Kunle Adelabu
A former Commissioner for Information in Lagos State and the Agbaakin of Ikorodu Kingdom, Sir (Otunba) Ayodele Elesho, KJW, has blamed bad governance and lack of responsiveness on the part Council administrators in Ikorodu on the failure of political parties to present credible aspirants for the position.
He added that the situation will not change until party primaries are conducted with transparency, fairness and made free, as against the present situation where certain aspirants are favoured.
He made the damning statements while condemning the disposition of Local Government Chairmen in Ikorodu to the issue of the IDPIL/GTE and its Local Joint Task Force (LJTF) during the Peace and Security Stakeholders Meeting organized by the IDPIL/GTE at the Ikorodu Town hall on Thursday, June 2, 2022.
“Our Council Chairmen are not doing well at all. We have tried everything that we could for them to be part of us (Ikorodu Division Peace Initiative Ltd/GTE) but they have refused”, Otunba Elesho said.
“There is a committee on inter – governmental relation setup by IDPIL/GTE, which I am a member. We had meeting twice with them at the Local Government and whenever meeting is fixed for 11am, they would only start arriving the meeting venue at 1pm.
“We have had people that have been Heads of Service, Commissioner, Permanent Secretary, Clerk of the Assembly and so forth before they are chairmen. There is no big deal in being chairmen now”.
Charging political leaders on the need to allow due process in selecting candidate for elective positions, especially the position of the council chairmen, Otunba Elesho said:
“My message to the political leaders is that until you start conducting true primary elections, that will give us those that would represent us, especially at the Council level, we cannot progress.
“We cannot have a good Council Chairman, in as much as some believe that they are the preferred choice that are going to be nominated from Lagos. We cannot have good governance until our votes count and we are at liberty to choose who to represent us.
“We want true primary election starting from the local government”, he said.
“I am pleading with those in politics to ensure that we correct this and start having true primary elections to elect those that people truly want”.
However, Otunba Elesho who is also the Chairman, IDPIL/GTE, Publicity, Education, Enlightenment Sub – Committee, appealed to the Council Chairmen to join them in providing peace and security in Ikorodu.
“All that we are saying is that they should join us and work together with us to move Ikorodu forward, unfortunately, we started hearing all sort of things few days to the launch and unveiling of the Ikorodu Division Peace Initiative Ltd/GTE that they are going to prevent us from using the Ikorodu Town Hall”, he recalled.
“We are still pleading with them to join us to bring peace and security to Ikorodu Division”, he said.
Speaking on the activities of Okada riders, the former Commissioner called on the state government to extend the ban to Ikorodu.
“Okada riders are among those giving us problems and not only in Lagos but we are also experiencing that in every part of Ikorodu Division. They are constituting serious problem”, he said.
“Findings have shown that many of the commercial motorcycle riders are not Yoruba neither are they Hausas or Fulanis but people from Chad and Niger.
“We are calling on the Lagos State Government to extend the ban on the commercial motorcycles to Ikorodu because if not, all those affected in the areas where that they have been banned, will move down to lkorodu to continue their operations.
“The ban should cover the whole of Lagos State with no exception of any area.
Otunba Elesho also charged the Divisional Police Officer (DPO), Ikorodu Divisional Police Headquarters, Mr Balogun, and other DPOs in the Division to check the excesses of their men, especially what he termed, “their negative collaboration with Okada riders and hoodlums”.
He suggested that the state government may restrict okadas operations in Ikorodu to the interior parts with provision that there must be means of identifying and monitoring them.
“Lagos State Government should devise a method to differentiate foreigners that are engaging in commercial motorcycle riding from our own people”, he said.
“I am not saying that they should be banned outrightly, but their operations should be restricted to inner roads like Aga, Gbasemo, Erunwen and other areas”, Otunba elesho added.
Meanwhile, Barr. Saheed O.K. Shillings who was one of the discussants at the meeting was of the view that government cannot ban Okada without providing alternatives.
“I don’t support ban of okada operations because government has not provided alternative to them. Government should make available enough shuttle buses and tricycles”, he said.
“Any law that will bring more hardship to the people will not work because there is no alternative on ground for people to resort to.
“Let us enforce the partial ban on highways while government make available other means of conveying people around”.
Also speaking on the ‘Ajagungbale’ menace, Barr. Shillings called on the traditional rulers in the Division to make their stance known.
“I think that if our traditional rulers can stand on their feet and say they are against Ajagungbales, I don’t think they will be here”, he said.
