By Kofi Inyang
We read with dismay, the reckless, unwarranted attack on the person of the deputy Governor of Lagos State, Dr. Obafemi Hamzat, by some faceless hacks who are ventilating the frustrations of their political sponsors in the run up to the local government council elections in the state.
In a diatribe titled: ‘Where is your objectivity, Mr, Deputy Governor?’, published in two portals, the author accused Dr. Hamzat of nepotism because, being the head of a committee saddled with the job of setting modalities for the Lagos local government council elections in the state, he could not be fair, since his brother, Usman Hamzat, is running for the office of Chairman in Ifako-Ijaiye LGA. That’s poppycock!
What nonsense! Hon. Usman Hamzat is the incumbent Vice Chairman of Ifako-Ijaiye LGA. Why should the appointment of his elder brother, the deputy Governor as head of a committee, deprive him the constitutional right to run for the office of Chairman?
It is clearly preposterous to infer that in a party like the APC, with various power blocs, and formidable stakeholders, the deputy Governor could single-handedly impose his junior brother as the party’s preferred candidate for the highly competitive office of council Chairman.
It is not our style to reply this type of illogical, shallow and baseless allegation, but sometimes, you have to answer wild accusations like this, to set the records straight. Whatever modus operandi employed to produce candidates in any election, is entirely the responsibility of the party.
The State Party Secretariat has already constituted two committees; Screening Committee and Appeal Committee, which are not within the purview of the responsibilities of the Deputy Governor’s Committee.
In this exercise, Dr. Hamzat is just an appointee, whom the party entrusted with the sensitive job of settling modalities for the candidates, because of his high integrity and proven competence. It is public knowledge that the deputy Governor’s long career in public office is untainted, even when he held more sensitive positions. Why then should he compromise his integrity because of this assignment?
Moreover, in the first place, it wasn’t the deputy Governor who appointed his brother, Hon. Usman Hamzat as the Vice Chairman of Ifako-Ijaiye LGA, from where he is making a deserved and legitimate step-up for the office of the Chairman in this election.
The truth is that some of the folks who have lost out in the power contest, are just crying foul and hurling bricks at Dr. Hamzat, to make him a scapegoat for their own failure. We understand the antics of the opponent, and we cannot be moved. We shall meet on the field, and we are prepared for the contest. Rather than whining and shooting arrows, we implore our opponents to campaign and not dent a image of our great party.
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Win or lose, we’d accept the result, and we expect our opponents to do the same, instead of dragging the names of respected, innocent party leaders in the mud, in an election that is yet to hold.