LAGOS, Nigeria — Folashade Tinubu-Ojo, the Iyaloja General of Nigeria, has called for the dissolution of two influential factions within the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC.
Tinubu-Ojo, a daughter of President Bola Tinubu, made the remarks on Wednesday, May 28, 2026, at the weekly meeting of market leaders and stakeholders at her office in Alausa, Ikeja.
She alleging that the groups manipulated the outcomes of House of Representatives primaries in three Lagos constituencies and handed victory to candidates who did not legitimately win.
She specifically named the Justice Forum and the Mandate Movement as the organisations responsible for what she described as the subversion of the democratic will of party members in Mushin Constituency I, Agege Constituency II and Ojokoro.
She identified three aspirants she said had won their primaries convincingly before moves were allegedly made to overturn the results: Mutiu Olaide Oladeebo in Agege Constituency II, Seye Oladejo in Mushin Federal Constituency, and Olotu Emmanuel Ojo in Ojokoro.
“We are sure that Seye Oladejo won in Mushin Federal Constituency and Olotu Emmanuel Ojo in Ojokoro won in Ojokoro with a landslide,” she said.
“We know they won the election and their mandate should not be given to somebody else.”
She added that market women across Lagos were prepared to protest if the grievances were not addressed.
“We decided to calm down and see what they will do about it because we are ready to protest,” she said.
Factions in the crosshairs
Tinubu-Ojo directed much of her criticism at the Justice Forum, noting that the APC’s prospective governorship candidate for Lagos, Obafemi Hamzat, was affiliated with the group — a fact she said gave the faction outsized influence that was being abused.
“We have to cry out now; let the APC cancel Justice and Mandate Forums because our governorship candidate belongs to the Justice Forum,” she said.
“Everybody is now joking at the Justice Forum because that is where our incoming governor belongs. Are we not Lagosians? When he becomes the governor, he will not be the governor for the APC alone; he has to balance it.”
She expressed particular frustration at what she described as a pattern of winning aspirants crossing from the Mandate Movement to the Justice Forum after their victories, saying it sent a damaging message to party loyalists.
“It is a way of telling us that hard work doesn’t pay in politics,” she said.
Tinubu-Ojo called on APC leaders at both the state and national levels to investigate the disputed results before they were formally ratified, warning that unresolved grievances could deepen tensions within the party ahead of the 2027 general elections.
Traders demand recognition
Beyond the primary disputes, Tinubu-Ojo also raised broader concerns about what she described as the political marginalisation of market traders, who she said had contributed substantially to the APC’s electoral fortunes in Lagos without receiving adequate recognition or appointments in return.
She called on President Tinubu to formally acknowledge traders as critical stakeholders in national development, and declared that market women remained committed to supporting Hamzat’s governorship bid and APC candidates across the country, provided their loyalty was reciprocated.
Protests threatened in Mushin
The fallout from the disputed Mushin primary spilled onto the streets on Wednesday, as aggrieved APC members and supporters gathered to threaten mass action if Oladejo’s result was not reinstated.
The demonstrators accused leaders aligned with the Justice Forum of seeking to impose candidates and hollow out the party’s internal democratic processes.
“We know who won the election, and the mandate should not be stolen. We are ready to protest if justice is not done,” one of those present said.
