The All Progressives Congress National Working Committee has disclosed that it would commence the sale of nomination and expression of interest forms on Wednesday, for aspirants seeking to fill vacant positions in the National Assembly on its platform.
The Independent National Electoral Commission, (INEC) had last week announced February 3,2024 for both rerun and bye elections.
According to Sulaiman Argungu, National Organising Secretary of the party, primary for both elections would hold on January 6,2024.
Ahead of the party primary, Nigerian Tribune checks revealed that gang up has thickened against an aspirant for Surulere Federal Constituency ticket, Mr. Fouad Laguda, believed to be a favoured candidate of the former Speaker of the House of Representatives, Honourable Femi Gbajabiamila.
The seat for the constituency became vacant following the emergence of Honourable Gbajabiamila as Chief of Staff to President Bola Tinubu.
Further checks revealed that a newly-formed pressure group, Progressives For Surulere (P4S) are pushing for Honourable Kabir Lawal and another aspirant, Mr. Abdul Raheem Owokoniran as likely successor to the former Speaker.
Speaking with newsmen, one of the contenders, Honourable Lawal vowed to upstage the Chief of Staff favoured candidate at the primary scheduled for next year.
He said: “Even though I contested against Honourable Gbajabiamila for the House of Representatives seat before stepping down and working for his election, I became a solid member of his political family, we planned together, do outings and other things together until I began seeing signs of great betrayal that made me to leave his group.
“There is no way for Honourable Gbajabiamila to impose his unpopular candidate on Surulere when the APC leadership in Lagos state, including the Governor’s Advisory Council has opted for a level playing ground for all aspirants and in any case, there are too many party members who are determined to scuttle such imposition.”
“Outsiders may easily assume that being a top government official with access to much resources and many people means a lot, such factors cannot work for a candidate being sponsored by anyone with diminishing grassroots popularity.
“You may think, or assume that my resources are too little to contend against the war chest of the former Speaker but I have the backing of God and that of the people against him; if you are a Christian, you will know the story of how a mighty giant got defeated by a shepherd boy and if you are a Muslim, you may recall the story of how the Prophet of Islam and his 313 men roundly defeated a large Meccan army despite their numbers and resources.
“I have the backing of God and the support of the people and I am the David set to beat his Goliath in Surulere; we have real strength at the grassroots and we have worked with him before but he betrayed me and we will never support his anointed candidate,” Kabir Caesar Lawal said.
READ ALSO FROM NIGERIAN TRIBUNE
