The woman widely regarded as the most powerful voice of Lagos market traders and daughter of President Tinubu, Folashade Tinubu-Ojo, has threatened to mobilise street protests against the outcome of the ruling party’s legislative primaries in the state, alleging that results in several constituencies were manipulated to favour a faction linked to the man widely expected to succeed Babajide Sanwo-Olu as governor.
Folashade Tinubu-Ojo, the Iyaloja-General of Nigeria and a figure whose political influence in Lagos far exceeds her formal title, made the remarks on Wednesday at a weekly gathering of market leaders and stakeholders at her office in Alausa, Ikeja — a setting that gave her intervention the character of a formal declaration rather than casual complaint.
At issue are the results of primaries held by the Lagos chapter of the All Progressives Congress for seats in the House of Representatives and the state House of Assembly, the full list of which was published on Monday, signed off by state APC chairman Cornelius Ojelabi. Tinubu-Ojo singled out three constituencies — Mushin Federal Constituency 2, Agege Constituency 2, and Ojokoro — where she alleged the declared outcomes did not reflect the actual votes cast.
“We are ready to protest,” she said, naming three candidates she insisted had genuinely won their contests: Seye Oladejo in Mushin, Mutiu Olaide Oladeebo in Agege 2, and Olotu Ojo in Ojokoro. “Their mandate should not be given to somebody else,” she warned.
Underlying her grievances is a widening factional rift within Lagos APC between two internal blocs — the Justice Forum and the Mandate Group — a division she argued was corroding the party from within. The Justice Forum is closely associated with Obafemi Hamzat, the deputy governor and frontrunner to lead the APC into the 2027 governorship race, and Tinubu-Ojo alleged that his growing inevitability was triggering a scramble among political opportunists to align with his camp at the expense of fairness.
“Everyone is now joining the Justice Forum because they believe that is where the incoming governor belongs,” she said, her frustration barely concealed. “Are we not Lagosians? We are all APC.” She reserved particular scorn for members of the Mandate Group who, she said had abandoned their own faction to reposition themselves, only to benefit from what she described as results being manipulated in the Justice Forum’s favour.
Her remarks carried an implicit warning to Hamzat himself. “Even when he becomes governor, he will not govern only APC members; he has to balance it,” she said. “If you are a leader, you are leading both your friends and foes.”
Tinubu-Ojo called on APC leadership at both state and national levels to investigate the disputed results before they are ratified, warning that failure to act would deepen internal tensions at precisely the moment the party needs cohesion. She went further, urging the party to formally abolish its internal fora altogether. “Let APC cancel Justice and Mandate Forums,” she said. “We are one family.”
Despite her anger, the Iyaloja-General was careful to reaffirm the loyalty of Lagos market women to the APC project and to Hamzat’s governorship ambition. But she made clear that loyalty had limits, and that traders — a formidable and historically decisive constituency in Lagos politics — expected meaningful recognition in return. To be mobilised election after election while being sidelined in governance and appointments, she suggested, was a bargain that market women were no longer prepared to accept in silence.
