The political crisis in Agege local chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC) deepened yesterday following the expulsion of former Agege Local Government chairman, Chief Ganiyu Kola Egunjobi, and former APC house of assembly aspirant, Barrister Azeez Oladapo Yusuf, by the Lagos State chapter of the party
The duo, who defected to the Allied Peoples Movement (APM) and emerged as its candidates for Agege Constituencies I and II in the Lagos House of Assembly, rejected the expulsion, insisting that they had already resigned from the APC before Wednesday’s announcement
Egunjobi and Yusuf also denied that their defection was engineered by the Speaker of the Lagos State House of Assembly, Mudasiru Obasa, despite being politically associated with him
In a statement on Wednesday, they said their decision to leave the APC was taken independently following their grievances over the party’s primary elections
“For the avoidance of doubt, Rt Hon. Mudasiru Obasa had no hand whatsoever in our decision to leave the APC and contest under the platform of the Allied Peoples Movement (APM),” they said.
The APC had announced the expulsion of the two politicians on Wednesday, accusing them of anti-party activities and disloyalty after they left the party and pursued their political ambitions on the APM platform
Lagos APC Chairman, Pastor Cornelius Ojelabi, said the party invoked provisions of its 2022 amended constitution in taking the action, stressing that members who lost internal contests were expected to accept the outcome or pursue recognised avenues for redress within the party
But Egunjobi and Yusuf said they had resigned from the APC in July, weeks before the expulsion was announced
The two politicians traced their departure to the disputed APC primaries for Agege Constituencies I and II saying they won the respective exercises but were subsequently denied the party’s tickets
The duo said they initially remained in the APC and sought redress through petitions and representations to party leaders but their complaints did not result in a meaningful reconciliation process, prompting them to seek the APM platform