What was planned to be a smooth transition to a new administration at Ifesowapo Joint CDA in Agbado Oke-Odo Local Council Development Area ended abruptly as controversy and disagreement among contending parties marred the election scheduled for Sunday 29 October 2023.
Trouble started when a stakeholder from Olohunsogo Central CDA raised an observation that there was no way his CDA could participate in the election because they had no substantive chairman that could represent them.
While he was on this observation, someone stood up and introduced himself as the CDA chairman, a development that elicited an uproar from some members of the CDA who had come to observe proceedings.
An attempt by the outgoing Joint CDA chairman, Mr. Bello, to proceed with the election despite the observation, was met with resistance.
Genesis
There are eight divisions in the Ifesowapo Joint CDA and based on rotational arrangement, the chairmanship position was zoned to Olohunsogo while other posts will be distributed among other CDAs.
Olohunsogo has three CDAs namely, Olohunsogo South, Olohunsogo Central and Ifelodun. However, while Olohunsogo South and Ifelodun had successfully inaugurated their executives, Olohunsogo Central is still riddled with crisis.
The stakeholders from the embattled CDA insisted they had no chairmanship candidate hence they will not be participating in the Joint CDA election.
Against the usual practice, they said the inauguration of the so-called executives of their CDA was done at the LCDA Secretariat, which, as far as they are concerned, was null and void.
Their grouse
Olohunsogo Central CDA members claimed that a candidate is being imposed on them by the LCDA authorities despite the fact that there was no election.
They also alleged that the last administration in the CDA never rendered financial account throughout its stay in office.
Community Standard gathered that the immediate past chairman of Olohunsogo Central as well as that of Ifelodun were suspended by the LCDA authority in 2022 following allegations of corruption level against them.
In a letter titled “Re: Corruption Complaint Against The Chairmen Olohunsogo Central and Ifelodun CDAs” and addressed to the CDC Chairman, the HOD Agric, Ozagha Thompson, asked the CDC to “quickly put in place a committee to probe the corruption allegation within 3 to 4 weeks and the parties should be notified of the committee, time and place of sitting.”
The letter, dated 4th January, 2022, which was seen by Community Standard, also tasked the committee to “come up after the whole investigation with recommendations to do justice to the parties involved.”
Community Standard understands that this unresolved corruption allegation and other alleged misdeeds of the former chairman was the crux of the crisis in the CDA. It was also learnt that the former chairman was instrumental to the emergence of the ‘imposed chairman’ whose inauguration was done at the LCDA Secretariat.
Meeting deadlocked
Meanwhile, the election could not proceed as the insistence from stakeholders in Olohunsogo Central threw a spanner in the whole process. They also informed the meeting that the notice for the election was secretly sent to some people, leaving out critical stakeholders within the CDA.
Representatives of other CDAs present said the issue must be resolved before the Joint CDA election could hold.
The Supervisory Counsellor for Health, Eng. Olusesan, who was also present at the venue, lamented the turnout of event, noting that “it’s a shame this kind of thing is happening among us.”
He said the issued should have been settled amicably before the election was fixed.
Another drama scene
In his remarks, the Super for Health had said that a newcomer could not be elected as a chairman of the Joint CDA. This statement elicited another round of shouting march at the venue, with a stakeholder from Ogundimu south CDA, Mr. Nurain Akinloye countering that there was a precedence to that.
According to him, the outgoing chairman, Mr. Bello, was a newcomer when he emerged as winner against the late former Vice Chairman, Mr. Giwa.
The Chairman of Ifelodun Olohunsogo CDA, Mr. Ayinde Olayiwola, who had indicated interest in the chairmanship of the Joint CDA, said he was not a newcomer, that he had been General Secretary before.
Olayiwola was inaugurated not quite long ago as the successor to chairman, Razak Sekoni, who had been suspended in 2022.
Abrupt ending
The shouting march continued and all effort to restore orderliness proved abortive, hence the suspension of the election by Chairman Bello.
Those were fair reporting of happening around lagos without conpromise. Thank you community standard.