Residents of Amuwo Odofin Local Government area of Lagos State have reiterated their demands for the leaders of the All Progress Congress (APC) and Asiwaju Bola Tinubu to ensure that a Chairmanship aspirant in the area, Hon. Dipo Olorunrinu is installed as the Chairman of the local government.
It will be recalled that Hon. Dipo Olorunrinu was declared as the winner of the primaries of the election last year before his name was replaced with that of Hon. Valentine Braimoh, who has since been sworn-in as the Chairman of the local government for a second term.
Hon. Olorunrinu later took Hon. Valentine Braimoh and the party to court and the case is being handled by Hon. Justice Toyin Oyekan-Abdullahi.
Mr. Jamiu Oladiji, a community leader in Amuwo Odofin area and a strong member of electrical and electronics association said in an interview with journalists after the matter came up in court on Thursday that Hon. Dipo Olorunrinu is the preferred candidate of the residents.
While calling on the National Leader of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu to intervene in the matter, Oladiji said that he was a ward chairman in the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) before he decamped to the APC with Hon. Olorunrinu.
“Olorunrinu came out from my ward to contest for the state house of assembly in 2015.
“Prior to that time, we did not hace somebody that gave us good representation and I went with him to the APC, when he did in 2019. Other bodies that comprises different associations and FESTAC Residents Association are saying that we want Hon. Olorunrinu.
“The people voted for him during the primaries and we mobilised people to register with the party. What we are agitating for is that they should give us our mandate because we don’t want Hon. Valentine Buraimoh as our chairman,” he said.
Oladiji said that the matter should be given accelerated hearing by the court, saying that the people had waited enough.
He added that Hon. Olorunrinu went to meet the leaders of the party and that they promised to make him local government chairman.
Also speaking, a woman leader in the area, Alhaja Riskat Shofela urged the APC leaders and Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu to intervene in the matter and install Hon. Olorunrinu as the Chairman of the council.
“When we wanted to do primaries, we knew what Hon. Olorunrinu did and he ensured that many people were registered.
“His name was on the list as the winner of the primary election for days. We want Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu to give us our mandate.
“We went out and voted for Hon. Dipo in the sun and if they wanted settlement they should call us,” she said.
Oluwasegun Kosoko, a youth leader in the area also registered his displeasure over the development, noting that anything short of restoration of Olorunrinu’s mandate in Amuwo-Odofin will make the opposition hold sway there politically.
Kosoko stated that they were in the court for the sixth time as there had been series of adjournments, saying that Hon. Olorunrinu is like a young brother to him and that for him to decide to leave his work on a Thursday during break time to join him in court was a serious matter.
“This is important for me because I am here to represent the whole youths in Amuwo-Odofin who are angry.
We supported Dipo because his ideology is accommodating, it is not because of anything, the matter here is a very simple one.
“The council’s primary election is unprecedented in Amuwo-Odofin, the turn out recorded in the election has never been witnessed before in APC there because Hon. Dipo is sociable and down to earth.
“No matter what, he identifies with the people so well.
He rallied a lot of us to come out and cast our votes and we did.
“But eventually the name of the person who led thugs to beat us up, shot at us and disrupted the peace of the process was substituted having removed Dipo’s name, how do you expect the community people to be happy,” he said.
He urged the party to do something now as 2023 was very close, adding that they could vote for the opposition if the party refused to restore the mandate to the rightful winner.
“They should just forget about the local government, the opposition will keep taking the lead on a platter of gold.
“We all know how things are, if you visit the community today you will see that people are angry, they are not happy that the man in charge now is there.
Dipo is in court because of the people’s mandate wilfully given to him.
“Many are against him going to court but he is wise and many of us know if he is the Chairman things will be better there in the area of infrastructure and other development,” he said.
Also speaking, the Secretary of
Arewa Community in Amuwo Odofin LGA, Comrade Hamzat Abdullahi and the present Speaker of the entire northwest youths Assembly of Nigeria, said that they knew Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu through Hon. Dipo, saying that he should ensure that democratic process takes its course in Amuwo Odofin.
“It is the high time for Tinubu to intervene. His being silent means he is tampering with his aspiration,” he said.
Meanwhile, Olorunrinu’s lawyer, who also spoke to journalists, Barr. Chris Mosindi of Chris Mosindi & Co said that the matter before the State High Court had suffered several adjournment.
Mosindi said that they filed affidavit of urgency on the matter because it was a primary election issue that needed to be dispensed immediately, but that it had been adjourned for almost 5times.
“We can’t question the judiciary, we can only comply with the order of the court.
“At the last adjourned date (November 2021), the court ordered that parties should try and resolve the matter and get back to the court.
“Hon. Dipo Olorunrinu had been coming to the court to see how the matter could be resolved.
“The Lagos APC has not placed anything concrete on the table before him to see how the matter could be resolved.
“Now, that the party has new state executives, I am aware they know that it is before the Court because the people of Amuwo-Odofin Local Government are not happy with what is going on,” he said.
Mosindi stressed that the APC members in the local government went out to vote for their choice as the standard bearer of the party and that they were denied their choice, adding that they had all the evidences before the Court.
“As I am speaking with you, the new State Chairman of the APC, Hon. Cornelius Ojelabi and his executives have not made any step to see how the matter could be resolved.
“I believe that on the next adjourned date, which is May 9, we will be in Court to let, but if Olorunrinu is called to see how the matter could be resolved, he is open to settlement.
“If they call him, he will come but if there is no attempt to resolve it, we would be in Court on May 9 and inform the court then. Possibly we will get a trial date so that the matter could be put to an end immediately.
“Today, the Court asked if several attempts had been made for settlement and if we had contacted the party, but now there is a new state executives and our client has not been contacted.
“We were with the lawyers of the defendants with my client (Hon. Dipo Olorunrinu) in their office and basically they did not place anything on the table for him.
“We are expecting the current Lagos APC Chairman to intervene in the matter, the party stakeholders and Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu should also get involved in it because I am sure he is aware that the matter is in Court.
“The State Chairman and Asiwaju Tinubu should put an end to this matter by calling Hon. Olorunrinu to ask him what he wanted,” he said.
