Lieutenants and supporters of late Ajeromi /Ifelodun former House of Reps member, Hon Olusegun Ogunbanjo recently gathered in his honor at a maiden memorial lecture where an Islamic cleric, Fadeelat Sheikh Abdul Ganiyy Sulayman Tanimola, harped on the ‘Roles of Leaders’ and their challenges.
Cleric and school proprietor Rashad Ilaiyat Abikoye Mosafejo, praised the late Hon Ogunbanjo and his legacies as he added that some people do not need campaigns to win elections due to their good works.
”Ogunbanjo is dead but he is being remembered today because of his good works as a former House of Reps member and LGA Party Chairman. His work is enduring especially as he built people”, he noted.
He noted that followers have duties and responsibilities to support the leaders. “The leader should not be left alone; he needs support, cooperation, and assistance of his followers for success”
The Mayor of Ifelodun Local Council Development Area, Hon Olufemi Akanbi Okeowo thanked the Cleric for always supporting them (politicians) with prayers and thanked God for all that late Ogunbanjo did and prayed that God grant the family all they desired.
The first Ajeromi Ifelodun Council Chairman, Dr. Abiola Ajijola, praised the Muslim cleric for his words of inspiration and encouragement, “those words will always guide us”, he said.
Hon Engr Wahab Adigun, a former Councillor and Vice Chairman of the LCDA testified that he enjoyed the good works of late Hon Ogunbanjo.
”Late Hon Ogunbanjo produced a lot of people and I enjoyed the largesse of the late leader. So, all the prayers said here will come to fulfillment and this will not be the last of the memorial lecture”
The Gate of Hope Apex leader, Bro Olaleye said the event was originally meant to remember the late Hon Ogunbanjo and that the political coloration was because the late leader was a politician and most of the people that gathered were all politicians too, so the event happened in the political circle.
The former Supervisory Councilor for Environment said, “Another objective of the program is to reassemble the members of the group Gate of Hope and when we reassemble, anything can happen. This event today, is a statement that the Gate of Hope is still active and alive,, and by the grace of God, I am still the leader of the group”.
According to Hon Mutiu Fatai Olawale, a former Deputy leader at Ifelodun legislative arm aka Dangote, “Hon Olusegun Ogunbanjo was a great democrat in Badagry division and Lagos West Senatorial District of Lagos, he needs to be remembered for his great contribution in the political and economic development of Ajeromi Ifelodun Local Government as a two-term member of the National Assembly”
“As one of his obedient and two-term councilor from his ward, I am proud to be identified with his ideology and economic growth”, he noted.
He appreciated all the personalities that contributed to the success of the event. They include: Hon Shuaib Ajidagba former LCDA Chairman, current Ifelodun LCDA Executive chairman Hon Mayor Okeowo, Hon Adigun, and other leaders in the ifelodun Local government.
The APC LGA Chairman Hon Owegbe Babalola, also a lieutenant of the late leader thanked Mayor Olufemi Okeowo for transforming Ifelodun Local Council Development Area with quality projects and reassured him of the support of the people for his second term.
“I want to thank God, that this program was a huge success and I am thanking God for the people he used to financially, and morally support the event, may God bless their families, and their projects and God shall allow them to go farther in politics”
He thanked all the people who made the event successful for their selfless contribution.
For Sani Lanre Mustapha a serving Supervisory Councilor for Budget, Planning, and Statistics in Ifelodun LCDA, ” we intend to primarily offer prayer for God to remember our late leader, forgive his shortcomings, and put him in the right place.
“Prayer will not be too much for the late leader who had done so much with so little that he had. He touched our lives in one way or the other, “he said,
Concerning the political undertone of the event, he has this to say; “For now, it is not part of what we are looking at, what we want to achieve primarily is that our father and leader, late Hon Ogunbanjo is being remembered today because we cannot just fold hands and forget the man that touched our lives and we pray God grants him eternal life”
Hon Tunde Omojuwa, a former Supervisor for Works at Ifelodun LCDA, explained that the whole essence of the program is to make sure that the late Ogunbanjo’s noble legacies do not die.
Secondly, because the leader was late, his followers decided to regroup to retain the caucus, so that whatever was due to them would still come to them and it was just the beginning of the whole thing, he said.
Amongst the notable politicians that graced the occasion include the Super for Works- Baba Onisu, the apex leader of the Gate of Hope Bro Olaleye, the Ifelodun Branch B Chairman Balo, Alhaji Abdulrashed Adedayo, members of PMG, ACO, Allied Group members, Gate of Hope members and Mr Alausa of HKT group.
