After appointing Femi Gbajabiamila as President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s Chief of Staff, the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) has started the process of replacing the former Speaker of the House of Representatives seat.
According to Daily Trust, Fuad Laguda, the incumbent APC chairman in Surulere Local Government Area, has a leg up on other candidates for Gbajabiamila’s position.
Laguda is likely to receive permission from the party to run in the Surulere Federal Constituency 1 by-election.
Recall that after Tinubu appointed Gbajabiamila, the lawmaker forfeited his seat in the Green chambers despite having won the reelection.
It was gathered that three aspirants had shown interest in flying the APC’s flag in the by-election to be conducted later in the year by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
They are a former acting Chairman of Surulere Local Government, Agboola Dabiri; a two-term former member of the Lagos State House of Assembly, Hon. Kabir Lawal, popularly called Caesar; and Laguda.
However, Laguda emerged as the favoured aspirant after a mock primary conducted among apex leaders of the party in Surulere on Sunday.
Speaking with Daily Trust, one of the party’s leaders confirmed that while Dabiri is already in Abuja, Lawal had agreed to step down to pave the way for the emergence of Laguda.
“We did the mock primary yesterday (Sunday), and Laguda was unanimously nominated as candidate to represent the party. We decided on Laguda because he has the experience as a seasoned politician and also an accomplished public servant,” he said.
However, the state’s APC publicity secretary, Hon. Seye Oladejo, stated that the party would still follow the proper procedures when choosing a candidate and guarantee that the chosen individual will be devoted to the ideas of progressive politics.
Ada Peter
