The Human Rights Monitoring Agenda (HURMA) and related civil society organisations have urged Lagos State Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, to retain credible legislators in government.
They said keeping such persons in the state’s governance structure was in the interest of ‘democracy and good governance, and would help to sustain party credibility among the electorate’.
According to HURMA, one of such persons is Rotimi Olowo, who represents Somolu Constituency 1.
The suggestion was contained in a letter by HURMA’s Executive Director, Buna Olaitan Isiak.
In it, HURMA said it received several complaints from some Local Government Areas (LGAs) and Local Council Development Areas (LCDAs) in Lagos State on the recently concluded APC primaries. It claimed the protests and other actions followed the primaries in Somolu Constituency, adding that it ‘really calls for special attention’.
The CSOs said they could not ‘afford to support bad precedent today for the sake of our collective future’.
HURMA said as much as it and the other CSOs were committed to equity and justice and were nonpartisan, they urged ‘Your Excellency to conduct an independent opinion survey on ordinary people’s opinion on Rotimi in the constituency he represents’.
The letter reads: “Sir, we cannot dictate to the party how to run its internal affairs and do not wish to challenge in whatever form, the supremacy on the party decision, but based on general findings, popular demands and good record with the ordinary people, the human rights community feels bold to recommend that such personality like Rotimi should be kept in the arena of governance where he can continue to represent the interest of the poor people.”