Kunle Adelabu
A Chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Lagos State and former Minister of Works, Senator Adeseye Ogunlewe, has thrown his support behind the suspension of caucuses within the ruling party by its leadership.
He stated that the two main rival caucuses- The Mandate Group and Justice Forum, are no longer useful and that they are not encouraging unity and deserving electoral victory for the party.
Senator Ogunlewe, who spoke with THE IMPACT in interview in Lagos, stated that the ideals on which political caucuses are established no longer exist.
“If you know the genesis of those caucuses, you will agree with me that they have outlived their usefulness. They were sort of anti – establishment causes”, he said.
“They were established to fight certain causes from Justice Forum against the Committee of Friends and from Bola Ahmed Tinubu Campaign Organisation (BATCO) to Mandate against the establishment. But that is not in vogue anymore. Those phases are gone”, Senator Ogunlewe stated.
“They don’t need them again. The party is one and can be a united party to increase the voting pattern”.
He stated that the division caused by the caucuses are accounted for the low voting numbers that the party has been experiencing in Lagos, adding that they may not be working for each other whenever candidate is picked to stand for election in any of the caucuses.
“What I have observed is that those caucuses are affecting votes being recorded by the party during elections. How can you register 5.6million voters and you are you are getting 600, 000 votes?”, he asked rhetorically.
“To me, this doesn’t make any sense. Something must be wrong. Probably when you (the party) pick candidate from Mandate, the Justice Forum people don’t participate as they should and when you pick from Justice Forum too, the Mandate too don’t participate in an election as they should”, Sen. Ogunlewe stated.
“Probably, that might be a reason the party decided that everyone must come together and be united. The need for those caucuses for me is over.
“They are no longer necessary or desirable. They have served their purposes for which they were established for at that time and that situation does not exist again”.
