2027 Election: Strong APC Grassroot Chieftain Unveils Secret of Latest Defection
The immediate past executive chairman of Agege Local Government Area of Lagos State, High Chief Ganiyu Kola Egunjobi, in an interview with Legit.ng and some other journalists, speaks on politics, governance and other sundry issues.
He commented on the re-election of President Bola Tinubu in the 2027 election, the struggle with opposition parties and why opposition leaders, including governors, are joining the APC. He also spoke on life after leaving office and the administration of his successor.
Source: Twitter
Below is the question and answer session:
About three months ago, you left office as Chairman of Agege Local Government for 8 years. What would you say are your achievements?;
You just put me on the spot. It's not in my DNA to beat my own drum. I allow my works and performance to speak for themselves. I can't say I because it was a team effort, so I would say we tried our best and did some legacy projects, among them is the Computer-Based Test centre, which the council built and equipped on my watch. Just recently, the government announced a plan to dump pen and paper in the conduct of the Senior School Certificate Examinations and NECO by 2026 for Computer-based evaluation. If I'm not wrong, the elimination of pen and paper exams will affect all public exams. JAMB long entered the fray. So, we put it up to bring a CBT centre closer to candidates from our community.
There’s also the free shuttle bus service by the council that equally swells my heart with pride. We constructed many roads, purchased ambulances, built health centres and equipped them, and empowered several of our community members financially with jobs and vocational skills. We also established Agege Crime Fighters, a security outfit that is owned by the council to complement state and federal government security agencies' efforts in the fight against crime and insecurity. Importantly, my argument is that local government administrations in Lagos are making more impact than their counterparts in other states.
Can you throw more light on your assertion that Lagos councils are making more impact than those of other states?
The proof of the pudding is in the eating. What most councils do in Lagos in terms of programmes and projects is out of the reach of their counterparts in other places. During my time in the council, we built hospitals, same with my counterpart in our sister-council, Orile Agege, Pastor JS Babatunde. There are some of my colleagues' administrations that constructed housing estates like that of Dele Oshinowo of Agboyi-Ketu LCDA. In other places, those projects I mentioned are beyond what councils there can embark on, partly due to funding. In most cases, it's the state governments that carry out such projects, which are child's play to councils here. You can’t compare the infrastructure in Epe established by the councils to that of their counterparts in neighbouring Ijebu in Ogun State. Same thing in councils in Lagos West and local government areas in Ota, Ogun State.
What is your assessment of the administration that succeeded yours under the chairmanship of Alhaji Tunde Azeez ahead of the traditional 100-day celebration?
The morning they say, shows the day. I am blown away by the performance of the acting Chairman, Alhaji Ganiyu Vinod Obasa. He has provided leadership in the absence of Alhaji Tunde Azeez, who deserves applause for transmitting power in line with the constitution to his Vice in order to attend to his health issue. One has to give it to Vinod, he has demonstrated uncommon capacity within the short period he has been in the saddle of the local government as acting Chairman. He has carried out a good number of impactful programmes and projects in the area of education, security and environmental sanitation, to mention a few. In fact, he has become the darling of Agege residents, visitors and business owners.
As an APC Chieftain at the grassroots, what would you say to the allegation that the ruling party is stifling opposition?
I consider those allegations being made by opposition leaders against our party as preposterous. It's common knowledge that their various misfortunes are self-inflicted. We are all living witnesses to how the failure of the PDP to present a united front in the 2023 general election was partly why they lost the presidential election. Now the party is in total disarray as the centre can no longer hold together and members are dumping it in droves and decamping to our party that has become a favourite destination due to the giant strides President Bola Tinubu is making to improve Nigeria and Nigerians' lots through several impactful programmes and projects, among them the life-changing student loan which condemned to landfill of history a situation in which people dropped out of school due to financial reasons.
Source: Original
Is it APC's fault that the social media President, Peter Obi, can't manage the affairs of the Labour Party, which culminated in the party’s polarisation with Julius Abure and Nenadi Usman as factional chairmen? And for ADC, it's the same membership self-imposed crisis. Our party is focused and committed to the reelection of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu come 2027, and don't take kindly to distractions that would entail us to spend time on creating crises in opposition parties. The opposition is not even there again. From eleven governors, PDP is now down to eight governors after three of their governors joined us. Several hitherto opposition lawmakers have joined the ranks of the APC. The last time I checked, our party has secured a two-thirds majority in the Senate, which is the threshold required to easily pass and approve key legislation or government policies.
Some instances that are cited as evidence of APC's clampdown on opposition are the recent attack on ADC Ekiti secretariat, the disruption of the party’s meetings in Kaduna and Alimosho by hoodlums. Are these not enough grounds to accuse the APC of suppressing dissenting voices?
"Well, I urge you to be careful of the danger of a single story. APC is not constituted by busybodies. We are too concerned about governance, and taking the country out of the woods, and have no time to play dirty. I am aware that APC leadership, both at the national and state levels, have distanced the party from all those incidents. Come to think of it, how are we sure ADC members didn't choreograph those incidents to make APC look bad to undiscerning members of the public?"
If we may ask, how is life after office? And what's next for you politically?
For me, I have gone back to my alma mater, Lagos State University, where I did my first degree and master's to begin a PhD programme in Peace and Security Studies. I am also attending to my business and having time for family and friends. You should not forget that, as Otun of Egbaland, the second in command to Alake of Egbaland, my position entails playing some roles in Abeokuta. So all that is now my rituals, including attending political meetings. Regarding my next move, I would say that it's not in my hands. It rests solely with our able leader in Agege, Rt. Hon Mudasiru Ajayi Obasa.
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Source: Legit.ng
