Encomium
– FASHOLA yet to pick form
MRS. Adejoke Orelope-Adefulire, the Deputy Governor of Lagos State, Mr. Demola Seriki, the former Minister of State for Interior, Chief Enoch Ajiboso, the former Commissioner for Agriculture in Lagos State and Hon. Kamal Bayewu, the outgoing chairman of Ajeromi/Ifelodun Local Government Area, have all paid the N3.3 million to pick the expression of interest and nomination forms of All Progressives Congress (APC) for Lagos West senatorial district.
While Governor Babatunde Raji Fashola (SAN), who had been speculated to be interested in the seat, is yet to pick his own form.
As at Friday, October 24, 2014, when ENCOMIUM Weekly got the information, Governor Fashola was in Japan, where he was said to have gone on official visit. Maybe when he comes back, he will pick his own form.
Lagos West senatorial district seat which is presently occupied by Senator Ganiyu Olarenwaju Solomon is the biggest of all the three senatorial districts in Lagos State. It consists of 10 local government areas out of the 20 LGs and 18 Local Council Development Areas (LCDA) out of the 37 LCDAs.
While three of the aspirants Adefulire, Ajiboso and Bayewu are from the Lagos West senatorial district, Mr. Demola Seriki is from Lagos Central senatorial district. He certainly ran to Lagos West to contest because the incumbent in Lagos Central senatorial district, Senator Oluremi Tinubu, the wife of Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, is going back for second term.
ENCOMIUM Weekly takes a look at the four aspirants and their chances of clinching the party ticket for the senatorial district.
MRS. ADEJOKE ORELOPE-ADEFULIRE
MRS. ADEJOKE ORELOPE-ADEFULIRE has a rich political pedigree. Aside the fact that her father, Chief Orelope has been an influential figure politically in Lagos State, she too has garnered a lot of experience and influence on the political turf.
She was a member of Lagos State House of Assembly between 1991 and 1993. She was a member of Lagos State Independent Electoral Commission between 1999 and 2003. In 2003, she was appointed Commissioner for Women Affairs and Poverty Alleviation, a position she retained in 2007.
In 2011, she was elected with Governor Babatunde Raji Fashola (SAN) as Deputy Governor of Lagos State.
She has to her advantage the fact that she is a grassroots mobiliser particularly with the womenfolk.
She is also from Alimosho Local Government Area which presently is the largest local government area in the country. She is also of Awori descent, majority of whom are residents in many parts of the local government areas that make up the senatorial district.
Last and most important, she has been a loyal member of the party right from inception.
DEMOLA SERIKI
DEMOLA SERIKI is the former Minister of State for Defence and later for Interior. He has always been a member of Peoples Democratic
Party before cross carpeting to ACN in 2011. Severally, he had contested for the House of Representatives and the Senate when he was in PDP but he never won any of the elections.
All the while he was contesting for these positions it has always been in Lagos Central senatorial district.
He became a minister in 2007, when Chief Bode George presented his name to spite Senator Musiliu Obanikoro, the party governorship candidate, who lost to Fashola then.
The death of President Musa Yar’Adua in 2010 ended his tenure as a minister when President Goodluck Jonathan, who took over as President, did not reappoint him into the cabinet.
In 2011, he cross-carpeted to ACN and was later compensated with a commissioner slot which he gave to Dr. Wale Ahmed.
The party will be facing an uphill task in convincing their members to vote for him if he is eventually imposed on them by the party leadership.
CHIEF ENOCH AJIBOSO
CHIEF ENOCH AJIBOSO has been the chairman of Agege Local Government Council twice. He was the Executive Secretary of the LG before he was elected the chairman in 2000. He later fell out with the leadership of the party and left to join PDP.
Again in 2007, he came back to ACN and was appointed the Commissioner for Agriculture and Cooperatives in the first term of Governor Fashola. He was, however, unceremoniously removed alongside Mr. Sesan Olanrewaju, when they were alleged to be working for Governor Fashola against the interest of Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
He is back in APC again but whether the party hierarchy will trust him enough to give him their biggest senatorial seat ticket is a question that only time can answer.
HON. KAMAL AYINDE BAYEWU
HON. KAMAL AYINDE BAYEWU, is the outgoing chairman of Ajeromi-Ifelodun Local Government Area. The former banker turned
politician has served meritoriously as the chairman of the local government for two terms. Whether his performance at the local government level is good enough to give him the ticket to represent the biggest senatorial district in the state is one issue the primary for the Senate on November 19, 2014, will determine.
If he eventually wins the primary and the National Assembly elections in February 2015, he will not be the first person to move from the LG chairman office to the Red Chamber (Senate) of the National Assembly. Senator Muse, the former Chairman of Apapa Local Government Area did the same thing in 2007. He (Muse) was elected a Senator in 2007 to represent Lagos Central senatorial district.
Meanwhile, ENCOMIUM Weekly gathered that Senator Oluremi Tinubu, who is representing Lagos Central senatorial district is the only person who has so far paid the N3.3 million expression of interest and nomination forms for Lagos Central senatorial district.
In fact, we gathered she was reluctant to buy the forms because she said she was not interested in going back for second term. But political leaders from the senatorial district were the ones that impressed it on her that she must go back for second term because she served her district well. They said she was the only senator that regularly met with people from her senatorial district.
According to one of the leaders from the senatorial district, so far, she has held 15 town hall meetings since she became a senator. The leaders were said to have told her that if she refused to buy the form, they will buy it for her, because she deserves to go back for second term.
In Lagos East senatorial district, we gathered that as at Friday, October 24, 2014, only Senator Gbenga Ashafa, the incumbent senator representing the district had paid the N3.3 million for the expression of interest and nomination forms.
This means, he (Ashafa) has dropped his governorship ambition for second term as senator.
– TOLANI ABATTI
