The Parable of Talents in Matthew Chapter 25, verses 14 to 30, and the Parable of Pounds in Luke Chapter 19, verses 11 to 27, are spiritual examples employed to illustrate the concept of loyalty and responsibility in Followership. It elaborates on how to utilize God’s gift abilities and resources wisely. These parables emphasized the need for diligence, vigilance and responsible actions while awaiting the return of the Lord. The characterless demeanour of some tasteless followers who claimed to project the political activities of the CEO of Lagos State Ferry Services, AbdulBaq Oladimeji Balogun, may have appeared to be disseminating the chances of their leader based on fraudulent misrepresentation, that which is calculated to discredit the political opportunities and representation the former lawmaker at the Lagos State House of Assembly may have left in Ajeromi-Ifelodun Local Government, writes Fakunle Sheriff Ekundayo.
The need for responsible dissemination of facts has become expedient, especially in a rather sensitive political situation in Ajeromi-Ifelodun Local Government. This accurate representation of fact will project the political personality or brand towards positive societal embrace for communal and national reference.
Therefore it has become imperative for the leadership of the All Progressives Congress {APC} to commence training on social media orientations and engagement for members of the party ahead of the 2027 Presidential and Governorship elections.
The recent dissemination of whatsapp conversation between Hon. AbdulBaq Oladimeji Balogun and Ayoola Fatai Adekunle the outgoing executive chairman of Ajeromi-Ifelodun local government, which was published by a member of the group with mobile phone number 2348070666431 at 12:20am of May 31, 2025, has reverberated into political chaos, and with a tendency of representing the All Progressives Congress {APC} of Ajeromi-Ifelodun local government as a party with disorganized tendencies within her internal political structures.
This is the time that the Publicity Secretary of the APC, in Ajeromi-Ifelodun local government rises to the occasion and demonstrates political responsiveness in consultation with leadership of the party.
For a start, the guidelines for the Primaries by the Lagos State Independent Electoral Commission had spelt out the processes on how a candidate can emerge as Councilor or Executive Chairman.
It states further that in the case where the issue of consensus among the aspiring contestants is unattainable, aspirants can contest at the party primaries in order for a winner to emerge.
The May 10 Primaries which was conducted at ACME Ikeja, recorded a landslide victory for Akindipe Olalekan Olu, who recorded twenty {20} delegates vote, as against AbdulBaq Oladimeji Balogun with two {2} delegates vote, and Rasheed Gbose with two {2} delegates votes, and a vote which was declared void.
This makes up twenty-five {25} delegates vote that represented Ajeromi-Ifelodun Ifelodun local government for the May 10, 2025, political primaries conducted by the Lagos State Independent Electoral Commission {LASIEC}, at ACME Ikeja Lagos-Nigeria.
A few days later, a publication from the ‘Nations Newspaper’ with an inscription of the All Progressives Congress {APC}, published the names of all the winners for the position of Councillors and Executive Chairmen who will contest for elective positions at the July 12, 2025 local government elections were circulated in public glare.
Subsequently, all the candidates from Ajeromi-Ifelodun local government were presented with their LASIEC Nomination Forms in readiness for the July 12, 2025, local government election, which included Akindipe Olalekan Olu as the executive chairman candidate, Mrs Ololade Ashabi Ugbo-Anite as Vice-chairman candidate and the other nine {9} candidates.
These are obvious facts that should have discouraged a right-thinking supporter from understanding that the political scheming and skullduggery are over. This is the time to move on and embrace the spirit of sportsmanship towards moving APC to a greater height in Ajeromi-Ifelodun local government.
However, it’s becoming increasingly unbearable that some supporters who are loyal to Hon. AbdulBaq Oladimeji Balogun would embark on a series of political guerilla warfare on various social media platforms.
To begin with, it took the intervention of the party chairman of the All Progressives Congress {APC}, Chief Samuel Adeyemi to debunk a falsely represented publication by Lagos Reporters which alleged that Asiwaju Rabiu Adio Oluwa fielded illegitimate delegates for the APC primaries on May 10, 2025.
The recent political disinformation which attained its peak was the publication of a WhatsApp conversation between the council chairman Ayoola Fatai Adekunle and Hon. AbdulBaq Oladimeji Balogun.
The conversation if published when there were no political activities would have been meaningless. The timing of the release of such a WhatsApp conversation is a calculated attempt to unsettle the leadership of the party towards unreasonable submission for the candidacy of Hon. Balogun to fly.
The said WhatsApp conversation its intended result is cunning and condescending of the political personalities involved at this time of the electioneering campaign.
There appears a mirage of political supporters who are bent on pushing their masters into the pit of political disrepute. These over-the-counter apostles of the CEO of the Lagos State Ferry Services have demonstrated such, and it must be condemned at all fronts. Their pettiness is not a political game that must be embraced; rather, it must be discouraged with every sense of human dignity.
Why unsettle the polity with your obvious fraudulent misrepresentation?
The leadership of the APC must step up to this situation before it escalates beyond the unthinkable. The bigger monster is ahead in 2027, and it’s beholden on the leadership of the party to get their acts together and call a spade a spade for once!
There is no mistake in the fact that Hon. AbdulBaq Oladimeji Balogun is a force to reckon with. He has continuously given the leaders a run for their money. They {Leaders} dare not sleep with both eyes closed, because the warlord is remarkably unpredictable and desperate in his bid to seize power with his political polarization away from the leaders in Ajegunle.
Let us play with the political metaphor that has birthed a candidate from the advocacy of the Ajegunle L’okan Mantra…and down to Alayabiagba L’okan. Both Akindipe and Balogun are from Alayabiagba. The choice had been made to quell the often vocalized political marginalization among communities such as Alayabiagba, Aiyetoro, Onibaba, and Ajegunle.
Imole Akindipe Olalekan Olu is the chosen one, time for Alayabigba community to rally around one of their own and intercede with the supporters of Hon AbdulBaq Ladi Balogun to sheath their swords.
The APC as a party June 2025 will set up her political machineries which involves political rallies across grassroots communities in Lagos State, and all the party candidates across the 57 local governments and local council development areas shall be given the flag of the party, and if for any reason this is the moment the mirage of supporters from the Hon. Ladi Balogun camp are waiting for, then it is pertinent for the party leaders in AJIF APC to gird their loins and ensure that the flag is given to the acclaimed winner of the primaries; Akindipe Olalekan Olu, as the party flagbearer.
This fraudulent misrepresentation that was disseminated on the various social media platforms must be checked by the party leadership, or else, this may be the warning sign for a divisive hole in the wall of the party that the opposition camps may penetrate at Ajegunle in 2027!
Your litmus test starts here Akindipe! Be on the alert!!
Fakunle Sheriff Ekundayo is an author, journalist, broadcaster, voiceover artist, and community development advocate. He was the All Progressives Congress {APC}, General Secretary of Badagry Division at the 2023 Presidential and Governorship Campaign Committee.
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