The chairman of the All Progressives Congress in Lagos State, Cornelius Ojelabi, and the former governorship aspirant Samuel Adjose have declared their support for President Bola Tinubu's re-election bid. According to Channels Television, they also threw their weight behind the election of Obafemi Hamzat as governor of Lagos State, signalling a show of unity within the party.
The declaration was made at the party secretariat in Ikeja, when Adjose paid a courtesy visit to the state APC family. The visit was presented as a gesture of reconciliation and alignment, bringing a former contestant for the top job back into the fold behind the party's chosen flag bearers.
The state chairman commended Adjose's decision to rally behind the party's governorship candidate. He said the move showed loyalty and commitment to the unity and progress of the APC, framing it as the kind of conduct that strengthens the party rather than splitting it.
Ojelabi recalled that Adjose had once sought the same governorship position himself, before returning to the same party where he had declared that ambition. He noted that Adjose was now reassuring the leadership that he fully supports the governorship candidate, the presidential candidate and the party at large.
For his part, Adjose said he had contributed his own resources to building the party over time. He argued that it would not be wise to use the hand that one had used to build to then destroy, describing himself and his group as builders who intend to continue building rather than tearing down.
Adjose said one of the reasons for the visit was to thank the leadership of the party. He praised the APC as unique for having its own internal mechanism to resolve disputes, adding that the crises had been resolved and that everybody involved was now happy with the outcome.
He went on to say that his camp had ultimately gained something concrete from the process, namely the slot of deputy governor. Adjose said the people of Badagry were happy about that outcome and had come, in effect, to say thank you, casting the settlement as a win for his constituency.