Lagos LG poll: Ikeja indigenes demand chairmanship slot
Ikeja aborigenes under the aegis of Ikeja Indigenous Advocates (IIA) of Lagos State have renewed their call on the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) to field an indigene of the community in the coming local government election.
The group, in a statement issued on Monday by its chairman, Alhaji Muftau Arogunjo, and secretary, Mr. Luyide Ewedola, lamented the time lag in ensuring equity and justice in the occupation of the office of chairman, Ikeja Local Government, to the detriment of aborigines, “who had made meaningful sacrifices for the stability of the council area”.
The group expressed the concern after a marathon meeting held in Ikeja, to appraise the progress, unity, security, and development of the community.
It reckoned that apart from the incumbent council chairman who will soon finish tenure, no indigene of Ikeja Local Government had been able to occupy the seat of council chairman, apparently owing to the failure of the parties to field indigenes at respective times.
“While we have nothing against non-indigenes in Ikeja aspiring for key positions in the local government, it is our considered opinion that notable indigenes with immense contributions to the growth of the local council should be given a level-playing ground to aspire to the highest office of chairman, moreover that, save for the incumbent chairman whose tenure will lapse soon, no indigene of Ikeja, much less of anywhere in Lagos State, had ever been presented to be chairman.
“The advantages of having an Ikeja an indigene as the next chairman are numerous, but chief of which is the fact that, Ikeja, as the capital of Lagos, deserves a leadership that the traditional institution can relate with, and thus help in advancing community growth,” the IIA averred.
The group also advised the ruling APC against imposition of chairmanship candidate for Ikeja in the coming local government election, considering the fact that Lagosians, operating in an environment codenamed ‘Centre of Excellence’, are now fixated on issue-based campaigns, “which is good for our democracy”.
Meanwhile, the IIA, at its meeting, lauded the various humanitarian initiatives of certain socio-political groups in Ìkeja, describing them as a soothing balm and appreciable palliative measures to rescue the less-privileged from their hiatus.
“These groups raised by well-to-do indigenes of Ikeja Local Government, have done a lot to deserve our common praise in terms of periodic distribution of food items and helping the needy as well as indigent children, to meet both immediate, inter-mediate, and long-term term needs,” the group enthused.