My attention was drawn to a misleading,malicious, and mischievous publication in the Punch Newspaper,dated 15th of April 2026 with an alarmist headline “Forum opposes Lagos rep’s fourth term bid, cites zoning, equity concerns”. At the first instance I wanted to ignore the publication after reading through and considered it as one of the ridiculous political shenanigans that comes with the election season, but on a second thought after a deeper reflection on the implications of the contents and issues raised in the said publication I felt a urge to duty and sense of responsibility to put things in proper perspectives for the sake of posterity,one as a bonafide citizen of Ikorodu federal constituency and indeed a stakeholder, a member of our great party the All Progressives Congress (APC) and as a former aspirant to same House of representatives.
My first impression is that the sponsor of the misleading publication attempted to hide behind the Justice Forum caucus of our party, by using the woman Leader named Mrs Ibiyemi Sanni, whom I learnt have denied any involvement orknowledge of such political schemes and indeed to co-opt the leadership of the party caucus in his political misadventures. It is obvious this is a devilish machinations of a stranger and new comer into the progressive fold in Ikorodu federal constituency, the intent and motive behind the publications stand against our political culture of progressive ideals and ethos. It reeks of self serving pursuits and aggrandisement which I shall attempt to expose with the analysis of the contents. What are the issues raised in the said publication? 1.Zoning/rotation, inclusion and political balance 2.Equity Concern 3.Concentration of political powers in one individual 4.Lastly and the most ridiculous, Religion.
Ikorodu have never had it this good in the history of political representation, before Hon. Babajimi Benson ,Hon Abike Dabiri was what we all thought was a big shoe too big for anyone amongst us to step into especially with her global celebrated freedom of information bill among others notable achievements. Babajimi Benson have shocked every cynics, Skeptists, and doubting Thomases by the height of achievement as our federal representative from 2015 till date…if one to begin to enumerate his score cards Viz a Viz sponsored bills, infrastructural development,Youth development, empowerment and employment placements, Health, education, name it.. he’s touched every aspects of every ikorodu federal constituency and the constituents!
This is not a vague or an ambiguous claims, they are empirically verifiable evidences… More than 100 roads across the length and breath of Ikorodu federal constituency have already been constructed, notable among them are,Eyita road in Ikorodu,Offin,Oreta roads in igbogbo bayeku LCDA,many roads in igbogbo olomu, Agric,Ijede,and Imota cutting across every parts of the constituency. There is an 80 bed mother and child hospital in Imota, there is a CBT JAMB centre in ikorodu town hall. His passion for the youths of Ikorodu is unprecedented,at a time almost every week he’s sponsored more than one hundred youths to China for both skill acquisition , human capacity development programs and international exposure. He is just a different breed of leader, his personal phone number is a public item within Ikorodu federal constituency, a very rare trait among Nigerian politicians.and he’s indiscriminately accessible by all.
With all these aforementioned attributes of Babajimi Benson, there’s no gainsaying in the fact that he’s not just very popular among ikorodu consistency members but he’s so much loved and cherished as well.. This cut across social class,ethnic, religion or creed. Now, to put the sponsor of that publication where he belongs, I shall do that by analysing the major concerns he raised… In the issue of zoning, rotation, inclusion and political balance, from my findings I found out the the faceless sponsor of the publication is just about six months old in our party from PDP where is it a norm to use all sorts of frivolous gimmicks to get political power, it will be a genuine concern in a situation whereby a particular section of the constituency is deliberately marginalized, subjugated or wickedly oppressed by the use of power of such an office. That is not the case in ikorodu federal constituency where every nooks and crannyare adequately and equally benefited beyond expectations.
Therefore his argument of justice, equity and fairness hold no water except for the cheer ambition of an individual for self agrandisement. Another issue in the publicationis that if Hon. Jimi Benson is allowed to another term of office, power will be too concentrated on him alone as an individual. This fears can only be valid if he is such a power drunk individual, the argument that he’s staying too long at the parliament to me is borne out of selfish desires for power for the sake of it and nothing more. Most lawmakers around the world becomeore useful especially to their constituencies the longer they serve in the parliament,the advance democracies of the US and the UK have so many instances of people who have served more than forty years as lawmakers, in the United States of America,John Dingel Jr. Of Michigan served for 59 years in the house of reps,(1955-2015), Cellar Emmanuel from New York served for 49 years as a lawmaker.
In The UK,Sir Peter Bottomley is the current longest serving MP having served for 48 years, he represented Woolwich West, Eltham and currently Worthing West. In Nigeria, Hon. Nicholas Ebono Mutu from Bomadi/Patami federal constituency of Delta state have been in the house of representatives since 198 till date.. I am so sure that his achievements and records can’t be compared to what we have in Ikorodu federal constituency. The most ridiculous of all this newcomer’s concern is religion, Lagos state and indeed ikorodu division have so advanced in thoughts and practices far beyond the irrational mix of religion with politics and governance.
As far back as 1979 Alhaji Rafiu Bakare Adeyefa Jafojo was the democratically elected deputy governor to same Muslim Alhaji Lateef Kayode Jakande. The desperate attempt to bring such nonsensical like religion into our party should not be encouraged and I will advise that this person drop such behind in his old party PDP… It contravenes progressive ideals of ours and I will advise you take your time to learn the ropes rather than the power grabbing tactics of your old party PDP. The impact of hon.babajimi Benson achievement cannot be overemphasized, Ikorodu have become an economic powerhouse within Lagos state largely due the the opening up of new roads which have affected every citizen in a huge positive manner… So where does the idea of ” The pushback against Benson over two years by political actors,youth groups and community leaders have increasingly argued that the constituency is due for a fresh face after over a decade in same office” is coming from Mr newcomer?
In conclusion,it is your legitimate and inalienable right to aspire for any political offices,it is the beauty of democracy and also confirm the legitimacy of the winner but if you must do, do it without malicious, misleading, mischievous and misrepresentation of the collective desire of the people of Ikorodu federal constituency on national newspapers. Peace.
Anifowose Owolabi (Omo Anifowose)
Former House of Reps aspirant.
