Politics

Battle for Gbajabiamila’s Reps seat hots up in Lagos

Published

3 years ago

June 23, 2023

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Political parties in Lagos State are waiting for the directive of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to announce the date for the conduct of the Surulere Federal Constituency 1 bye-election.

Former Speaker of the House of Representative, Femi Gbajabiamila and member of the All Progressives Congress (APC), who represented the constituency was re-elected for the 6th term in the 2023 general elections, but tendered his resignation letter on Wednesday, June 14, following his appointment and resumption of work as the Chief of Staff to President Bola Tinubu.

Gbajabiamila was announced as the Chief of Staff to the President earlier this month in a statement issued by the State House Director of Information, Abiodun Oladunjoye.

In a letter addressed to the newly elected speaker of the House of Representatives, Tajudeen Abbas at the plenary, Gbajabiamila said that he was resigning to officially resume duty in his new office.

Gbajabiamila, who attended the plenary and moved a motion under personal explanation to submit his letter of resignation, remarked that serving in the House has been a great honour.

The Speaker, Abbas, after reading the letter swiftly declared vacant the seat of Surulere 1 federal constituency of Lagos State, hitherto occupied by Gbajabiamila for about 20 years.

“On the account of the letter, we have declared the seat of Surulere 1 vacant as from today,” Abbas said.

“Having spent the last 20 years in the Nigerian Parliament, and after winning my 6th term election into the National Assembly, I shall work with Mr. President in discharging the enormous task ahead of him for the peace and progress of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

“I shall give my best when I take office on June 14, 2023, as reflected in Mr. President’s official letter,” Gbajabiamila said. Gbajabiamila’s resignation is in line with the 1999 Constitution of Nigeria. Chapter 8. Part 2. Section 306 (1) of the Constitution states:

“Save as otherwise provided in this section, any person who is appointed, elected or otherwise selected to any office established by this Constitution may resign from that office by writing under his hand addressed to the authority or person by whom he was appointed, elected or selected.”

Subsection 7 states: “The notice of resignation of a member of a legislative house shall be addressed to the President of the Senate or, as the case may require, to the Speaker of the legislative house in question.”

Following his resignation, INEC is expected to conduct a bye-election, which will be contested by all interested political parties. The Guardian, however, reports that while the parties await INEC’s directive, there is keen interest for the position as members of the APC and opposition parties, Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and Labour Party (LP) are jostling for the seat.

At least three members of APC have indicated interest to fly the party’s ticket in the bye-election that will produce the replacement. They are former acting Chairman of Surulere Local Government, Agboola Dabiri; two-term former member of the Lagos State House of Assembly, Hon. Kabir Lawal popularly called Caesar; and the current chairman of the APC in Surulere Local Government Area, Fuad Laguda.

It was learnt that a mock primary conducted among apex leaders of the party in Surulere threw up Laguda. One of the leaders who spoke to The Guardian on the condition of anonymity confirmed that while Dabiri is already in Abuja, Lawal had agreed to step down to pave the way for the emergence of Laguda.

“We did the mock primary and Laguda was unanimously nominated as candidate to represent the party. We decided on Laguda because he has the experience as a seasoned politician and also an accomplished public servant,” he said. But reacting, the spokesperson of APC in Lagos, Seye Oladejo said nothing has been decided yet and the party does not practice anointed candidate method.

“It’s natural for people to show interest and fulfill their ambition once opportunities come up. The office left by the former speaker is a big office and whoever is coming there will have a big shoe to fill. We are on the look out for the right candidate who can win the election and meet up with the kind of performance that has made Gbajabiamila a household name that the party and the constituency are proud of.

Oladejo stated that the party will still follow due process in selecting a candidate through the primary and assured that the candidate would be someone committed to the ideals of progressive politics. He explained that it would be the members of the party in the constituency that would decide who gets the ticket among those jostling for it.

“The party will ensure that the person that will emerge has electoral value and the morale to win the election. Gbajabiamila has left an indelible mark in that constituency, his works has made him a household name and there is a need to carry on with the good works he has started.

“Every politics is local. It is the constituency that will determine who gets the ticket.” When asked if the party would consider a woman for the position, Oladejo said, “Our party is fair to all gender and age groups. Everyone will be given a chance.” Oladejo said the party would announce the process for nomination of candidates when INEC fixes a date for the bye-election.

Also, Women Supporting Women For Greater Heights, a socio-political group, recently said it had nominated Hon. Jamila Mu’azu-Olukosi for the party’s ticket.

The group appealed to APC to consider a female representative to ensure inclusiveness.

“This is coming on the heels of a purported publication by some faceless individuals claiming that one Hon. Fuad Laguda, currently the APC Chairman for Surulere Local Government Area, has been unanimously anointed to replace the former speaker.

“Mu’azu-Olukosi has contested four times, paid for the nomination forms, mobilised people massively, but was told to step down and she did because of her belief in the party’s supremacy.

“Reports indicated that Muazu-Onikosi, asides being a dedicated card carrying member of APC Lagos state, has empowered many people in her constituency.

“Now that there is an opening, they should consider her interest and unwavering support for the party,” the president of the group, Bolanle Oyeyemi, had said in a statement.

Speaking with The Guardian, PDP publicity secretary, Hakeem Amode stated that the party is waiting for INEC’s announcement to update them on the date for the bye-election.

“The PDP will contest the election, follow the directive of the national executive. In PDP, the national exco will write the INEC at the national level, letting them know, after they have pronounced the date at which they want to do the election, the date at which our primary will hold.

“The party will pick who will represent the people well during the party primary. We will pick the best among our members who will represent the people and do something different. We will field a candidate that is respected, democratic and understands what is going on in that constituency.

“A candidate who will offer alternatives to what one person has been doing for over 20 years. We will feature somebody who has the capacity, intelligence and education, who understands the sufferings of the people.

“The PDP will not do anything outside the electoral law as amended. We will follow the Constitution of the country in fielding somebody who will do something different and understands what is going on in Nigeria at this time.

“Whoever is interested will come up, they will buy the letter of intent, and will take it to the state secretariat that they are interested in running for the office.” On her part, the publicity secretary of LP, Bunmi Odesanya said the party would field candidates for the constituency.

“We will encourage as many aspirants as show interest. If there are two or more aspirants, we will conduct primaries.

“LP will make a marked difference in representing the Surulere constituency. The achievement of Gbajabiamila in Surulere is lopsided. It is not cosmopolitan enough. He is known to favour and empower APC party loyalists. The former Reps member did this widely to buy the conscience of the vulnerable masses and not with the intention to serve.

“The Labour Party believes in the youths as the future of the country. LP will empower the youths indeed in the constituency, which cut across party lines irrespective of affiliation. Everyone will feel the positive impact of the LP candidate when he or she emerges. LP will deliver a candidate that will win the election. Odesanya, however, stated that the party is waiting for INEC directives on the conduct of the bye-election.

“We had a candidate in the last election, but if other people show interest, all the modalities will be considered. We had candidates that we fielded but if other people come up, we will conduct a credible and fair primary that is open to all.”

When contacted by The Guardian, the Lagos INEC’s HOD Voter Education and Publicity, Tadese Adenike, said the state INEC is awaiting the directive from the commission’s headquarters in Abuja to give them the directive.

“Sorry, I will not be able to speak on that because it’s the national headquarters of the commission in Abuja that will also direct us at the state level and up till now we have not received any correspondent to that effect. I don’t have anything concrete to tell you about it. We are still awaiting the directive of the headquarters and we haven’t.”

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Politics

2027: Peter Obi not a threat to Tinubu, says Sunday Dare

Published

2 weeks ago

June 28, 2026

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Sunday Dare, special adviser to President Bola Tinubu on media and public communications, has dismissed talks that the presidential candidate of the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC), Peter Obi, poses a political threat to the Tinubu administration, insisting that the government remains focused on delivering on its mandate.

Dare, while speaking during an interview on the Mic On Podcast, said the administration was confident in its achievements and ongoing reforms, arguing that its performance had strengthened its political standing ahead of the 2027 general elections.

According to him, the government has carefully assessed the country’s challenges and is implementing policies aimed at addressing them.

“This government is not afraid of Peter Obi. He is not a nightmare to our government. Maybe before, Peter Obi was a threat, but right now, he is no threat because we stand on the solid ground of performance,” Dare said.

He added, “We have been able to interrogate the problems of this country. Decisions are being taken, policies are being unfolded across the country, and we have a scorecard to show.”

Dare also criticised Obi’s public comments and media appearances, describing some of his responses to questions as lacking clarity.

“Peter Obi is not a nightmare. Maybe you replace nightmare with nuisance because if you see some of his reactions, they are very pedantic. Sometimes you wonder. You listen to some of his interviews, ask him a question, and he goes in a roundabout direction that does not make sense,” he said.

Commenting on the 2027 presidential election, Dare expressed confidence that Obi would not replicate his performance in Lagos, where the former Labour Party presidential candidate defeated Tinubu during the 2023 presidential election.

“Peter Obi defeated President Tinubu in Lagos in 2023. This is 2027; he can’t defeat Tinubu again in Lagos,” he said.

Dare’s remarks come amid increasing political positioning by major parties and key opposition figures ahead of the 2027 general elections, with both the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) and opposition leaders intensifying public engagements over their records and electoral prospects.

News

Court orders INEC to deregister ADC, four other political parties

Published

3 weeks ago

June 15, 2026

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A federal high court in Abuja, the federal capital territory (FCT) has ordered the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to deregister the African Democratic Congress (ADC) and four other political parties.

The other political parties are the Action Peoples Party (APP), Action Alliance (AA), Accord Party (AP), and Zenith Labour Party (ZLP).

The plaintiff had asked the court to determine whether INEC is constitutionally required to deregister political parties that fail to satisfy the performance thresholds stipulated in section 225A of the 1999 Constitution, as amended.

The group argued that the five parties had consistently failed to meet the conditions for retaining their registration, including securing at least 25 percent of votes in a state during a presidential election or winning elective positions at the national, state, or local government levels.

According to the plaintiff, the parties failed to achieve the required electoral performance in the 2023 general election and subsequent by-elections conducted by INEC.

The former lawmakers contended that allowing the parties to remain registered despite their poor electoral showing was contrary to constitutional provisions and detrimental to the integrity of the electoral process.

They prayed the court to compel INEC to deregister the parties before preparations for the 2027 general election gather momentum.

The plaintiffs also sought orders restraining the affected parties from participating in elections, conducting primaries, organising rallies, or carrying out other political activities pending compliance with constitutional requirements.

In his judgment, Peter Lifu, the presiding judge, upheld the arguments of the plaintiff and ordered INEC to deregister the five political parties.

Politics

‘Learn from LP crisis’ — Abure warns Seriake Dickson to beware of Obi and his supporters

Published

1 month ago

June 9, 2026

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The factional national chairman of the Labour Party (LP), Julius Abure, has warned Seriake Dickson, national leader of the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC), to be cautious in his alliance with Peter Obi and his supporters.

Obi, the presidential candidate of the labour party in the 2023 general election, is the presidential candidate of the NDC. He secured the party’s ticket on May 30 after he was ratified at its national convention held in Abuja.

Speaking in a statement he personally signed, Abure said Dickson appeared to have learnt from the recent crisis in the LP, describing the NDC leader’s alleged refusal to concede all elective positions in the party to Obi’s supporters as commendable.

The LP factional chairman, alleged that Obi and Alex Otti, governor of Abia, and many of their supporters who won elections on the platform of the LP in 2023 have since turned against the party’s leadership.

He stated: “They say, history usually repeats itself. Senator Dickson and Co have seen their trajectory and learnt from what happened to us, that a lot of them after they have won and now in government turned round and were struggling with the leadership of the party,” the statement reads.

“I want to say that Obi and his followers are ingrates who will never remember the sacrifices you made for them. It is even dangerous for the leadership of the NDC to wholly hand over the elective positions to Obi and his followers.

“We did it in 2022/23, immediately they saw that Obi was interested in the leadership of the party, all those elected under the platform of the party simply followed Obi, forgetting all the sacrifices and suffering we made for them.”

Abure claimed that the crisis in the LP worsened when the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) obeyed a court ruling which said the tenure of the party’s leadership had lapsed, giving rise to the Nenadi Usman-led interim national committee.

“They fell into the trap of INEC, when the commission deceived them to say that the tenure of the executive has expired. We had expected them to reject that position,” Abure said.

He noted in the light of what transpired in the LP, “it is strategically” important for Dickson to retain some control within the NDC by ensuring that his own supporters occupied positions in the party.

“He needed to bring his own people so that when the chips are down, he will also have people that will speak and defend him,” Abure said.

Abure further claimed that Obi’s supporters joined the NDC to dominate the party’s structure as they allegedly did in the LP.

“They trooped into NDC with Obi hoping to occupy every space like they did in the Labour Party. No leader of any political party seeing what Obi did to the Labour Party, along with his followers will make that mistake again,” he said.

He noted that his comments were prompted by questions about how the LP managed Obi and his supporters during the 2022/2023 election cycle.

According to him, the party made significant sacrifices to accommodate Obi’s interests, including granting many tickets to his supporters free of charge.

“We ensured that Obi’s interests were adequately taken care of. We only looked at his body language, and we obliged most of his supporters’ tickets,” he said.

“Most of the tickets were for free believing that we were investing in those persons in line with the philosophy of the party, expecting that when they win, they will bring along necessary support that will help in the growth of the party.

“But ironically, when they came into power, they went after the leadership of the party.”

Abure also accused Obi and Otti of attempting to take over the party’s leadership following disputes over the tenure of its executives.

“The leaders, particularly, Peter Obi and Alex Otti decided to take over the leadership of the party,” he said.

He added that elected officials who emerged on the party’s platform failed to support it financially, urging the NDC to learn from the LP’s experience.