22nd May, 2012
Over 1,000 youths from the nine wards in Surulere Local Government Area led by Mr. Afeez Otun, yesterday stormed the Surulere residence of Femi Gbajabiamila, a member of the House of Representatives representing Surulere Constituency I to protest what they called the non-performance of the local government chairman, Mr. Tajudeen Ajide.
The angry youths who are members of the Action Congress of Nigeria, ACN, accused Ajide and his deputy, Suleiman Yusuf of neglecting the youths who worked for their victory in the October 2011 local government election in Lagos State.
“The Chairman, Surulere Local Government has completely neglected the youths who worked for his election in October 2011.
“For instance, the collection of revenue which used to be handled by six persons during the tenure of Dr. Rasaq Folami has been given to thirty persons and this is a ploy to cause confusion and chaos in the local government. We don’t want Surulere to be turned into a battlefield as we have in places like Mushin and Ajegunle where there are recurring violence every now and then,” Otun said.
The youths who were received by the mother of Gbajabiamila, also accused the chairman and his deputy of intimidating youths of the area.
“The chairman is anti-youth. He only recognises his cronies who never worked for his emergence as the local government chairman. All he does is to share money with his cronies,” Otun added.
The ACN Surulere youth leader also accused Ajide of persecuting youths protesting against his maladministration.
“The chairman instructed one of his personal assistants to arrest some protesting youths who were detained at Bode Thomas Police Station.
“It took the intervention of party leaders for the police to effect our release on Monday,” one of the youths stated.
The ACN youths appealed to the state governor, Mr. Babatunde Raji Fashola and the ACN National Leader, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu to call Ajide to order before things get out of hand.
“We are appealing to both Governor Fashola and Tinubu to call Ajide to order before he turns Surulere Local Government into a battlefield through his misrule,” Otun pleaded.
Reacting to the protest by the youths, an aide of Ajide described them as a bunch of misguided protesters who are being used by the oppposition to destabilise Surulere, adding that they will fail.
Efforts to get Ajide to react to the protest proved abortive as he was said to have travelled out of the country in company of his deputy.