Some members of the APC in Somolu, Lagos State, have kicked against Rotimi Olowo’s fifth representation at the Lagos State House of Assembly.
Olowo represents Somolu Constituency 1 at the assembly.
The members at a rally on Wednesday, trooped out en mass displaying placards with various inscriptions like “O to Ge”, “No to 20 years direct”, “liberation 4 Somolu Constituency”, “Somolu rejects Olowo”, “Thank You Olowo, 16 years Direct is Ok”, “Somolu says No To 16+ 4=20, and “Rotimi Olowo is our Hero”.
An aspirant, Babatunde Oladejo, vying for the Somolu state constituency 1 seat , said some chieftains, leaders and members of the party desired a change of representation.
According to him, Olowo has represented them well at the assembly for 16 years but there is need to allow a new person to inject new ideas.
Oladejo said: “Nobody is fighting with Olowo. We just want him to step down and hand the baton of leadership to another person.
“We urge him to leave and give another person an opportunity to represent us and bring in fresh ideas.
“We understand the fact that no one is perfect, so we are not looking at his mistakes to judge him. All we want is a person to manage the seat effectively for us.”
An APC leader in the area and a former Chairman, Somolu Local Government Area, Gbolahan Bagostowe, while addressing the gathering, expressed the same views that a new person should represent the area
Bagostowe said that Olowo had contributed his own quota to the development of the constituency, and therefore, should allow other people to come on board.
“People like Sen. Bola Tinubu and Mr. Babatunde Fashola represented and served the people for just two terms respectively and they did well,” he said.
A Ward leader, Abraham Joshua, said that members wanted a more inclusive government where their demands would be met based on what each ward needed.
“We gave our full support to Olowo while representing us at the assembly, but insisted that everything that has a beginning must have an end,” he said.
Also, Mrs. Oluwatosin Lasisi, urged Olowo to shelve his ambition of going back to the assembly for the fifth time.
According to her, there is need for him to heed to the people’s advice, saying Somolu has been peaceful and will not want any act of thuggery when their demands are not met.
“We have tried for him in the last 16 years, We don’t want him to represent us for 20 years.
“We want new people who can bring in new methods of governance, but it has to be with positive impacts,” Lasisi said.
NAN
