…as protests continue ahead council poll
*They’re planning to kill me, says Banire
The clash between the National Legal Adviser of All Progressives Congress, Dr. Muiz Banire, and leaders of the party in Lagos State appears to have grown worse, amid preparations for next Saturday’s local government elections.
On Tuesday, scores of leaders of the APC in Mushin Local Government and Odi Olowo Local Council Development Area marched on the Alausa, Ikeja Government House, demanding the expulsion of Banire, alleging “series of anti-party activities and embezzlement of campaign funds”, against him.
It was also gathered from some of the protesters that Banire has turned against the national leader of the party, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, as was exemplified in his recent conducts.
But Banire, who is pitched against the leadership of the APC in Lagos State over what he described as “imposition of candidates for the local elections”, cried out a few days ago, that his life was under threat.
Yesterday’s protesters, led by a chieftain of the party in the area, Mr Femi Martins, said they were constrained to make the demand owing to Banire’s “several excesses and public utterances which were aimed at causing public disaffection and electoral misfortune against the party, particularly during the forthcoming local government election in the state.”
Specifically, the protesters, who proceeded from the party’s secretariat on Acme Road, Ogba, to Governor’s office in Alausa, displayed placards of various inscriptions such as “Enough Is Enough, Banire Must Go; Banire, Custodian Of Party Destruction; Banire, The Greatest Beneficiary Of Imposition; Banire, A Hypocrite Per Excellence; Banire, The Modern-Day Judas Iscariot; Banire, A Serial Traitor; Banire Is Unqualified To Teach Us Democracy,” among others.
Reading from a protest letter addressed to Governor Akinwunmi Ambode and Speaker of Lagos State House of Assembly, Rt Hon Mudashiru Obasa and APC Chairman in Lagos, Chief Henry Ajomale for onward transmission to the national headquarters of APC, Martins said as a custodian of the party’s Constitution, Banire was well aware of the party’s provisions for direct, indirect and consensus primaries, but that he had played to the gallery and publicly accused the party of imposition without exhausting the internal mechanisms already available within the party.
He said Banire, after the primaries of the party in Mushin and Odi Olowo, had been sponsoring his cronies to write and publish advertorials against the party, and that he had been granting interviews to embarrass the party to the extent of attracting hatred, contempt, ridicule and disrepute to the party.
Martins also listed the grounds for the call for Banire’s removal in office and expulsion from the party to include: “Intentional negligence in duties as the National Legal Adviser to defend the party and the party’s interest; carrying out unauthorised publicity of a party dispute without exhausting all avenues for settlement or redress within the party; causing and arrogantly admitting causing a legal representative to disavow the party in a law suit; predicting and working towards the electoral failure of the party; inciting the public against the interest of the party, and falsely accusing the party of imposition in the public, whereas knowledgeable of the facts of the provision of the constitution of the party for alternative means of conducting primaries other than direct primaries.”
Other grounds, according to Martins are: “Sponsoring a group called MEF to ridicule the party and bring the party into disrepute; perpetrating blatant imposition in our constituency, Mushin, against the wish of majority of the party members to cause disaffection within the party; disobeying and causing others to disobey lawful directives of the party; and carrying out anti-party activities towards the forthcoming local government elections, by encouraging members of his group to pick tickets of other parties.”
Besides, Martins faulted a claim by Banire that the protest was sponsored against him by certain people in government, saying that there was no iota of truth in such an allegation.
He said: “If you look around, you will see some elderly people. Are they also rented? These are people that are fed up with Banire’s group and himself. He (Banire) has been in power in Mushin for over 12 years and there has been no development. Rather, Mushin has been known to be a violent place; they have embezzled our funds; they even embezzled funds meant for campaigns.
“Go to the library named after him, Muiz Banire Library. You cannot see a single notebook there not to talk of a book. No furnishing there whatsoever and they made us believe that they have spent hundreds of millions on that. That is what the people are saying. They are saying they are tired of no development and are saying no, to few people distributing our commonwealth among themselves. That is what the protest is all about.”
Receiving the letter on behalf of Governor Ambode, Special Adviser to the Governor on Communities and Communication, Hon Kehinde Bamigbetan, commended the protesters for their peaceful conduct, assuring that the letter would be forwarded to both the state and national organs of the party.
But Banire, a few days ago, said he had been receiving life-threatening messages over his fight against the “imposition” of candidates in the party.
Yesterday’s protesters, led by a chieftain of the party in the area, Mr Femi Martins, said they were constrained to make the demand owing to Banire’s “several excesses and public utterances which were aimed at causing public disaffection and electoral misfortune against the party, particularly during the forthcoming local government election in the state.”
Specifically, the protesters, who proceeded from the party’s secretariat on Acme Road, Ogba, to Governor’s office in Alausa, displayed placards of various inscriptions such as “Enough Is Enough, Banire Must Go; Banire, Custodian Of Party Destruction; Banire, The Greatest Beneficiary Of Imposition; Banire, A Hypocrite Per Excellence; Banire, The Modern-Day Judas Iscariot; Banire, A Serial Traitor; Banire Is Unqualified To Teach Us Democracy,” among others.
Reading from a protest letter addressed to Governor Akinwunmi Ambode and Speaker of Lagos State House of Assembly, Rt Hon Mudashiru Obasa and APC Chairman in Lagos, Chief Henry Ajomale for onward transmission to the national headquarters of APC, Martins said as a custodian of the party’s Constitution, Banire was well aware of the party’s provisions for direct, indirect and consensus primaries, but that he had played to the gallery and publicly accused the party of imposition without exhausting the internal mechanisms already available within the party.
He said Banire, after the primaries of the party in Mushin and Odi Olowo, had been sponsoring his cronies to write and publish advertorials against the party, and that he had been granting interviews to embarrass the party to the extent of attracting hatred, contempt, ridicule and disrepute to the party.
Martins also listed the grounds for the call for Banire’s removal in office and expulsion from the party to include: “Intentional negligence in duties as the National Legal Adviser to defend the party and the party’s interest; carrying out unauthorised publicity of a party dispute without exhausting all avenues for settlement or redress within the party; causing and arrogantly admitting causing a legal representative to disavow the party in a law suit; predicting and working towards the electoral failure of the party; inciting the public against the interest of the party, and falsely accusing the party of imposition in the public, whereas knowledgeable of the facts of the provision of the constitution of the party for alternative means of conducting primaries other than direct primaries.”
Other grounds, according to Martins are: “Sponsoring a group called MEF to ridicule the party and bring the party into disrepute; perpetrating blatant imposition in our constituency, Mushin, against the wish of majority of the party members to cause disaffection within the party; disobeying and causing others to disobey lawful directives of the party; and carrying out anti-party activities towards the forthcoming local government elections, by encouraging members of his group to pick tickets of other parties.”
Besides, Martins faulted a claim by Banire that the protest was sponsored against him by certain people in government, saying that there was no iota of truth in such an allegation.
He said: “If you look around, you will see some elderly people. Are they also rented? These are people that are fed up with Banire’s group and himself. He (Banire) has been in power in Mushin for over 12 years and there has been no development. Rather, Mushin has been known to be a violent place; they have embezzled our funds; they even embezzled funds meant for campaigns.
“Go to the library named after him, Muiz Banire Library. You cannot see a single notebook there not to talk of a book. No furnishing there whatsoever and they made us believe that they have spent hundreds of millions on that. That is what the people are saying. They are saying they are tired of no development and are saying no, to few people distributing our commonwealth among themselves. That is what the protest is all about.”
Receiving the letter on behalf of Governor Ambode, Special Adviser to the Governor on Communities and Communication, Hon Kehinde Bamigbetan, commended the protesters for their peaceful conduct, assuring that the letter would be forwarded to both the state and national organs of the party.
But Banire, a few days ago, said he had been receiving life-threatening messages over his fight against the “imposition” of candidates in the party.
Banire accused the party leadership of working against internal democracy and not allowing popular candidates to represent the APC in Saturday’s local government election.
His criticisms have drawn the ire of the top hierarchy of the party but the legal practitioner has refused to back down.
In a statement on Monday, Banire alleged that Seyi Oladejo, a commissioner in the state, had concluded plans to mobilise a rally against him for his principled stance.
“It has come to my attention that a rent-a-crowd rally is being organised by one Mr. Seye Oladejo, former chairman of Mushin Local Government and the current commissioner for special duties in Lagos state, with the assistance of some elements to destroy the democratic aspirations of the people. The said rally is being planned to hold on Tuesday the 18th day of July 2017,” he said.
