Coach Henry Makinwa of Abubakar Bukola Saraki (ABS) Ilorin FC, says one of his players Muiz Adeoti,will be out for at least 12 weeks due to a fractured toe.
Makinwa said on Wednesday in Ilorin that the young midfielder had undergone a successful surgery on the toe in a private hospital in Lagos on Tuesday.
“We are very sad about the injury but we thank God the operation was successful.
“He should be out for no fewer than 12 weeks.
“We had tried a lot of corrective measures to get him back on the field, but it has not yielded any results.
“This is why we opted for the operation, we will give him all necessary support to get him back quickly.
“At a time, we asked him to run but he couldn’t very well then, hence, the reason we went for the operation” Makinwa said.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Adeoti had not been playing regularly in the league due to the injury sustained at the end of last season.
Tag: lagos
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ABS player undergoes successful surgery, says Coach Makinwa
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AMAA seeks enduring partnership with Lagos
•Hosts nominations in Kigali
Organisers of the prestigious pan-African reward and recognition platform for professionals in the film industry, Africa Movie Academy Awards have asked for an enduring partnership with the Lagos State Government as the host state for the 13th edition of the awards scheduled to take place on Sunday, June 11, 2017.
Lagos State Governor, Mr. Akinwumi Ambode accepted the hosting right during a courtesy call by the leadership of AMAA to his office in Lagos where the Governor also announced that the award event will hold at the National Arts Theatre, Iganmu, Lagos.
The first leg of the continental show which is the nominations gala night where nominees will be announced into the 28 categories of the awards from the total films in competition will take place at Kigali, the capital City of Rwanda on Saturday, April 22, 2017.
Governor Ambode in accepting the hosting rights noted that AMAA coming to Lagos at the point when the state is celebrating her 50 years anniversary makes it historic, “this is a very historic moment for us in Lagos. 2017 we are celebrating the existence of Lagos for 50 years. If you look at the calendar, you would wonder in what ways and manner can we celebrate Lagos?
“Without your sector, there is no Lagos. So, when we say 50 years, we are talking about 50 years of history, so somebody documents it, somebody dramatizes it, and then somebody keeps it, so that those who are yet unborn would see it, so even when we are not there, it would be displayed through your creative talents. I formally accept on behalf of the government of Lagos State the hosting rights for AMAA 2017,” he said.
In her response, Ms. Peace Anyiam-Osigwe, who is the founder of the awards organisation expressed her joy and appreciation to the governor and the government of Lagos State for accepting to be the host state adding that beyond hosting the awards the organisation wants a strategic relationship with the state that will promote the entire creative industry as a major contributor to the economy of the state and the nation’s Gross Domestic Product.
“It is amazing to have a Governor in Lagos States that supports and invests in the creative sector of our economy. That entertainment and tourism are integral part of Lagos State Government’s policy to create employment and opportunities for youths is very gratifying. My team and I are humbled and very much grateful for the honour to have Lagos as our official host State for AMAA 2017. We will work with Lagos State to deliver a great experience,” she said.
Meanwhile, the Chairman of College of Screeners and a Jury member, Mr. Shuaibu Hussein has disclosed that the pre-screening process of the awards has been completed adding that the College of Screeners will resume at their camp to consider the films that will be sent to the Jurors for consideration for nominations after which winners will be announced at the awards ceremony in Lagos.
Over 400 films were submitted from 72 countries of the world covering Africa, North America, South America and Europe where African in Diaspora make films.
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How Lagos widow retrieved land from Omo Onile
Resulting from a report on the menace of land grabbing in Lagos State, Mrs Nneka Okoli, who was reported to have been deprived of her six plots of land, retrieved them after an intervention by the Lagos State government. KEMI BUSARI reports.
Six plots of land located at the Isheri Osun area of Alimosho Local Governmnet Area of Lagos State was initially owned by the Idowu Asho family in Adeojo Area, Lagos.
But, sometime in 2014, the family sold the land to Mr. and Mrs. Okoli at the rate of N2, 650, 000 and an additional N800, 000 was paid for family receipt and another sum of N400, 000 was paid for survey.
However, the family refused to transfer possession of the land; a development which prompted a publication in The Nation Newspaper in December last year.
Five months after the publication, Mrs Okoli has finally regained possession of her land.
Reacting to the development, Mrs Okoli said: “We had no services of any lawyer; it was just the grace of God.”
The retrieval process began in August last year when Mrs. Okoli wrote a petition to the State Governor Akinwumi Ambode. But the drab and procrastinating attitude portrayed at the Governor’s Office was enough discouragement.
Three months after issuance of the letter, she finally got the audience. She recalled the experiences.
‘’I wrote the letter and I submitted it at the Governor’s Office. After some months, they directed me to the Ministry of Justice. The case was taken up by the Lagos Task Force on Land Grabbers.
“They called them Omo Onile and they responded. After our first interviews and meetings, the Lagos Land Grabbers Task Force decided we should settle it amicably and gave seven days to do that. They called me to a meeting with their lawyer and offered another piece of land in a different location, I rejected it. Later, they offered money which I declined; I told them I want my land.
“I went back to the ministry and complained but to my surprise, everything started changing. They stopped giving me audience like before.’’
According to Mrs. Okoli’s account, the change in attitude cannot be unconnected with the involvement of a prominent king who is said to be backing the Omo Onile in the whole “business.”
“Anytime I got to the ministry, they kept telling me to come back and they did nothing,’’ she recalled.
However, the story changed when the publication entitled “We die so Omo Onile may live” appeared on the pages of this newspaper.
“I was so downcast and there was nothing I could do until the day the reporter called to inform me that the story has been published. I called the chairman of the task force and he told me he has seen the publication. They summoned another meeting immediately and to my surprise, the said Oba who didn’t show up for any of the previous meetings was in attendance.
“At the meeting, a lawyer in the ministry came with one of the publications and told them to stop the hiding game. At this point, they gave up and the ministry assigned a surveyor who followed me to survey the land.
“Weeks later, the result of the survey emerged and it supported my claim on the land. A final meeting was called on March 9 and the ministry ruled that the land belongs to me.’’
Even though Mrs Okoli had, in early stages, employed the services of three lawyers, the actual process of retrieving the land did not involve a lawyer.
“All through the journey, there was no lawyer; it was God and the Ministry of Justice, the task force and the publications. I wrote the petition on my own without the help of a lawyer.
“The publications really shook them. It was a turning point and without it, I don’t think it would all have happened the way it did. When I tried to show them that it has been published, they told me they have already seen it. At the same time, people who read it started calling me and some even offered assistance. The publication exposed the matter. Before, the issue was handled in secrecy but having it published dealt the needed blow and I owe the retrieval to the publication in this paper.”
‘How we intervened’ – Lagos Task Force
In a resolution marked LSSTF/LG/2016/324 issued on March 17, this year, the Lagos State Special Task Force on Land Grabbers noted that after due investigation, the land has been discovered to belong to Mrs. Okoli.
The resolution indicates that “the office resolved that the petitioner should go and take possession of her land and nobody should disturb her possession. If anyone disturbs her possession of the land, she should report to the Task Force for further action.’’
Reacting to this, Alternate Chairman of the Lagos State Special Task Force on Land Grabbers, Mr. Jide Akinpelu said the retrieval process though tedious did not involve aggressiveness.
He recounted: “When we received her petition, we invited the two parties and through our meetings with them, we discovered that she and her husband truly bought the land. We were able to establish that the people who sold the land to her kept saying the land sold to her is different from where she is claiming.
“We also found out that they gave her survey plan upon payment and with this, we started work. We sent the survey to the Surveyor-General and we also instructed him to follow both parties to the location of the land.
“The Surveyor-General submitted his report and it established that she is right about the location of the land. We confronted the Omo Onile and told them that where they are pointing to be her land is not hers. We issued a resolution that she should go and take possession of her land and report to us should there be a case of disturbance.”
Akinpelu also praised The Nation Newspapers on publishing the story while debunking claims of connivance with the Omo Onile while the retrieval process lasted.
“We are quite encouraged by your work and it spurred us to put more effort. We also encourage other media houses to do same.
“Apart from your publication, there was another where she alleged that we have compromised. The general opinion in the office was to allow the powers that be investigate whether we have compromised or not but I quite understood the state of her mind having lost her husband. We decided to forge on hoping that the outcome of our investigation will vindicate us and that is exactly what happened.”
‘She must take possession immediately’ – Lagos lawyer
Commenting on the development, Legal practitioner, Lekan Alabi described Mrs. Okoli’s victory as a good development in the annals of the State Government and admonishes her to take full possession immediately.
“Now that case has been settled, the first thing for her is to take full possession of the land and if she doesn’t need it, she should sell it and invest the money.
“There is scarcity of land in Lagos, you cannot just say you have six plots of land and do nothing on it. Even the government can take over the land for public use and she won’t get enough as compensation.
He also praised the State Government on the development while noting that any further trespass on the land becomes a criminal offence.
“If the Omo Onile goes there again to disturb her, it has become a criminal offence because the state has determined the owner of the land.
“The state government has performed its responsibility under the 2016 Property Protection Law and I think this is a welcome development. I commend the effort of the Attorney-General who sponsored the bill and the courage of Governor Ambode to give his assent,” Mr Alabi said.
With this development, the Lagos State Government has demonstrated its readiness to check the extortionist and criminal tendencies of land grabbers. However, more is still expected of the Akinwumi Ambode-led government in bringing solace to other victims of land grabbing in Lagos State.
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Man, 29, in court for stealing stepmother’s money
An Ikeja Magistrates’ Court, Lagos, on Tuesday granted N 40,000 bail to a 29-year-old security guard, Tajudeen Rasaki, accused of burgling his stepmother’s room and stealing N58,000.
Rasaki, who resides at Agbado Road, Iju, Lagos, is facing charges of burglary and theft, to which he pleaded not guilty.
The Magistrate, Mrs E. Kubeinje, who granted the accused bail, ordered him to produce two sureties in the like sum.
She said that the sureties must be gainfully employed and should show evidence of two years’ tax payment to the Lagos State Government.
Kubeinje adjourned the case till April 24 for mention.
Earlier, the prosecutor, Insp. Essien Ndarake, told the court that the accused committed the offences on Sept. 12, 2016 at his residence.
He said that the accused burgled the apartment of his stepmother, Mrs Bose Rasaki to steal N58, 000.
Ndarake said that the complainant came back from work to discover that the burglar proof at the entrance of her apartment had been destroyed and her room ransacked.
“What surprised her was that her room door was intact, but when she opened the door with her key, she discovered that the room had been ransacked.
“She discovered that the money she kept inside her bag in her wardrobe was missing.
“ A search was conducted and a duplicated key to the complainant’s apartment was found in the accused’s room,’’ he said.
The offences contravened Sections 285 and 307 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State, 2015.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the accused could bag seven years in prison if found guilty of stealing, based on provisions of Section 307.
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Teenager docked for stabbing friend
The Police on Tuesday arraigned 18-year-old Jimoh Idowu, in an Apapa Magistrates’ Court, Lagos, for allegedly stabbing a friend, Toheeb Jimoh, with a stick in the eyeball.
Though Idowu pleaded not guilty, the Magistrate, Mr M.A.Etti, ordered that he should be remanded in prison custody.
Etti ordered that Idowu should be remanded in prison due to the critical condition of the complainant.The prosecutor, Sgt. Olusegun Kokoye, told the court that the defendant, who resides at Ajegunle area of Lagos, committed the offence on March 14 around 4.30 p.m. at Railway Line, Ijora Badia, Lagos.
He said the accused assaulted Idowu with a sharp stick.
Kokoye alleged that the two were coming back from school when an argument ensued between them.
The prosecutor said the complainant was rushed to the hospital by pedestrians, who were at the scene of the incident.
Kokoye said that Idowu tried to escape after the incident, but was apprehended by witnesses and taken to the police station.
He said the offence contravened Section 244 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State, 2011.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Section 244 prescribes three-year jail term for wounding and similar acts.
Etti adjourned further hearing in the case till April 11 for mention.
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Lagos preserves culture
The Lagos State government has started its Echoes from Tinubu Square project aimed at preserving culture.
Pupils were entertained with folklores and cultural display.
The Special Adviser to the Governor on Central Business Districts, Agboola Dabiri, told the gathering at the event inside Madam Tinubu Square Fountain, Lagos Island, that Governor Akinwunmi Ambode was desirous of using public education to touch and redirect the minds of young children towards becoming agents of positive change.
He enjoined the pupils to be good listeners as information gathered on the prowess of heroes and heroines of yesteryears would enhance their studies.
The special adviser said: “Maintenance of historical monuments should equally be the concern of Lagosians whenever they visit on leisure and recreation, saying that the renovation of the Tinubu Square Fountain is a pointer to the judicious use of tax payers money by government in the state.”
In the story telling session witnessed by members of Lagos State Traditional Whitecap Chiefs, captains of industries and notable Lagosians, Mr Shina Thorpe, took the pupils from St Mary Girls Catholic, Olowogbowo Methodist and Holy Cross Primary Schools through informative and educative rendition of Madam Tinubu’s prowess and meaningful contributions that blazed the trail to the modern day Lagos State, which is now 50 years old.
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Man docked for damaging co-tenant’s eyes
A 40-year-old driver, Ikechukwu Offor, who allegedly beat up a co-tenant for not opening the house gate and damaged his eyes, on Monday appeared before an Ikeja Magistrates’ Court.
A resident of Lagos Street, Agege, Lagos, Offor is being tried for breach of peace and assault.
According to the prosecutor, Insp. Clement Okuoimose, the accused committed the offences on Feb. 23 at a tenement building.
He said the accused assaulted a co-tenant, Mr Idowu Onajobi, by beating him and causing damage to both eyes.
Okuoimose said following an agreement by tenants, the complainant was nominated to be locking the gate at 11.00 p.m. and keep the key.
“The complainant was nominated by his co-tenants to be locking their gate at 11.00 p.m. as a result of wave of robbery in the area.
“The accused, who came home late after the gate was locked, started knocking the gate loudly, threatening to destroy it if the gate was not opened for him.
“When the complainant finally opened the gate, the accused descended on him for the delay.
“He punched him several times in the eyes and damaged the eyes,” he said.
He said the complainant was still in the hospital receiving treatment as he could not see clearly.
The offences contravened Sections 166 and 171 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State, 2015 (Revised).
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Section 171 prescribes three years imprisonment for assault.
Offor pleaded innocence of the offences and was granted bail in the sum of N50,000 with one surety in like sum.
The Magistrate, Mrs Y. O. Ekogbule, adjourned the case until April 17 for mention.
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I made my first millions in late 90’s – Ali Baba
The renowned comedian, Ali Baba, has said that he started making his millions as a stand-up comedian in the late 90’s when the profession was still in its infancy in the country.
Ali Baba told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Monday in Lagos that comedy business started paying off when people knew little about the profession.
The comedian spoke against the backdrop of an award conferred on him by The Verdant Zeal Quantum Awards at the prestigious Civic Centre, Victoria Island, Lagos, on March 22.
“When I got my first endorsement and I was paid about N82,000, someone who saw me with the cheque asked what I do for a living and when I said I am a comedian he was baffled.
“The person did not even have an idea that I had got an endorsement from Guinness Nigeria Plc that was worth about N1.2 million. We don’t need to shout over this.
“The pay from show business is pronounced because some of the younger ones now flaunt their wealth unduly,’’ he said.
Ali Baba added that he was now on another platform and not the regular one people used to see him on.
“I still crack jokes but people won’t see me on the platform they are used to.
“I will be 30 years on stage next year, so I have moved on from the platform people used to see me. I have to leave the platform for upcoming actors.
“It is like a bank structure where there is a cashier attending to costumers, after 20 years you don’t expect to see that cashier still counting money behind the counter.
“When I started, it was only Nigeria Television Authority (NTA), now we have many television stations and radio stations so the platform is bigger and wider,’’ the ace comedian said.
Ali Baba told NAN that he was more into mentoring budding entertainers on the business side of showbiz.
“The thing I do is that I teach by example, a lot of them have watched me perform; professionalism is key and talent is important.
“It is important that you develop your talent, when talent becomes a service that is when people will require it. Nobody will buy a talent if it is not for service.
“I teach other comedians to be humble, focused and think ahead. I expect that others should beat my strides.
“My strides are like foundation for a lot of comedians to grow with but with recent technology, the platform is now wider and accommodating,’’ he said.
Ali Baba said that the current lull in the show business should be a wakeup call for entertainers to be more creative with the profession.
“As a comedian, you need a lot of information which is why we have a lull in the industry now, people don’t create jokes anymore, but are looking for people’s joke.
“It is a wake up for emerging market and for comedians to improve on their act every time and read.
“Once you have information you will grow, so, I teach a lot of them to seek for information which is the only way to sustain them in the profession,’’ he said.
NAN reports that Ali Baba, born Atunyota Alleluya Akorobomerere is a versatile entertainer, a stand-up comedian of great repute, radio show host, motivational speaker and actor.
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A cleaner Lagos
•The Cleaner Lagos Initiative will deploy personnel and technology to lift the megacity
As Lagos continues to live up to the challenge of a megacity, one of the major hurdles is waste. To handle this, it has to embark on a paradigm shift. This involves not only adapting to the imperatives of new technology, but also the expertise of those who manage it.
Lagos has had, in the past decade and more, a system that involved the Lagos State Waste Management Agency (LAWMA) work with 350 companies under its Private Sector Participation (PSP) programme. They have contended with a city that has risen exponentially in population and continues to expand in size. Lagos has gained notoriety as the fastest growing city on the planet with 80 people flocking in daily without returning. Every human generates wastes, and it is not supposed to be a bad thing since it is part of what makes us human.
What is dangerous is not to have an answer to managing piles of waste. At a time, Lagos had no answer and every part of the metropolis piled with mountains of refuse, making the city a vast environmental sore of stench and dirt. Lagos became one of the worst places not just to live but to breathe.
Efforts have been made in the past decade and a half to reduce this and that was the background to the creation of LAWMA and its partnership with the PSPs. This worked and the city was grateful for initiatives that significantly pared the wastes and showed a metropolis on course to cleanliness. Refuse piles disappeared from parts of the neighbourhoods and so did obnoxious odours.
But the arrangement has worked for over a decade and has had to contend with a burgeoning population and increasing refuse. This has led to complaints around the city over the imperfections of the existing programme. This includes a certain magisterial arrogance of the PSPs, irregular and poor waste collection and bin placement and the chaos of the transfer loading stations. Billing system became chaotic and routes of companies tangled.
Incidentally, the partnership between the LAWMA and PSPs expired in 2016 just in time for the Akinwunmi Ambode administration to launch what has become known as the Cleaner Lagos Initiative. Under this plan, the government will use the services of a consortium that involves Nigerians and foreigners.
The consortium will bring in over 20 landfill and transfer loading station management vehicles, 590 new rear-end loader compactors, 140 operational vehicles and about 900,000 new bins. This new plan is powered by cutting-edge technology that will involve a control room where the bins and compactors can be tracked. Waste generated and disposed will be monitored. The existing PSPs will now take charge of commercial districts, including markets.
It is, as Governor Ambode has indicated, not merely about making Lagos clean, but also making Lagos profitable. Jobs will be available for 27,500 sanitation workers who are expected to be in every ward of the state, and ensure that dirt is not removed as a periodic affair but a daily engagement. For a state that spews out 13 metric tonnes of waste per day, a radical rather than incremental approach is necessary. That is what the Cleaner Lagos Initiative is pursuing.
To enable it work, the governor has initiated a bill that reviews and enhances existing legislation to provide a platform to turn the city into a big and salubrious city. If the state is involved in infrastructure change, on the verge of major transportation transformation with parks and a nightly vision of illumination on every street, then the present waste policy must adapt to the evolving view of Nigeria’s megacity.
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Lagos PDP: One party, four factions
With about four factions, Lagos State chapter has emerged the most factionalized state chapter of the People’s Democratic Party, reports Assistant Editor, Dare Odufowokan
The leadership crisis that has bedeviled the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) following its nationwide defeat at the hand of the then new All Progressives Congress (APC) in 2015, has also affected the state chapters of the troubled party, leading to situations where the PDP is severally fictionalized in most of the states.
In Lagos State, what started as a face-off between former Deputy National Chairman of the party, Bode George, and a former Minister, Senator Musiliu Obanikoro, has today resulted in the fragmentation of the party into not less than four distinct groups, with each refusing to accept the leadership of the other.
Several efforts to unite the party in the state have proved abortive as the gladiators refuse to be placated. According to inside sources, at the root of the crisis is the control of party machinery in the state where PDP has never had the opportunity of producing the governor since the return to democratic governance in 1999.
“The problem with PDP in Lagos State is that many of the so- called leaders are not interested in building the party into a virile party that can compete successfully for power in the state. Rather, they are more interested in having control of the party for their selfish interests. They don’t care if the party is losing, so far, they are the ones calling the shot,” a source said.
Chief Ebun Fisher, a PDP chieftain and former member of the senatorial executive committee of the party in Lagos Central District, while speaking to The Nation, lamented that the PDP in Lagos State is suffering from self-inflicted crisis. He regretted that currently, there are four factions of the party in the state.
“Today, the PDP in Lagos is the most fictionalised chapter of our party. At the last count, we should have about four different groups, each with its own leadership, within our party in Lagos. Ours is definitely the most fictionalised chapter in the country. We are affected by the leadership crisis at the centre but we are more affected by the internal scuffle within our leaders here in Lagos State.
“Don’t forget that the crisis in Lagos started before the current crisis at the centre. We have been battling division in Lagos PDP since 2001. Up till now, it is the same set of people who divided the party then, that are still creating factions within the party. They have only been joined by some new gladiators in their power game,” he said.
Many troubles within
Speaking further, Fisher regretted that the implication of the crisis in the party is that the PDP in Lagos today is being controlled by multiple party chairmen, each with his or her own executives. He added that the situation has left party members confused and without direction. According to him, front-line chieftains of the party have also joined the unfortunate fictionalisation of the party in their bid to wrestle control of the structures from each other’s grip.
“Our party is the worse for it all. The members are confused and without direction. We have as many as four camps within the party as we speak. Even party elders who should wade in and solve the problem have all taken sides. We are left without anything or anybody that can unite us.
“A situation where you have our nationally recognised chieftains saying it publicly that they belong to this faction or that group, you will agree with me that the party is in serious quandary. Many efforts by a few of us who belong to what we now call the “non-aligned” group within the party have failed because of the attitude of some of our leaders.
“But we also have sincere leaders who have tried severally to salvage the situation. That was why we formed the non-aligned group. It is a group of those of us who refused to join any of the camps when the crisis started. I remember very well that leaders like Chief Mrs. Remi Adiukwu were with us. Dr. Finnih was with us and many others. They tried unsuccessfully to nip the crisis in the bud,” he said.
Hon. Segun Adewale is leader of Senator Ali Modu Sheriff- led faction of the PDP in the state. Aeroland, as he is popularly called, was also the senatorial candidate of the party for Lagos West Senatorial District in 2015. He confirmed that the party is in disunity and in need of immediate intervention for it to serve its purpose as an opposition party.
“Right now, the PDP in Lagos State is scattered and we don’t know what is really going on in the party at the national level. What is happening at the national level is having some ripple effects on the Lagos State PDP. I will not call myself the chairman of the party in Lagos because the party is factionalised into groups. By extension, I am a factional chairman of the party in the state.
“There are so many factions; we have the Jimi Agbaje faction, which does not have followership. We have the Bode George group and others. The various court cases raging at the national level are having ripple effects on the Lagos PDP. The Lagos PDP under Moshood Salvador is not really ready to move forward. They are aware that some of us in Lagos have track record of political success,” Adewale said.
The Nation learnt that apart from the Adewale-led faction and the non-aligned group, there are two other factions of the party in the state. There is the Ahmed Makarfi faction led by Bode George with Hon. Moshood Salvador as the state chairman. The group is believed to control the larger percentage of party members.
There is also the Jimi Agbaje faction. Agbaje, it would be recalled, joined the party shortly before the last gubernatorial election and emerged as its governorship candidate, ably assisted by Bode George. But the duo fell out shortly after the party failed to win the election in the state. Agbaje was even mentioned as one of those wrestling with George for the position of National Chairman of the party last year.
Speaking about the fictionalisation of the PDP in the state, factional chairman, Salvador said, “I inherited a lot of problems on assumption of office; most of them are yet to be resolved. This is a bit disturbing, because without peace, proper reconciliation and collective resolve of members to work together, we would only be wasting time.
At the same time, this should not distract us from forging ahead. We should be doing what is needed to be done. I can assure you that I have been open to peace. I equally thought that Segun Adewale will call me, so that we will agree on how to move the party forward. We should distance ourselves from the leadership wrangling at the centre, so that we can move our party forward in our own way.”
Multiple chairmen
But in spite of their call for unity, the factional chairmen of the troubled party are not relenting in their claim to authenticity. Not one is willing to let go of the position and they all want to be recognised as the real chairman of the embattled party. To worsen the situation, each of them wants the other factions to simply close shop and join his camp.
According to Salvador, the other factions have no right to claim the leadership of the party. Rather, they should be seen as people who merely disagreed with the leadership. He is of the opinion that they should toe the path of reason and resolve their differences through the proper channels within the party.
“I am the authentic chairman of PDP in Lagos State. I disagree when they start to talk of factions in the party. I must say that even within the family, there are disagreements between brothers and sisters. If there are disagreements, it is my responsibility to solve it. If someone falls out with you, because your ways are no longer tolerable, that should not be seen as a faction.
“When you say a political party is factionalised, it means the party has factions with secretariats across the country. That is when we begin to talk of factions. And now few people disagree with their chairman or party and they try to label it as faction. What has happened is only leadership struggle. How can you even be a leader of five per cent of the whole party and call it a faction, when the leader of 95 per cent is there and remain calm? Ours is the true leadership of PDP in Lagos,” he said.
But Adewale disagreed with Salvador’s claim. According to him, his faction controls the largest followership in the state chapter of the opposition party in the state. He lamented that people who have no members standing with them are laying claim to the leadership of a party they have refused to work for.
The PDP factional chairman recalled that the failure of some leaders in the party to work for the PDP during the last general election led to the loss of the governorship and other elections across the state. He challenged Salvador and other groups to tell the world why they lay claim to the leadership of PDP in Lagos.
“For instance, I have four House of Representatives members, six House of Assembly members; we have Baba Kola Balogun with us, Modupe Sasore and others. If you look at the record of these leaders in election matters, Baba Balogun won election in his polling booth, won in his ward and his local government.
He delivered the local government to his right and left. He delivered all the Badagry Division, but the other faction, Senator Ahmed Makarfi’s camp, led by Bode George, lost his polling booth, his ward and his local government. He lost everything that had to do with senatorial district whereas, in my own senatorial district, which the result is there for any person to see, I won seven local governments,” he said.