LG Chairmanship ticket: Olorunrinu drags APC to court for alleged substitution of name
By adeAdel Adeyemi
Hon. Dipo Olorunrinu, a former Lagos lawmaker and acclaimed winner of the May 29 All Progressives Congress (APC) Local Government Primary Election in Amuwo-Odofin LG in Lagos has dragged the party and five others to court over alleged substitution of his name.
Olorunrinu claimed that party faithful freely gave him the mandate to fly the APC chairmanship ticket at the poll.
He said that after his name was published in some national newspaers by the state chapter of APC as winner and he had filed LASIEC form, his name was again substituted to allow the incumbent, Valentine Buraimoh, served second term.
A suit filed at the Lagos High Court with Reference number 593302021, revealed that the six defendants/ respondents included the Lagos State Independent Electoral Commission (LASIEC) and the APC national body.
Other defendants included the APC Caretaker Extra-Ordinary Convention Planning Committee; APC Lagos State Caretaker Committee; Hon.Tunde Balogun, the Chairman, Lagos State APC Caretaker Committee, and Mr Valentine Buraimoh, the Chairman, Amuwo-Odofin LG.
The Order of Court processes was sighted by newsmen at Plot 3553B, the Bola Lateef Crescent, the Amuwo-Odofin residence of Mr Valentine Buraimoh, the Chairman of Incumbent Chairman of Amuwo-Odofin LG, a defendant in the matter.
Also, Order of Court processes was sighted by newsmen at the Apapa residence of Alhaji Tunde Balogun, the Chairman, Lagos State APC Caretaker Committee-another defendant in the case.
The court hearing has been fixed for July 7, 2021.
It would be recalled that APC had on June 4 unveiled the list of chairmanship and vice-chairmanship candidates, which was signed by the party’s Caretaker Committee Chairman, Alhaji Tunde Balogun and the committee’s Secretary, Mr Lanre Ogunyemi.
Consequent upon primaries conducted across the 20 Local Governments and the 37 Local Council Development Areas (LCDAs) of the state on May 29, the party unveiled Olorunrinu and Maureen Ashara as Chairmanship and Vice-chairmanship, respectively as APC flag bearers in Amuwo-Odofin council.
The outcomes of the primaries led to protests in many local government areas of the state and in Amuwo-Odofin LG, protesters described the substitution of Olorunrinu’s name as Amuwo-Odofin APC chairmanship flagbearer as daylight robbery.
