APC Primaries: Obasa disowns protesters, donating N2b to them

The Speaker of the Lagos State House of Assembly, Rt. Hon. Mudashiru Obasa, has disowned members of the All Progressives Congress (APC) protesting the outcome of the  House of Assembly primaries in the state and denied supporting them with N2 billion.

The Speaker of the Assembly also frowned at attempts to link and scapegoat him for the wave of protests across the state.

On Tuesday, party members from different local government areas, including Badagry, Mushin, Amuwo-Odofin, Eti-Osa, Somolu, Ajeromi, and Oshodi, staged a protest at the APC Secretariat on ACME Road, Ikeja, accusing party leaders of manipulating the outcome of the primaries and demanding transparency.

This was the culmination of several protests that had swept through the state since the Lagos State chapter of the party released a list of candidates purported to have won their primary elections.

Consequently, a slew of WhatsApp messages had circulated claiming that Obasa devoted N2 billion to organise the protests.

In his reaction, Speaker Obasa said: “It is foolhardy, malicious, misleading, and baseless for anybody to assume or imply that I will import or mobilise protesters from different local governments to the secretariat. 

“To achieve what exactly?

“I am not a candidate in the disputed election, so why and how will I devote such an amount of money to organising protests?

“I am a peace-loving party man, and I abhor the use of my name and office for any form of illegality or to sow division within the party.

“My steadfast commitment remains the unity, peace, and progress of our great party and the people of Lagos State.”