
This is not the best of good times for the troubled party chairman of Ojokoro LCDA.
Till this hour, Hon. Jelili Oseni is running his office without furniture; chairs, and tables as he is often seen outside the party secretariat attending and holding meetings with party members.
Troubled started with the new chairman when he was made the vice chairman of the old Ifako-Ijaye All Progressives Congress, APC, during the party congress last year and later elevated as party Chairman of Ojokoro LCDA.
Before the party primaries, some party stakeholders who were uncomfortable with his elevation, believing that the former councilor of Ward F would not dance to their tune made effort to remove him from office until the intervention of the State before the dust settles down on the issues.
The stakeholders, who were divided among themselves before the intervention of the State secretariat, had chosen the pioneer council leader of Ojokoro, Hon. Nosiru, as party chairman, stating that the position of the party chairman has been offered to one of the well-respected leaders in the area.
Following this decision by the stakeholders, their choice occupied the sit and equipped the office to his taste, but despite this, the state disagreed and believed that the vice chairman of the old local government had to be chairman of Ojokoro. The state argued that due process has to be followed as they cannot bring a person from the back door to be the party chairman, which will negate the list at the National secretariat of the party in Abuja.
As this faulty arrangement went awry, the impostor had to pack all the furniture, thus leaving the office empty and left with the key office, wanting to be paid the money he used to equip the party office according to an inside source. The new party chairman has no access to perform his new role as head of the party for several months following the seizure of the office key.
Despite this, the impostor has been paraded as the new chairman and he has been introduced to other stakeholders in the state with the connivance of others like the council chairman, who had been funding the office before the state intervened.
The state was even ignored by the party leaders when it intervened. But help comes for the new chairman to have the key of the office back following the intervention of the APC House of Rep candidate for the 2023 election, Hon. Benjamin Olabinjo who was prevailed upon by Hon. Ahmed Ipoola Omisore.
Despite this intervention, the ruling party chairman still operates from an uncomfortable zone.
It is as if the new chairman is being held by the jugular and denied to operate the party affairs to deliver the party in the forthcoming general elections.
However, the candidates of the party in the local council development area are going about in their preparation for their campaigns sidelining the chairman.