By: Manoah Kikekon
LAGOS, NIGERIA — In a major political development shaking the ruling party, Mrs. Folashade Tinubu-Ojo, the Iyaloja-General of Nigeria and daughter of President Bola Tinubu, has threatened to lead a massive street protest. The declaration follows severe disputes over the recently concluded All Progressives Congress (APC) primary elections in Lagos State.
As originally reported by PUNCH, the influential market leader voiced her grievances during a weekly meeting of key market stakeholders at her office in Alausa, Ikeja. She stated that the state's party apparatus intentionally altered election results to favor a specific internal faction.
The outcry comes on the heels of the Lagos State APC chapter releasing its official list of legislative candidates. The document, signed by state APC Chairman Cornelius Ojelabi, certified 24 candidates for the House of Representatives and 40 for the State House of Assembly.
However, Tinubu-Ojo openly questioned the transparency of the lists published for three key regional battlegrounds. She named the candidates whose initial victories she insists must be protected from manipulation:
Mushin Federal Constituency 2: Hon. Seye Oladejo, Agege Constituency 2: Mutiu Olaide Oladeebo, Ojokoro Constituency: Olotu Ojo
“We are ready to protest because of Seye Oladejo of Mushin Federal Constituency 02, Mutiu Olaide Oladeebo of Agege 2 constituency, Olotu Ojo of Ojokoro constituency, because we know they won this election. Their mandate should not be given to somebody else,” she warned explicitly during the stakeholder assembly.
A central theme of Tinubu-Ojo’s grievance is the internal factional warfare threatening the ruling party's cohesion ahead of the 2027 general elections. She called for an outright dissolution of structural divisions, specifically pointing out the friction between the Mandate Group and the Justice Forum internal blocs.
The current political migration pattern inside Lagos APC is heavily influenced by the position of Deputy Governor Obafemi Hamzat, a key figure tied to the Justice Forum. Tinubu-Ojo noted that party members are jumping ship under the assumption that this faction represents the next line of state leadership.
“We have to cry out now. Let APC cancel Justice and Mandate Forums. We are one family. We are for APC. Now, they are using Justice Forum and Mandate because our candidate, Obafemi Hamzat, belongs to the Justice Forum. Everyone is now joining the Justice Forum because they believe that is where the incoming governor belongs."
She elaborated further on the danger of running a winner-takes-all system within party leadership:
“Even when he becomes governor, he will not govern only APC members; he has to balance it. Everyone must be carried along. If you are a leader, you are leading both your friends and foes. I can’t understand members of Mandate Group dumping Mandate and joining Justice Forum. And if Mandate won the election, they would try to manipulate and put Justice Forum members there. It is saddening. It is a way of telling us that hard work does not pay in politics. Something must be done about it.”
Concluding her address, the Iyaloja-General firmly reasserted that market women and traders across Lagos remain a pivotal voting bloc. While reaffirming their baseline support for the governorship ambitions of Obafemi Hamzat and the broader APC agenda, she sent a clear message to the party's elite: traders will no longer accept being sidelined in governance or subsequent political appointments.
She urged party hierarchies at both the state and national levels to launch an immediate investigation into the primary election outcomes before final ratification. Unresolved friction, she cautioned, could deeply compromise internal party unity long before the next general election cycle begins.