Encomium
Hon. Lola Fibisola Akande, the Deputy Majority Leader of Lagos House of Assembly and the immediate elder sister to Senator Oluremi Tinubu wants to join her sister in the National Assembly come 2015.
The two term member of Lagos House of Assembly is eyeing the House of Representatives as her next port of call.
The seat she wants to occupy in the House of Representatives is Ikeja Federal Constituency, which is presently occupied by Hon. James Abiodun Faleke, the former chairman of Ojodu Local Council Development Authority (LCDA).
Although she has not openly declared her intention, she has already started holding meetings with her supporters and campaign team. One of such meetings was held recently at Prestige Lounge/Restaurant on the same street with Femi Anikulapo-Kuti’s Afrikan Shrine, Agidingbi, Ikeja, Lagos.
ENCOMIUM Weekly gathered that the Prestige Lounge/Restaurant belongs to her elder sister, Mrs. Bimpe Ishola.
There, Hon. Akande informed her teeming supporters and friends of her intention to vie for Ikeja Federal Constituency. Her ambition certainly will cause clash of interest between her and Hon. James Abiodun Faleke who, we gathered, is interested in second term.
It is not only Hon. Faleke she will have to battle to get the seat. We learnt that Hon. Bayo Odulana, from whom Hon. Faleke took the seat is very much interested.
When we called Hon. Lola Akande on Sunday, June 8, 2014, she confirmed to us that she is interested in occupying the seat in 2015.
But when we asked her whether she is aware of Hon. Faleke’s interest in second term, she did not make any comment. We also called Hon. Abiodun Faleke too to ask if he’s aware of Hon. Lola Akande’s interest in the seat he is presently occupying, but he did not answer our call.
He later responded to our text message. This is his response:
“When we get to that bridge, we will plan how to cross it.”
Hon. Bayo Odulana, in his own case, gave no response to our text message. We had asked him if it is true he is interested in the House of Representatives and whether he is aware that Hon. Lola Akande is also interested.
Hon. Lola Akande has carved a niche for herself in politics of Lagos in general and that of Ikeja in particular. She was once a secretary for SDP in Ikeja Local Government in the moribund Third Republic.
She was also a member of United Nigeria Congress Party (UNCP).
She was also a member of the new democratic dispensation in 1999, she became a member of Alliance for Democracy (AC) which later metamorphosed to Action Congress, Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) and presently All Progressives Congress (APC).
She became a member of Lagos House of Assembly in 2007, where she was elected the Deputy Chief Whip. She was re-elected a member of the assembly in 2011 and later elected Deputy Majority Leader.
She holds a B.Sc in Botany from the University of Ife (now Obafemi Awolowo University) and a Masters degree in Public Administration from University of Lagos.
She was a teacher for many years before she left to establish her own business. She later returned into politics.
She is married to Kolapo Akerele, a medical doctor and between them they have three children. She is a grandmother already.
-TOLANI ABATTI
