The Lagos State chapter of the All Progressives Congress has expelled former Agege Local Government Chairman Ganiyu Egunjobi and former Agege Constituency II aspirant Azeez Yusuf following their move from the party to the Allied Peoples Movement.
The Lagos APC chairman, Cornelius Ojelabi, announced the decision in a statement on Wednesday, September 23, accusing the two former members of anti-party activities and disloyalty after they obtained APM tickets to contest the Agege State Constituencies I and II seats.
Egunjobi and Yusuf had previously contested the APC nomination process for the two constituencies but did not secure the party's tickets. Egunjobi lost the Constituency I ticket to Oluwagbenga Abiola, while Yusuf lost the Constituency II ticket to Sakiru Enimakure. They subsequently moved to the APM and emerged as its candidates for the respective seats.
Ojelabi said the APC considered their decision to contest under another party after participating in its internal nomination process a violation of the obligations attached to party membership. He said the Lagos chapter had invoked Article 9(5)(II) of the APC Constitution, as amended in 2022, in taking disciplinary action against them.
The APC chairman said members who lose internal contests are expected either to accept the outcome or pursue available avenues of redress within the party and under the law. He argued that seeking another political platform within the same electoral cycle amounted to conduct the party could not accept.
The party also stated that following their expulsion, neither Egunjobi nor Yusuf was authorised to speak for, represent or conduct business on behalf of the Lagos APC or the APC generally. The party urged its members, supporters and the public to take note of their changed status.
The expulsion followed the two politicians' earlier decision to defend their departure from the APC. In a statement issued last week, they said their move to the APM was an independent decision and was not influenced by Lagos State House of Assembly Speaker Mudashiru Obasa.
They also alleged that they had experienced what they described as “grave injustice” during the APC nomination process and said they had submitted petitions and sought internal redress. According to them, the party leadership did not provide what they considered a satisfactory reconciliation process before they decided to leave. Those allegations are their account of the dispute and have not been independently established.
The disagreement follows earlier controversy surrounding the APC nomination process in Agege. Reports indicated that changes were subsequently made to the party's candidate list, with Abiola and Enimakure emerging as the APC candidates for the two constituencies. Egunjobi had previously challenged the outcome of the Constituency I primary, alleging that the declared result did not reflect votes recorded at polling centres.
The development has also attracted reactions from APC stakeholders in Agege. Some party leaders said the defections would not weaken the APC's electoral organisation in the area, while simultaneously calling for unresolved internal issues and reconciliation processes in Agege to be addressed.
With Egunjobi and Yusuf now contesting under the APM, the dispute adds another layer to the political contest for the two Agege Assembly seats ahead of the 2027 elections. The APC has formally ended their membership, while the two politicians have maintained that their departure followed unresolved disagreements over the party's nomination process.
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