Youths Of Surulere Urge Gbajabiamila Not To Interfere In Council Primaries

Lagos APC council chairmanship primaries: Youths urge Gbajabiamila to steer-clear 
Ahead Lagos State Local Government Council elections, a group, Surulere Youth Movement (SYM), has urged House of Representatives Speaker, Femi Gbajabiamila, to listen to yearnings of people and allow their will prevail through the choice of candidate they chose to represent them at the council level. The group, an umbrella body for progressive youths in the area, said that since the lawmaker rather than toe an alleged divisive line, it was important the parliamentarian serve as a unifying factor before, during and after the council election, a task it claimed, was befitting of his status.

The youths maintained that the task before the lawmaker at the national level deserves more attention, particularly when the country was battling with insecurity and other challenges, rather than dabbling in local politics while national duty was at stake. 
Through a statement released on Saturday and signed by the group's Chairman, Abdullahi Olawale, the youths noted that his dabbling into the council election had unsettled the atmosphere, raised many eyebrows and was already creating enmity among erstwhile friends in the same All Progressives Congress (APC) family in Surulere. 
According to the group, the Speaker has continued his “Pretender Politics” unabated in a move against the people’s wish, particularly the ambition of Hon. Aregbe IDRIS, the current Youth Organising Secretary, All Progressives Congress (APC) Lagos Chapter, who has been the choice of party chieftains, opinion leaders and youths within the council.

“Sure, over the years, the speaker has been seen as an acknowledged panacea for winning elections in Surulere and unchallenged, but his choice-candidate this time around is not the acceptable choice of the people.

“Already, the unfortunate acrimony, which is seen to portray the decadence of the polity, especially what some has rightfully termed “Manifestation of Greed of the Political Class”, has prompted thousands of Surulere Youths threatening “Thunder and Brimstone”, should their Choice-candidate, IDRIS, is side-lined.

“We know the other contestants, they are all our people, but we likewise know their plus and minuses – and haven access them all, we are more than convinced that Hon. Aregbe Idris is the best man for the job, he has paid his dues.”

The group, which has floated the hashtag #begSpeakerGbajabiamila!,  further said, “It is worrisome that the Speaker, who is seen as a father-figure can allegedly stoop this low in an attempt to wish away the people’s choice. Over the years we have watched him have his dishonourable ways, but the current injustice will not stand.”

Maintaining their stand, the #begSpeakerGbajabiamila!, youth-wing further noted that “there is absolutely nothing wrong if people compete with each other, but everything is certainly wrong, in fact, bizarre, when such competition eludes merit: Especially via “Imposition” of unpopular candidates over the well-known. “The encroachment on the rights of the people – especially party youths – to constitute their “choice” is unjustified. BegSpeakerGbajabiamila! therefore call into action the office of the revered Chairman, Lagos Governing Administration Council (GAC), Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, to prevail on Mr. Speaker to Jèbure on this issue, so to speak. A stitch in time saves nine,” the statement added.