Indigenes of Ijede in Ikorodu, Lagos State, have urged stakeholders and political leaders to maintain the established zoning system on the Ikorodu Constituency II, Lagos State House of Assembly (LAHA) slot.
Ikorodu constituency II is made up of three Local Council Development Areas (LCDAs) — Ijede, Igbogbo-Baiyeku and Imota.
Days back, some traditionalists, in their regalia, moved round Ijede community to protest against any push for a candidate that is not an indigene of the area.
Speaking with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Ikorodu on Friday, traditional leader of Ijede, High Chief Alliu Musediku, insisted that there was an agreement on zoning which must be respected.
Musediku, who said he was speaking the minds of his people, said that stakeholders in constituency II had agreed on a mandatory rotation of the Lagos Assembly slot to all the three parts that made up the constituency.
The traditional leader, who is also the Olisa of the community, said that the agreement was initiated since 1999 when the country returned to civil rule.
According to him, the entire leaders of the constituency have an agreement to support the continuity of the rotational accord that has since been in existence.
“We will not accept any aspirant from other regions, except an indigene of Ijede community as agreed by elders, traditional rulers and political leaders of Ikorodu constituency II.
“It was agreed that the slot should be based on zoning systerm among the three regions for justice and fairplay.
“The arrangement started from Ijede with lawmaker, Mr Saheed Hassan, who spent two terms and it was later zoned to Igbogbo where late Rotimi Sotomiwa, represented constituency II at LAHA.
“The second term was completed by Mrs Adebimbe Akinsola before it was zoned to Imota where the incumbent, Mr Nurudeen Sholaja, emerged as the LAHA member whose tenure is winding up.
“It is our turn to produce a candidate now for the zone; no aspirant vying for LAHA will be accepted except from Ijede community for justice and equity.
He urged residents to go out en masses to register and revalidate their Permanent Voter Cards, to be able to elect candidates of their choice in the forthcoming general election.(NAN)
