April Election: Fashola Gets New Running Mate

LAGOS, Jan 20, (THEWILL) - Lagos State Governor Babatunde Raji Fashola will contest the April 16 governorship election with state Commissioner for Women Affairs and Poverty Alleviation, Mrs. Adejoke Orelope-Adefilure as running mate, THEWILL can report.

Recall we had exclusively reported earlier that Deputy Governor Sarah Adebisi Sosan would be dropped as Fashola's deputy.

But some supporters of Sosan have questioned the party’s move to scheme her out of the seat by protesting at the party secretariat amidst threats to support the opposition in the poll.

The protest has however not yielded any positive result as the party has settled for Orelope-Adefilure, who has served the state in different capacities, including being a member of the State Executive Council in the aborted Third Republic.

Multiple sources in the state chapter of the ACN told THEWILL that Orelope-Adefilure’s name has been forwarded to INEC alongside Fashola’s.

Orelope-Adefilure edged out Commissioner for Science and Technology, Dr. Babafemi Hamzat for the spot.

THEWILL gathered that the incumbent deputy governor would have loved to continue in office, but the powers that be in the party have been shopping for a new candidate to replace her.

“I can tell you authoritatively that Sosan will not run with Governor Fashola in the April 16 governorship election. Orelope-Adefilure is highly favoured in the ranks of the party leadership to replace the incumbent deputy governor, a senior party official said.”

Orelope-Adefilure, currently running a first-degree programme in Lagos State University (LASU), has been in politics for almost three decades. Like the incumbent, she hails from Aworiland, which constitutes a major population of the state and is believed to be critical to winning any gubernatorial contest in the state.

She trained as a Secretary and Social Worker and was elected into Lagos State House of Assembly in the aborted Third Republic (between 1991 and 1993). She later became Lagos State Independent Electoral Commission (LASIEC) commissioner between 2003 and 2007.

Since the inception of the Governor Raji Fashola administration in 2007, Orelope-Adefilure has been operating the affairs of the Ministry of Women Affairs and Poverty Alleviation and has recorded good achievements, especially in the area of skill acquisition and economic empowerment for the low-income women.