20th September, 2010
Ahead of the 2011 general elections, Leaders of the Action Congress of Nigeria, ACN in the Lagos East Senatorial District of Lagos, Nigeria, have denied that there is a rift within its fold and charged supporters of the party to go all out and register during the forthcoming voter registration exercise.
The party stalwarts had converged on the Ikorodu Town Hall for the Zone’s meeting which had been earlier held in Epe, Ibeju-Lekki and Somolu zones of the senatorial district.
The gathering had in attendance several ACN bigwigs including Leader of the Senatorial District Otunba Busura Alebiosu, former deputy governor of Lagos State, Alhaji Rafiu Ogunleye, Chief Olorunfunmi Bashorun and other ACN top shots in all the five zones under the Senatorial district.
Also present at the meeting organised to chart a better path towards ensuring that the district and Lagos State as a whole remained a no go area for other political parties, were federal lawmakers representing the district at the National Assembly including Dayo Bush-Alebiousu, Bola Gbabijo and Abike Dabiri-Erewa from Kosofe, Epe and Ikorodu Federal Constituencies respectively and the Lagos State Commissioner for Housing, Hon. Dele Onabokun and others.
Otunba Busura Alebiosu in his remarks at the gathering said there could never be a division within ACN as the party remained an indivisible entity, adding that all those reports of divisions were figments of the imagination of those in other political parties targeted at distracting ACN from achieving the ultimate goal of being the party of choice of the good people Lagos State.
Busura, however, charged the party faithful to be steadfast and ensure that the Lagos East Senatorial District remained the best in terms of its electoral value to the success of the party at next year’s polls. The former Deputy Governor of Lagos State, Chief Rafiu Ogunleye and Chief Olorunfunmi Bashorun, while speaking at the event, said that the license to vote remained the voter cards, adding that party leaders from wards, local governments and district levels were duty bound to ensure that no party member was left out of the exercise.
Hon. Abike Dabiri-Erewa and other speakers also called for vigilance as other parties might want to ensure victory at all cost, urging the gathering to ensure that ACN surpassed its electoral fortunes of 2007.
— Kazeem Ugbodaga