GAC in turmoil as faction moves to sack Lagos APC chairman

Ojelabi

Some members of the Governance Advisory Council of the Lagos State chapter of the All Progressives Congress were on Monday divided over the call for the sacking of the party’s chairman, Pastor Cornelius Ojelabi.

The GAC is the highest decision-making organ of the APC in Lagos State.

The development followed a protest by some aggrieved party members who stormed the state House of Assembly to call for the sacking of Ojelabi and other party chieftains over what they described as “imposition of candidates” and “anti-grassroots leadership.”

The party chairman, however, faulted the call, describing the accusations as baseless.

The protesters from different local councils in the state held placards with inscriptions such as “Ojelabi Must Go,” “Faleke is a Betrayal,” and “Ojelabi, Mr Voter’s Apathy.”

They called for inclusion, fairness, and an end to what they described as top-down manipulation of local politics.

One of the protest leaders, Ogumba Adetunbosun from Ikorodu, said the protest was borne out of deep dissatisfaction with the way local government elections were conducted and how supervisory positions were being imposed without input from the grassroots.

“We’re concerned politicians from all 57 local councils. What brought us here is the injustice we witnessed in the just-concluded local government elections.

“Chairmen and vice-chairmen have emerged, but when it came to appointing supervisors and secretaries to local governments, we were sidelined. There was no consultation, no dialogue, and that’s not democracy,” Adetunbosun said.

Another protester, Mrs Bola Balogun from Agbado Oke-Odo LCDA, accused top APC leaders of stifling local democracy.