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When the All Progressives Congress (APC) was established on February 6, 2013, with Lagos State as its base, none of the founders anticipated that President Bola Tinubu and former Interior Minister Rauf Aregbesola would encounter conflicts that might impact their political standing in the state.
Fast forward 12 years, the once-thriving relationship between them has soured, leading Aregbesola to exit the party, leaving his supporters in Alimosho City without a strong representative to advocate for their interests.
Members of the party who previously held various political positions, including the council chairman in Alimosho under Aregbesola’s leadership, are now without a candidate for the upcoming council election scheduled for July 12, 2025. This follows a series of local government primaries where their aspirants across six Local Governments and Local Council Development Areas (LCDAs) were unsuccessful.
The events during the primaries across the councils, Alimosho Local Government, Egbe-Idimu, Ayobo-Ipaja, Mosan Okunola, Igando-Ikotun, and Agbado Oke-Odo LCDAs have dismantled the longstanding political framework created and maintained by Aregbesola, managed by his representative Abdullahi Enilolobo during Aregbesola’s time as Osun state governor and later as a minister in the Buhari administration.
What was once a negotiating advantage during the 2023 elections has been dismantled during the local government chairmanship primaries in 2025, as party members aligned with two rival factions led by the Special Adviser to the President on Sustainable Development Goals (SDG), Adejoke Orelope-Adefulire, and former lawmaker Bisi Yusuf.
It was reported that members of Aregbesola’s faction entered the council chairmanship primaries at the party’s secretariat in Ikeja with hopes of retaining control over the six councils, reminiscent of Aregbesola’s past dominance. However, the results, revealed by the electoral committee headed by former APC publicity secretary Babatunde Ogala, sent shockwaves through Alimosho, with Yusuf's backed candidate Abiodun Agbaje winning the Ayobo-Ipaja LCDA ticket with 23 votes. In Egbe-Idimu LCDA, Balogun Idris from the Orelope-Adefulire group won with 17 votes, while Kazeem Adeniran and Egunjobi Rasak received eight and one vote, respectively.
Sources close to Orelope-Adefulire indicated that the winning candidates for Mosun-Okunola, Alimosho, and Agbado Oke-Odo LCDA were from her faction, while Igando-Ikotun LCDA chairman, Lasisi Akinsanya, achieved his second term ticket through his personal networks rather than through Aregbesola’s faction.
A party official, who preferred to remain anonymous due to lack of authority to speak, revealed that Akinsanya narrowly retained his ticket thanks to the intervention of party chairman Cornelius Ojelabi, who acted based on the rapport between them, bypassing the Aregbesola faction considered a hindrance to the party's progress in Lagos.
As Akinsanya celebrated his primary success, other members of Aregbesola's group who lost were unable to have their concerns heard by the party leadership in Lagos.
An agent representing one of the aspirants expressed that their inability to voice their grievances was due to their ongoing ties with Aregbesola, whom the party's national leader, President Bola Tinubu, had instructed to be removed from the council.
A female representative from Alimosho urged her fellow members to sever ties with Aregbesola's faction and align with other groups to maintain their influence in the upcoming administration following the July 12 election.
She pointed out that despite extensive efforts to sway delegates, particularly in Egbe-Idimu where Enilolobo is based, they suffered defeats as party members recognized that continuing ties with Aregbesola was seen as counterproductive.
Another party member disclosed that some individuals from Aregbesola’s faction in Egbe-Idimu LCDA have started reaching out to other factions to preserve their relevance.
He cited a conversation with an aide of Kunle Sanya-Olu Olowoopejo, the Egbe-Idimu LCDA chairman who has switched allegiance to the Orelope-Adefulire group.
He remarked, “I foresaw this shift because the council chairman, a pivotal figure in Aregbesola’s faction, has completed his term, and attempts to secure the party’s ticket have failed.
This primary was their last chance to hold any significance within the party, and with their unmet objectives during the LG primaries, it’s clear they have lost all influence, as the structure in Alimosho has collapsed.”
This sentiment was echoed by many who had endured difficulties under Aregbesola's group, celebrating their liberation from its grip within Alimosho.
