A group, Agege Youth Vanguard (AYV), has purchased chairmanship nomination form for AbdulGaniyu Obasa, son of Speaker of the Lagos State House of Assembly,Dr Mudasiru Obasa
Mr Ismael Garba, the Coordinator of the group, announced this at a news conference on Thursday in Lagos.
Garba said the purchase of the form,which costs N5 million, was to show support for the young Obasa and endorse him for the July 12 election .
Freedomonline reports that support for Obasa to emerge as the next chairman of the local government has grown in the area in recent days
Mr Ganiyu Egunjobi ,the incumbent chairman of the local government ,addressing a news conference on Monday, expressed his support and that of some party stakeholders to Obasa’s son becoming the next chairman of the council.
The chairman, a staunch ally of Lagos Speaker,said he trusted in the capacity of the young politician to take the council to the next level.
Also ,Mr Oluwagbemiga Abiola,the council’s Vice-Chairman and a chairmanship aspirant ,on Wednesday announced his withdrawal from the chairmanship race,citing the need to support Obasa’s son.
Abiola debunked claims he was pressured to drop his ambition ,stressing he took the decision in the interest of the community
Garba said their support the Speaker’s son was not for personal gain ,but for the overall interest of Agege.
“Our interest is not about personal gain or to make Agege any political leader’s private fiefdom as may be insinuated in some quarters.
“We will all agree that the change we desire in Nigeria can only be achieved when the country is in good hands; and key to the development of a nation is its grassroots management.
‘We have put our money where our mouth is by contributing N5m among our members to buy APC nomination form for Abdul-Ganiyu to enable him contest for the party primary.
“In the same vein, seven councillorship aspirants across all the wards who we find worthy to manage the affairs of our local government with him will be given free APC nomination form” he said.
According to him, the group is working with other stakeholders to ensure that a competent leader emerges the next chairman of the council .
Garba said the group could vouch for the competence of Obasa,and assure that he would take the area to the next level ,if elected.
“Obasa is well-educated and competent.He has a Bachelor’s degree in Accounting and Finance from the University of Hertfordshire in England, and a Masters in Accounting and Finance from Astor University Birmingham, England.
“A PhD student at the Babcock University, Abdul Ganiyu is an affiliate member of the Association of Chartered Certified Accountant (ACCA), ” he said.
The youth leader added Obasa has a work experience at Price Waterhouse Coopers (PWC), Providus Bank Limited, and Parallex Bank Limited ,where he was Head of Performance Management and Strategy.
Garba saud that his father is the Speaker of the State House of Assembly should not deny the community of a competent leader.
“We commend the outgoing Chairman of the Council, Alhaji Ganiyu Egunjobi, for making our local government better than he met it.
“Agege local government ,under his watch, has witnessed tremendous development in terms of infrastructure and human capital,” he said.
