- The death of an official during Agege local government ward congress has continued to generate reactions as party leaders trade blames
- Speaker of the Lagos state House of Assembly, Mudashiru Obasa, blamed Mr Abdulkareem a former council boss of being responsible for the violence
- And in his reaction, Abdulkareem who denied the allegation claimed it was a case of witch hunt
Party leaders of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Agege local government area of Lagos state have traded blames over the death of an official who was killed following violence that ensued after the party’s local government ward congress.
Some party leaders blamed Jubreel Abdulkareem, a former council boss for the tragedy but in a swift reaction, Abdulkareem denied responsibility, claiming the allegation against him was a witch hunt.
Premium Times reports that party leaders, led by speaker of the Lagos state House of Assembly Mudashiru Obasa, blamed Mr Abdulkareem of being blinded by his ambition.
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Speaking to journalists at a press conference at the council secretariat, Obasa said that: “There is no crisis in Agege APC, no misunderstanding among the party leaders and party loyalists,”
“Ambition at times is a poison and I think what led to yesterday’s crisis was a single man’s ambition who is hell-bent to get what he desires either by crook or by force.
“Before yesterday’s incident, we got information that Jubreel and his squad have been mobilising thugs to invade Agege during the LG congress.”
In his reaction, Abdulkareem, who insisted that it was a witch-hunt claimed that some people are not happy because of his decision to defy the party leaders and contest for the ticket to represent Agege Constituency 1 at the House of Assembly.
Reacting to an eye witness account which alleged that the violence that led to the fatal shooting at the congress began after Mr Obasa arrived
Obasa who is also the current representative of the constituency while denying the allegation said:
“I was rushing to catch up with the exercise, unfortunately for me, because I had to attend to other political issues,” said Mr Obasa.
“You know at a stage like this many people will be willing to become part of the executive at the local government and ward level but everybody cannot be executive officers of the party.
“So most times you have to do a lot of persuasions, you have to console that being a party member is worthier at times than being an executive member, that was what I was doing unfortunately for me I got to the venue after the exercise had been completed.
“Before we got there, the road has been barricaded, bonfires everywhere, bottles being thrown, but the sound of the siren on my escort dispersed the thugs, they went helter-skelter, when we got there, we had to mobilise other security personnel. So they had committed the crime before I got there.
“The police in doing their job made some arrests, unfortunately, people who were arrested belong to Jubreel Abdulakareem, most especially his driver, Mr Bosun, and one Alhaja Kuku who was former chairman of Ward A, APC, in Agege,” he said.
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NAIJ.com had reported that the All Progressives Congress (APC) local government congress in Agege, Lagos state, reportedly turned bloody after a man was allegedly shot dead during a fracas that ensued after voting had ended on Saturday, May 12.
APC official tells why his party could be voted out in 2019 on NAIJ.com TV:
Source: Naija.ng