By Bilesanmi Abayomi
The Lagos Chapter of Labour Party Caretaker Chairman, Mr. Ezekiel Kayode Salako, has distanced himself from the list of the party candidates recently released by the Independent Electrical Commission for the 2023 election.
Salako dissociated himself through a vote note to persuade candidates that he had submitted their names to party national headquarters in Abuja who did not make the final list.
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He said, “The issue of the list of candidates that Inec has been releasing for our platform, the Labour Party, in Lagos State. The list, I am sure, very sure, is not making a lot of us happy. Yes, you are not happy.
Maybe only a few people that have seen their names are happy.
“If you are not happy that your name didn’t come out, I am also not happy because the names I expect, as the current caretaker chairman of the party in the state, the names I also expect are not the names that are coming out. And that’s to let you know that it can never be about Olukayode Ezekiel Salako. Those names are not from my office; they didn’t emerge from my office. I did not know anything about most of these names.”
He explained that, “They are not about the list compiled by the office of the chairman of the party in the State of Abuja. I will publish and send to Abuja the list I compiled from our own office. For the state House of Assembly, I will publish the list my office sent to Abuja.”
Continuing, he said, “Anything apart from those lists that my office sent to Abuja. Olukayode Salako does not know anything about it. I want all of you to know that I am just under 5 months old , a little above 4 months old in office as caretaker chairman of the party. Most of the things that were done before I came in, I can’t take responsibility for them.
“Ifagbemi Awamaridi was involved, as was The NC Front, The Salvador Bloc, Gbadebo Rhodes-Vivor Bloc, Lagos for Greater Tomorrow Bloc, and so on. Before I arrived, different blocks, the NLC-TUC commission, and different blocs were running different brands of the Labour party system in the state.
“So, all these Blocs had their lists, they prepared their lists and they were dealing with Abuja, our ogas in Abuja directly. As I speak, some of these blocs are not dealing with us; they are not dealing with our office in the State; they still deal directly with Abuja.
“So, the only thing we did was to compile names within the 4-month period we came in. We had to do that even when things became very confusing and very problematic. It was difficult for us to take charge of the situation. So, we have not been in charge. “The Olukayode Salako-led administration in the state has not been in charge.
“The names that are coming out are from the Abuja connection influences. It’s not about Olukayode Salako. I don’t know anything about them because all the names I expected to see didn’t come out . Even as the chairman of the party, I am surprised that some of the names I expected to see didn’t come out. For that reason, I can not take responsibility for what I don’t know anything about.
“For those that are asking the chairman to do something about it, there’s nothing I can do. The only thing I can do is what I have already done.
“At a point when we came in four months ago, Mr. Arabambi sent some lists to us. We collected lists from different blocs and used those lists to compile our final list. I called it the Unity List. I signed that list with the stamp of my office, and I sent it to Abuja. Those are the names I expect to see, but all the names that have been coming out are names I don’t know anything about. So, Olukayode Salako should be spared from whatever’s happening to the list of candidates right now.
“As you can all see, it’s not every candidate that is supposed to be contesting on our platform in the coming election that is on this platform, this WhatsApp group platform. The reason is that I don’t know them, I don’t have their contact information, I might have their names, but I don’t have their phone numbers. Many of them are not even dealing with me as the chairman of the party. They deal with Abuja.
“So, I don’t have their contact. That is the reason that the names of everybody are not here on the list. Salako stated. I decided to do this voice note to let you know that if you are not happy about the situation, I am sadder. I am sad. I am not happy. I don’t know why the names that will be forwarded to Abuja are not the names that INEC has been publishing. I hope our Oga in Abuja will be able to provide an answer to all these myriad of questions that all of us are asking somebody.”