Mr Dipo Olorunrinu, a stalwart of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Amuwo-Odofin Local Government, has urged the National Leader of APC, Sen. Bola Tinubu, to address grievances and right wrongs in the area.
Olorunrinu, a former lawmaker who represented Amuwo-Odofin Constituency I in Lagos State House of Assembly and the LGA chairmanship aspirant in 2021 Lagos council polls made the plea in a statement on Sunday.
According to him, there are unresolved issues and uneasiness among the party members following the mandate allegedly snatched away from him.
Olorunrinu said that after he had been declared winner of the APC ticket for the Amuwo-Odofin council topmost seat during the primary election, his name was substituted for the incumbent chairman, Valentine Buraimoh, to run the second term.
He recounted that after filling all necessary documents prescribed by the Lagos State Independent Electoral Commission (LASIEC) as party’s flag-bearer, some leaders allegedly manipulated things and substituted his name.
According to him, this has been causing uneasiness in the council branch of the party with many people disenchanted, hence the plea for the national leader to wade in time to resolve all pending issues.
While urging Tinubu for the restoration of his mandate, Olorunrinu said that his love for the party was huge but his teeming followers were aggrieved by the development, hence the reason for seeking redress from the court.
“I am using this opportunity to call on our National Leader, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, who just made his intention known to President Muhammadu Buhari to contest for the position of the president of Nigeria to remember that we his children at home are aggrieved over some issues.
“It is worrisome, appalling, so painful, and we are calling on him to see to it. I am an aggrieved person. People are equally aggrieved on my behalf.
“Our national leader knows about it and I wouldn’t want him to keep looking. I want him to do something about it,” Olorunrinu said.
The lawmaker, who also recounted how he was allegedly denied victory in 2019 general elections to return to Lagos Assembly said that his followers were looking up to Tinubu to right all wrongs.
“I joined the APC with my teeming supporters and I had to contest the council chairmanship more like a compensation. I did it with the support of our National Leader, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
“Of course, I won the primaries democratically, people voted for me. That was why we went to court and the trail is slated for Jan. 27.
“We have been in court since the last six months, it’s quite unfortunate that the case is still on, even when accelerated trial was granted.
“All I want now is for our leader who is known for fairness and equity to wade in so that the right thing will be done in Amuwo-Odofin Local Government,” he added.
The lawmaker, who noted that his respect for people’s mandate made him resort to seek the audience of the court, urged Tinubu to correct all abnormalities.
Olorunrinu said that as a stakeholder in the party, he had spent a lot of personal earnings on the party and to promote the cause of Bola Ahmed Tinubu (BAT) for 2023.
The former PDP lawmaker, who noted that APC had come to stay in Amuwo-Odofin, said he was not interested maligning the party for any reason.
Expressing hope in the new state leadership of the party awaiting inauguration, Olorunrinu alleged that his case was part of the reason the outgoing chairman, Alhaji Tunde Balogun, was removed and deprived of running for the second term.
“They just manipulated the whole thing and removed my name from the list after I have won primary, name sent to LASIEC and I have filled forms,” he lamented.
On Tinubu’s presidential election, Olorunrinu said that the former governor of Lagos State deserved to lead and should be given a chance, having developed and helped a lot of people.
