Lagos APC Showdown: Egunjobi, Yusuf Axed Over Defection

​The political landscape in Lagos State witnessed a major escalation on Wednesday as the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) formally announced the expulsion of two prominent chieftains, Chief Ganiyu Kolawole Egunjobi and Mr. Azeez Yusuf.

​Announced by the Lagos State APC Chairman, Pastor Cornelius Ojelabi, the disciplinary action targets the duo over allegations of gross disloyalty, anti-party activities, and conduct deemed destructive to the party’s internal cohesion. The crisis stems from the intensely contested 2026 primary elections for the Lagos State House of Assembly. Egunjobi, a former chairman of Agege Local Government, and Yusuf had vied for the tickets representing Agege Constituency I and Constituency II respectively.

​Following their defeat at the primaries, both politicians bypassed internal party reconciliation channels and pitched their tents with the Allied Peoples Movement (APM), where they subsequently secured tickets to run for the same legislative seats.

​The state leadership maintained that the aggrieved politicians’ actions violated the principles of party fidelity, stressing that political platforms cannot be treated as disposable garments. Invoking Article 9(5)(II) of the APC’s 2022 amended constitution, Ojelabi declared that the party had stripped the former members of any legitimacy to speak, negotiate, or transact business under the banner of the APC. Stakeholders, party members, and the general public have similarly been cautioned against treating either individual as an authorised representative of the ruling party.

​The disciplinary pronouncement has also cast a shadow over their perceived alignment with the Speaker of the Lagos State House of Assembly, Mudashiru Obasa. While widely identified in political circles as close allies of the Speaker, both men previously distanced Obasa from their defection, maintaining that the choice to jump ship was an independent reaction to a flawed and disputed primary process.

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​However, the expelled politicians have fiercely challenged the ruling party’s narrative, dismissing the expulsion announcement as an empty and belated formality. In a joint response, Egunjobi and Yusuf asserted that they voluntarily resigned their membership weeks prior—specifically in July—before the party’s September announcement.

​Questioning the logical coherence of expelling individuals who had already relinquished their membership, the duo argued that their transition to the APM was a legitimate democratic choice borne out of frustration with internal party management. Despite exiting the fold, they insisted their broader political loyalties to national and state leaders remain unchanged, even as local APC stakeholders in Agege downplay the immediate threat of the defection to the ruling party’s electoral dominance.