JUST IN: APC members protest in Lagos, want chairman removed

JUST IN: APC members protest in Lagos, want chairman removed

Hundreds of furious All Progressives Congress (APC) members, primarily from the Mandate Group, descended on the Lagos State House of Assembly on Monday, decrying what they called “undue marginalization” within the party.

Wielding placards with bold messages like “Ojelabi must go,” and and “Faleke is destroying APC,” the protesters demanded an end to the alleged favouritism toward the Justice Forum in the allocation of council appointments and elective positions.

The demonstration, which began early in the morning and stretched into the afternoon, saw scores of heavily armed policemen deployed to prevent any descent into violence.

Lagos State Commissioner of Police, Moshood Jimoh, was personally on the scene, directing his team to ensure the protest remained peaceful and was not “hijacked by hoodlums.”

At the heart of the unrest is Lagos APC Chairman Cornelius Ojelabi, whom the protesters accused of running a “rudderless leadership” since taking the helm in 2021.

In a scathing letter addressed to the governor, the Mandate Group pulled no punches, declaring, “We are compelled by current circumstances in the political climate of Lagos State to openly demonstrate our displeasure with the management of the affairs of our great party.”

The letter further lambasted Ojelabi, stating, “Our party in the State has been under rudderless leadership since Pastor Ojelabi took over in 2021. This lack of vision and integrity is rubbing off adversely on the management of the political party in the State.”

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The protesters pointed to the 2025 Local Government elections as a low point, alleging Ojelabi “assembled the notoriously biased team to conduct the worst primary election in the history of our progressive party in Lagos State.”

They contrasted his tenure with the “inclusive and successful” leadership of past chairmen like Abiodun Ogunleye, Otunba Henry Ajomale, and Alhaji Babatunde Balogun, who they claimed prioritized all members’ interests.

Voices from the protest underscored the depth of the grievances.

Bayonle Taofik from Ikosi-Isheri decried the imbalance in the ward executive structure: “Justice Forum is now controlling everything in Ikosi-Isheri. In a ward where we should have 25 or 27 excos, all the chairmen are being elected by a lopsided exco. Why can’t we have 12-12 or 13-13? It’s not fair. We want the ward executives to be redistributed between Justice Forum and Mandate Forum. Let LG appointments go round!”

Yusuf Salau from Lagos Island added, “Justice Forum is controlling almost every council in Lagos. There’s no balance in the sharing formula. Our leaders must sit down and resolve this on a roundtable.”

Olusamo Ganiyat from Igando-Ikotun Central lamented, “We’re being completely marginalised in our local government. We need a restructuring of the council arrangement. The Mandate Group deserves fair representation. They told us to be one, but they’re monopolising everything!”

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The letter didn’t spare Ojelabi’s allies, particularly targeting Hon. James Faleke and accusing their “parochial, narrow-minded and self-centred team” of planning to “further polarize the party with one-sided composition of the local government executives” to entrench a “winner-takes-all agenda” ahead of the 2027 elections.

The group warned that this could lead to another electoral disaster, referencing the APC’s shocking loss of Lagos State to the opposition in 2023 and a “shabby performance” in the recent local government polls.

Babatunde Kayode voiced the protesters’ fears, saying, “We don’t want Ojelabi to be ruling us again and we don’t want him to spoil the party for us. We don’t want to lose Lagos State again, that is why we want Ojelabi to leave the seat. We want another person to take over because we don’t want to lose 2027 election. We want Tinubu to win again in 2027.”

Kayode Orinlade echoed: “Ojelabi should go. He’s the worst chairman we’ve ever had. He has done nothing for us and only promotes division.”

“We are tired with his selfish leadership and the plot of his team to derail from the progressive ideals championed by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu,” the letter read, while reaffirming the group’s loyalty to the APC and their “continuous strong support for the success of President Tinubu’s RENEWED HOPE Agenda and Governor Sanwo-Olu’s THEMES+ Agenda.”

The protesters demanded Ojelabi’s immediate removal, urging party leaders to “ask Pastor Ojelabi to leave the party now to avoid another imminent disaster in our party administration” and to allow those with constitutional responsibilities to act without “external influences of certain actors with selfish interests.”

JUST IN: APC members protest in Lagos, want chairman removed