By ADEYEMI ADELEYE
LAGOS- Prince Idris Balogun, an APC chieftain in Lagos State, says the opposition People’s Democratic Party (PDP) will not be a threat to the ruling party in the 2023 general elections.
Balogun, who contested the APC ticket for Alimosho Federal Constituency seat during the party’s primaries, made the remark on Saturday in Lagos at an event organised by him to celebrate the 2022 Eid-el-Kabir with party members and leaders.
Balogun, son of the late Oba of Isheri-Olofin Kingdom, Oba Wahab Balogun, said the celebration had become necessary as part of efforts to unify party members after the primaries.
He said that the APC needed to work as a team for the victory of its presidential candidate, Sen. Bola Tinubu and the re-election of Gov. Babajide Sanwo-Olu in 2023.
“In 2023, the APC chances are very bright in Lagos, we don’t see PDP as a threat. APC is on ground for a while more than PDP and the structure of APC is strong more than the PDP.
“Before PDP will overtake APC in Lagos, it will take a long stretch of time, strategy and energy. In all ramifications, APC has more advantages more that PDP in Lagos State,” Balogun said.
He said that both the governorship candidate of PDP, Dr Olajide Adediran and his deputy, Funke Akindele, could not make APC lose sleep because the ruling party had a solid structure across polling units, wards and local governments.
Balogun said that although the party’s House of Representatives’ primaries in Alimosho became inconclusive due to violence, he would abide by party supremacy on whoever the party agreed on as the candidate for the constituency.
He said: “Whatever that happens in our party, I will not defect from this party.
“I have been with the progressives since 1998 from Alliance for Democracy, Action Congress, Action Congress of Nigeria and now APC. I belong to APC and will remain in APC.”
He urged the party leadership to intensify efforts at making peace among various aggressive groups in the party to make victory seamless for APC at every level of elections in 2023.
“We must call all aggrieved aspirants together to appease them as to prevent them from crossing over to other parties or working against the APC,” Balogun said.
He said that APC had continued to change the face of Lagos and had taken the state to enviable heights.
Also speaking, Alhaji Lukman Idowu, Supervisory Councillor for Environment, Egbe Idimu Local Council Development Area, commended Balogun for the gesture to party members.
He said that the unity of the party and its supremacy must be paramount in the heart of all APC leaders in Alimosho.
“Since the outcome of the primaries and everything that happens, we have to come together and forge ahead with a common goal, particularly to deliver Alimosho for our National Leader, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu who is contesting for presidency in 2023.
“Some groups in the party are bent on tearing the party apart, but we must be unite for victory to be ours.
“Let us end all caucuses now that elections are approaching. APC binds us together,” Idowu, also the Director-General, Prince Idris Balogun, Campaign Organisation, said.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that APC loyalists took turns to applaud Balogun, popularly called ‘Olu-Omo Kafata’ for his philanthropism and kind-heartedness. (NAN)
