From Femi Mustapha, in Kaduna
Stakeholders of the All Progressives Congress in Mosan-Okunola LCDA, Alimosho, Lagos State have raised alarm over an alleged attempt to impose a female candidate as the Council Chairman.
This was contained in a statement signed by Head of Concerned Progressived Mosan Okunola LCDA Leaders,Comr. Yusuf Abdullahi Olayiwola and made available to the media in Kaduna on Thursday.
This comes after a recent APC stakeholders’ meeting held at ACME, triggering widespread concerns over internal democracy and credible leadership succession in the LCDA.
He alleged that, the woman at the center of the controversy has been parading herself as the favored consensus candidate for the chairmanship position—even before the party’s official deliberations at the ACME meeting.
“Abisco’s two-term tenure has faced widespread criticism across the LCDA. Party stakeholders describe her administration as underwhelming and divisive, citing multiple abandoned infrastructure projects, lack of developmental milestones, and unresolved internal party conflicts that weakened APC’s presence in the last general elections.
He opined, “Her leadership, once symbolically celebrated as female-driven, has now become a reference point for poor governance and exclusionary politics.
“Her posture has unsettled many party faithfuls, particularly considering her current role and long-standing internal rivalry with the outgoing chairman, Hon. Princess Olabisi Adebajo, popularly known as Abisco.”
These leadership failures, according to him, had a measurable impact on the APC’s performance in the 2023 general elections, lamenting that the Party suffered significant losses to opposition parties in key wards within Mosan-Okunola, with many loyal voters either staying away from the polls or shifting their allegiance out of frustration.
“The party, once dominant in the LCDA, saw reduced margins and declining influence, a trend many attribute to disenchantment caused by poor local governance and neglect of the grassroots base.
In his opinion, Ayomide Ebenezer, a youth coordinator in Mosan, emphasized the need to return power to the grassroots saying that the Community has suffered neglect in the last eight years.
“Our communities lack basic amenities, yet we are now faced with the possibility of extending that same model of governance through someone who has consistently been part of the problem,” he added
As the May 10 party primary approaches, stakeholders urge concerned leaders to act fast, insisting that the APC can only recover lost ground if it embraces fairness, listens to the voice of the people, and repositions itself as a party of the masses—not a party of imposed candidates.
