AREWA COMMUNITY FORUM, LAGOS, CONDEMNS RELEGATION OF MEMBERS IN APC
By Mcanthony Onuoha
Arewa Community Forum, Lagos Branch, has vehemently condemned what it described as deliberate relegation of its members by Lagos State All Progressives Congress (APC).
In a press release personally signed by the Apex leader of Arewa Community, APC, Lagos West II, Hon. (Dr.) Ibrahim Tanko, it conveyed a message of total displeasure from the Arewa Community over continued marginalization by Lagos State APC.
The message reads in part:
” We worked tirelessly and relentlessly during the past general elections, particularly, in 2023, leading dedicated and loyal members of the Arewa Community in Lagos State to achieve a significant victory for virtually all elective offices, both at state and national levels on the APC platform.”
” In previous elections, the Arewa ethnic group, alongside myself, as the apex leader of the Arewa APC, Lagos West II, risked our lives and fought passionately to actively participate in the general elections. However, we now feel overlooked, forgotten, and abandoned after those frantic efforts.”
” The Arewa Community in Lagos State feels deeply disheartened as we did not receive even a simple thank you or courtesy visit by some of our elected representatives in the APC. To say the least, it is painful for us to expend so much energy and effort to secure a resounding victory for our great party, only to be forgotten, abandoned and totally marginalized.”
” To our surprise, the situation in Lagos State drastically changed since President Bola Ahmed Tinubu became the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. During the previous tenure, we had ten councillors and supervisory councillors representing us in Lagos State. However, now we have only one Arewa councillorship aspirant who successfully advanced through the recent local government primaries.”
” Moreover, some of our National Assembly members have done nothing to support the Arewa Community in terms of demonstrating true democracy. They include Senator Dr. Idiat Oluranti Adebule of Lagos West Senatorial District, and Hon. kalejaye Adeboye, who represents Ajeromi Ifelodun in the Federal House of Representatives. The Arewa Community worked tirelessly to secure their victories, yet, we were abandoned in return.”
” We can still recall only a few sacrifices and efforts we made before and during the last general elections in 2023. We actively solicited votes in favour of the APC, and our Arewa community voted overwhelmingly for the party. We contributed significantly to the campaign by donating over three hundred buses to the APC in South West.
As the Arewa APC apex leader, Lagos West II, l was tasked with ensuring the success of all local governments and LCDAS in Lagos West II(a total of 10), which we successfully achieved.”
“At my personal expense, l erected numerous billboards and distributed thousands of campaign posters, T-shirts, faze caps, handbills, and various other campaign materials. It is important to note that many of the elected officials, including senators, members of the House of Representatives, and others are currently occupying their offices and chambers, courtesy of our collective efforts, hard work, and financial contributions, yet, they seem to have forgotten all our sacrifices.”
“In light of this and other related issues that we cannot fully address here, there is no gainsaying that we lack the boldness to effectively solicit votes from our community in the forthcoming Local Government elections, and the subsequent general elections in 2027.”
According to the group, the complaint is to create public awareness, and also urge the APC leadership to listen to their concerns and speedily address them for the benefit of the party and the nation at large.
