Lagos APC Ndigbo: You can’t control me — Idimogu tackles Igbokwe over excos inauguration

Special Adviser to Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu on Drainage Services, Joe Igbokwe and a Lagos lawmaker, Jude Idimogu, have clashed over the executive list of Ndigbo in Lagos All Progressives Congress, APC, in Ejigbo Local Community Development Area, LCDA.

The clash occurred at the official inauguration of Executive Members of Ndigbo in APC, Lagos State, Ejigbo Local Council Development Area (LCDA) Chapter at the party secretariat.

Despite the fracas, the inauguration of the executive members of Ndigbo was conducted by Igbokwe amidst protest from the group loyal to Idimogu, who represents Oshodi-Isolo Constituency II in the Lagos State House of Assembly.

Speaking with newsmen after the rancorous inauguration, Idimogu said that the inauguration was not supposed to hold until all interest groups were harmonised in order to avoid unnecessary trouble among the Ndigbos in Lagos APC.

According to Idimogu, “Today’s event is inconclusive. We are APC Igbos. I am a serving member of the Lagos State House of Assembly and the only Igbo man in an elective position and this makes me a factor and leader in the party.

“Joe Igbokwe does not contest the election, he cannot come here and control me. This is my territory and I represent people here. It is not fair and unacceptable for anyone to come here and inaugurate executives without my knowledge.

“It is not normal, it is an act of injustice. It is an assault and affront and disrespect to me. My position is that this inauguration cannot hold because the House is not complete,” Idimogu said.

According to him, his members are not going to fight, and nor are they going to destroy anything but must be carried along.

Idimogu urged the party leadership to wade into the crisis urgently adding that delay in the intervention might hamper the smooth election process in Lagos.

 “Election is coming and the party knows that in this particular zone we have a lot of non-indigenes and they are watching.

“I am appealing to my leaders, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, Lagos State Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, Speaker of the Lagos Assembly, Mudashiru Obasa, Lagos APC Chairman, Cornelius Ojelabi among others to call Igbokwe to order.

“The party should intervene. We don’t want our party to fail in the 2023 elections. Igbos must be carried along,” he said.

While conducting the inauguration, Igbokwe said that there was nothing he had not done to resolve the crisis in the council.

“There is nothing I have not done to put this house together. By the Grace of God with all the power conferred on me as the Apex Leader, I hereby inaugurate this excos,” he said.

Igbokwe,  however, said that all the crisis would be resolved and fixed, adding that the door was still opened for reconciliation.

Earlier, loyalists of Idimogu staged a peaceful protest at the venue over an alleged sidelining of their group, saying they were not carried along in the selection process.

On her part, Nelly Okafor, one of the Ndigbo women leaders, who frowned at an attempt to deny loyalists of Idimogu access into the secretariat, said that the inauguration would not be allowed to hold until there was harmonisation.

According to her, “Ndigbo in APC in Ejigbo LCDA has a very big problem and we are fictionalised. We have three factions. We solicit the intervention of Asiwaju Bola Tinubu Sanwo-Olu and other party leaders to intervene.

“Our leader in this constituency, Jude Idimogu, has pleaded with the party to hold on for harmonisation to be done because the 2023 election is fast approaching.

“We want the intervention of party leaders. We want the party to bring all the Igbos in APC together, let us harmonise and there will be proper inauguration.”

It will be recalled that the party had earlier resolved the leadership tussle between the duo by declaring Igbokwe as the apex leader of Ndigbo in Lagos APC, while Idimogu is the deputy.

Vanguard News NigeriaSpecial Adviser to Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu on Drainage Services, Joe Igbokwe and a Lagos lawmaker, Jude Idimogu, today clashed over the executive list of Ndigbo in Lagos All Progressives Congress, APC, in Ejigbo Local Community Development Area, LCDA. (Sunday Vanguard)