..As Olusi, Hamzat, others task aspirants on peace

By Olasunkanmi Akoni

LAGOS — AHEAD of the All Progressives Congress, APC, primaries scheduled for Saturday, May 10, 2025, at the party State Secretariat on Acme Road in Ikeja, the Lagos State government has issued a traffic advisory to aid free movement during the exercise.

This came as the Chairman of the Governor’s Advisory Council, GAC, Tajudeen Olusi; Deputy Governor, Dr Obafemi Hamzat and other party leaders, yesterday, urged aspirants and their supporters to embrace peace to sustain unity and achieve a seamless exercise in the interest of the party.

Recall that the Lagos State Independent Electoral Commission, LASIEC, had slated July 12 for the conduct of chairmanship and councillorship positions in the 20 Local Government Areas and 37 Local Council Development Areas, LCDAs.

Travel advisory    

On the planned road closure, the Commissioner for Transportation, Oluwaseun Osiyemi, in a statement, urged members of the public to plan their movement ahead of Saturday.

He added that officials of the Lagos State Traffic Management Authority, LASTMA, would be on the ground to manage and ensure seamless vehicular movement along the affected corridors.

Osiyemi said: “Motorists will not be able to access ACME Road from Adeniyi Jones, Lateef Jakande, and ACME Crescent ends. The entire stretch of Acme Road will be closed off to vehicular movement during the primaries.

“Consequently, motorists are to use the following alternative routes:

“Motorists coming from Adeniyi Jones are to link Aromire to access Allen Junction and continue their journeys.

“Similarly, motorists coming from Allen are advised to use Aromire to link Ladipo Oluwole and access Guinness to reach their intended destinations.

“Motorists coming from Akilo Road will also be able to connect Wemco Road, link Lateef Jakande, or continue onto Omole to complete their journeys.

“If you do not have any urgent or necessary business around the ACME Road axis, please consider avoiding the area to ease movement and reduce congestion,” he stated.

Meanwhile, Chairman of GAC,  Tajudeen Olusi; Deputy Governor of the state, Dr Obafemi Hamzat, and other APC leaders, who spoke at the APC stakeholders’ meeting, called for rancour-free primaries.

Others in attendance include: the Speaker of the House of Assembly, Mudasiru Obasa; the lawmaker representing Lagos West District, Senator Oluranti Adebule; former Deputy Governor, Olufemi Pedro and others.

In his address, Olusi charged aspirants to cooperate with the party leadership.

He said: “We are here to advise you. Since the early days of our democracy, it has always been through consensus. With patience and support, there will be a way out. That is why wisdom is applied in politics.”

Hamzat, who represented Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu, appealed for cooperation with the electoral committee during and after the primaries.

He said: “Let’s do it the way we have been doing, it is going to be a consensus. We will apportion things to one another.”

In his remarks, the chairman of the party, Pastor Cornelius Ojelabi, said: “Consider yourselves as being privileged to have been chosen out of over 20 million Lagosians. The exercise is going smoothly. We are moving forward.

“We have mandated the leadership of the party to go all out to achieve success. All eyes are on us. President Bola Tinubu is watching what the party is doing. We must make him proud of us as a product of the Lagos APC chapter.”

 We will continue to go from strength to strength by putting all our interests aside and pursuing the interests of the party.

“We must be tolerant of one another and work together for the common goal of the party. This is what makes any party strong and achieve success. We must engage all interests to have resounding peace.”

On his part, chairman of the Electoral Committee, Babatunde Ogala, SAN, said the committee has assembled a formidable team to ensure a hitch-free exercise.

While giving the guidelines for the election, Ogala said: “The constitution recognises direct, indirect and consensus primaries, but for this council primary, we are adopting indirect primaries, the electoral body who are the delegates has been constituted.

“For chairmanship, the designated venue is the party Secretariat in Ogba, where all the aspirants will converge. The aspirants are expected to come with only one agent.”

“We will not let you down. Our presidency is at stake, and our party image is at stake. So many states are trying to learn from us. We are going to be fair, just and thorough.”

Ojokoro LCDA aspirant meets stakeholders

Meanwhile, the chairmanship aspirant for Ojokoro Local Council Development Areas, LCDA, Mobolaji Sanusi, has met with the leadership of the ruling APC, to acquaint them with his transformational plans in a bid to complement his consultations.

Sanusi said: “It’s with an honest motive that I put myself forward to serve as your servant-leader in Ojokoro. I’ve lived a longer and better part of my life in this council area, and I know what each community lacks. 

“My record during my stint as the MD of LASAA speaks for itself.  With your support, we will institutionalise effective governance in Ojokoro and ensure that our council area ranks high in terms of infrastructural development, provision of social amenities, youth and women empowerment, welfare, cultural promotion, among others in the comity of council areas in the state and ultimately to complement.”