As political parties gear up for the 2023 general elections, facts have emerged on plans of the opposition party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Ifako-Ijaiye to unseat the All Progressives Congress (APC).
The party has embarked on a silent Permanent Voters Card (PVC) registration for new members at the additional polling units created by the National Independent Electoral Commission (INEC).
According to feelers from the PDP camp, the party has also been silently lobbying opinion leaders within streets and communities in Ifako-Ijiaye and they have silently been holding meetings and mobilising residents to ensure Ifako-Ijaiye APC is defeated in 2023.
While no Local Government election and councillorship election holding in Ifako-Ijaiye in 2023, the current House of Assembly member representing Ifako-Ijaiye 01 Constituency, Hon Adewale Temitope Adedeji is seeking re-election.
In Ojokoro Local Council Development Area, Hon Emmanuel Olotu also seeks to represent Ifako-Ijaiye Constituency 02 at the Lagos State House of Assembly for the APC.
For the Federal House of Representatives, former two-term chairman of Ojokoro LCDA and ex-aide of Lagos State governor Benjamin Olabinjo (BAO) will face off with the Peoples Democratic Party candidate, Hon Fateema Mohammed.
The PDP is also lobbying some disgruntled members of the APC in Ifako-Ijaiye to work against the party during the election.
The disgruntled members, according to a reliable source within the PDP who spoke with ifakoijaiyeNews on condition of anonymity, said some acclaimed elders are not happy that Hon Adewale Temitope Adedeji defeated their candidate during the primary election of the House of Assembly Ifako-Ijaiye constituency 01.
The source said, “I can tell you authoritatively that some members of the APC are currently playing both sides. Their middlemen have met with us many times regarding how to unseat the APC. While the principals cannot show their faces directly, we have been communicating with them. They are angry that one of them (Temitope) is not toeing their line and they plan to teach him a political lesson.”
“In addition, we are silently mobilising people to register for their PVCs. Even some of those going through APC are our members. You know there have been additional polling units by INEC and most of the new people registering are our members. We are seriously talking to our brothers and sisters from the eastern part of Nigeria too and they are onboard.”
The PDP has also been capitalising on the failures of the President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration to discredit the APC at the Local Government level, assuring residents that the PDP needs to return to power at the Federal level as well.
The source went further, “It is easy to talk to the people as most of them are experiencing the failures of President Buhari. The prices of foodstuff have skyrocketed and their children are unemployed. The families surviving on Okada business are finding it difficult. APC has made their lives miserable and even their staunch members know it too. The majority will work against the party come 2023 because they are tired.”
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