A former state assemblyman has withdrawn from the race for the nomination of the All Progressives’ Congress candidate for the Lagos-East Senatorial bye-election. Nigeria’s election management agency, the Independent National Election Commission (INEC) called the election after the death of the former senator representing the district, Mr Bayo Osinowo.
Mr Lanre Odesanya, who had been seeking the nomination said that he had decided to withdraw in the interests of the party and the district. He said that he would support Mr Tokunbo Abiru, a former finance commissioner who now heads Polaris Bank, one of Nigeria’s national financial institutions.
Mr Odesanya said that Mr Abiru had been accepted as a “consensus candidate”. He said: “If you may recall, I was emphatic on consensus. It is not antithetical to democracy. On this note, I humbly commend the wisdom applied by the Governance Advisory Council (GAC). Indeed, it is epochal and shall remain a watershed in the annals of our political history as a Centre of Excellence. I heartily congratulate our own amiable son of the soil, Tokunbo Abiru, on his emergence as the flag bearer.”