspirants go to the field in a free and fair primaries. We are not for violence at all, we are APC members, we will not allow imposition.
“So many of these aspirants have been spending their hard-earned money for the party , we cannot scuttle their aspirations.,we cannot leave our house for strangers to lead.
“We are here to reject imposition. All aspirants deserve a fair contest to prove their political relevance.
“It is not fair to impose leaders on people. Our leaders should not push party members to the wall,” Akinoso-Olawaye said.
According to him, if President Bola Tinubu, a national leader of the party could present himself for party primaries at the presidential level, all aspirants should be allowed to test their popularity in primaries.
Another protest leader, Mrs Raimot Bello said that the protest was to prevent installation of an unfamiliar figure as the next council chairman, saying that would not augur well for the party.
Other protesters who spoke, including Alhaji Karimu Yusuf and Prophet Kayode, said APC leaders had concluded plans to impose a “stranger” as chairmanship candidate on the council.
Addressing the protesters, the Chairman, Ojokoro LCDA, Mr Hammed Tijani commended the protesters for being peaceful,assuring that no one would e imposed on the party .
“There is nothing like imposition. Meetings are still ongoing.
“We are all APC members and the party shall not be destroyed. I want to assure you, there is nothing like imposition, we have a lot of things we are sorting out now,” Tijani said.
Also Speaking ,the APC chairman in the council ,Mr Jelili Oseni, said:” Ojokoro will not turn into violence. Those who have worked for the party will be rewarded. There is no imposition here.”
NAN reports that party leaders and stakeholders were holding a meeting at the council secretariat when the protesters arrived at the council secretariat.
A former member of Lagos Assembly, Mr Ipoola Omisore, a former member of the House of Representatives, Mr James Owolabi ,among other APC leaders were at council secretariat at the time of the ptotest
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