The chairman of the committee, screening councillorship and chairmanship aspirants on the platform of All Progressive Congress, APC, in Lagos State, Prof. Tunde Samuel, is facing criticism from some party members.
Ahead of the councils primaries of APC in the state tentatively scheduled for Saturday May 13th and Thursday 18th May, 2017, crisis looms in Agege and Orile-Agege chapters of the party as some stakeholders are alleging that Prof. Samuel, former SA on Education to ex-Lagos State governor, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, is colluding with some leaders of the party in the areas to perpetrate electoral fraud.
Financial Secretary of the party (Agege Chapter), Alh. Haruna Yusuf a.k.a Ilerika and Alh. Logunleko, an LG officer of the party in Orile-Agege accused Hon. Taofiq Adaranijo, who represents Agege Federal Constituency in the House of Representatives, former Commissioner for Transport, Kayode Opeifa, former LG chairman of Agege, Alh. Jubril Kareem and Prof. Samuel of perfecting strategies to perpetrate electoral fraud in favour of their candidates.
At a conference on Tuesday May 10th, 2017 in Agege, Ilerika, who was a councillor in the 90’s, said he has incontrovertible proof that the four leaders conspired with the party chairman in Orile-Agege, Sunday Ajayi and his Agege counterpart, Wale Adeyeye to rig the party primary elections in the two local government areas of the state in favour of their candidates.
He claimed that they doctored the register consisting of the names of delegates that are eligible to vote at the primaries, saying they smuggled non-APC members into the list, and have printed the party’s membership card for them.
The former Councillor went further to accuse Hon. Adaranijo, Opeifa, Alh. Kareeem, Prof. Samuel, Ajayi and Adeyeye of covert plan to cause chaos in the party to ensure their candidates emerge.
He said, “Prof. Samuel, the chairman of the committee that screened councillorship and chairmanship aspirants in the state stooped low by using the office to pursue personal agenda, and that of few unscrupulous leaders at the expenses of majority of the party faithful. He disqualified highly qualified councillorship and chairmanship aspirants, who toil through nights and days for the party to pave way for their own candidates to emerge.”
“We have it on good authority that they have recruited street urchins from Oshodi, Mushin, and Sango in Ogun State to foment trouble, intimidate eligible delegates and disrupt the primaries. We therefore call on the leadership of APC in the state to call them to order, to stop this undemocratic and corrupt practice that is harming the good name of our great party.”