By Ojelabi Cole
The general overseer of INRI, Primate Elijah Ayodele made a statement some weeks ago that the All Progressive Congress (APC) will be destroyed and its destruction will start from Lagos state.
As a political commentator, I found this prophecy or prediction funny and unattainable because if not for anything, Lagos state owns APC and APC owns Lagos. The foundation of APC started from Lagos and its roots will forever be in Lagos.
As a matter of fact, by political reasoning, if every state chapter would scatter across the country, APC Lagos will survive because the ultimate leader of the party, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu practically owns Lagos and whatever he says about the party is final.
Therefore, it would be politically wrong for Primate Ayodele to say that APC would break and that it will happen from Lagos state.
These were his words; “APC will break and it will start from Lagos. The party will be beyond recognition as those holding the party together will decide to let go because the pressure will be too much.”
“There will be another movement coming out from APC and this will start from Lagos state. President Tinubu will lose his grip on the party in Lagos and nationally, it will be a major problem for the president and if care isn’t taken, this will rub off on his chances in 2027.”
These are seriously powerful words that any political observer would not want to joke with. Despite the fact that it doesn’t seem possible that APC will break starting from Lagos state, they are not words that can be thrown away even by APC apologists.
I studied the statements and though I didn’t believe it, I kept it somewhere with a hope that someday, I will make reference to it when the party proves its stability beyond reasonable doubt.
However, I am forced to say that the political development in the state in the past few weeks is threatening the peaceful existence of the party in the state.
Especially with the Obasa-Meranda house of assembly fracas, one would begin to wonder if there is actual leadership in Lagos APC because even other states don’t have it as messy as it has happened lately in Lagos state.
The state and party have been in a messy situation since Mudashiru Obasa was suddenly removed as speaker; it’s been meeting upon meeting without any significant progress in the state.
To cap it all, Mudashiru Obasa, the impeached speaker, stormed the house of assembly this afternoon and proceeded to the speaker’s office, declaring that he remains speaker of the house of assembly.
At the moment, about 36 lawmakers have been crying foul and calling on the state leaders to speak to them regarding the issue because they are confused. They accused leaders of keeping quiet and treating them with disrespect with the return of Obasa to the house.
This is very embarrassing and disgraceful because APC, which prides itself as the most united party, especially in Lagos state, is going through all of these. Is this to say that everything the party knows is oppressing opposition, but when it comes to uniting the party, the leaders are nowhere to be found?
With the whole drama unfolding, allegations of betrayal, disloyalty in Tinubu’s APC, will APC truly break from Lagos as Primate Ayodele said?
