By Olanrewaju Adesanya
The jostle to fill the vacant seat of former speaker of the House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila in Surulere Federal Constituency 1 of the All-Progressives Congress at the Federal House of Representatives has come to an end at a bye election held on Saturday which elected Fuad Kayode Laguda as its flagbearer for the election scheduled for February 3, 2024.
Laguda emerged victorious at APC primary election held at the Teslim Balogun Stadium, Surulere having clearly defeated his contenders; Kabir Lawal, Raheem Owokoniran, and Jamila Omobolanle.
The trio polled no single vote while Laguda had 30 votes and was declared winner by the Chairman of the primary election committee, Yusuf Bala Yakubu to the cheers of the aspirant’s supporters, who put up a massive presence at the stadium.
Recall that Gbajabiamila resigned his position as representative for the Surulere 1 federal Constituency on June 14th 2023 after his appointment as the Chief of Staff to President Bola Tinubu.
Fuad Kayode Laguda was chairman of the APC in Surulere local government and later, Publicity Secretary of council of local government chairmen (Conference of APC 57 ) in Lagos state. Laguda was also a Member of the Independent Campaign Group which worked for the election of Babajide Olushola Sanwoolu as governor of Lagos state.
He was educated at the University of Maiduguri, Borno State, University of Lagos (Unilag) and Harvard Kennedy School/Executive Education, Boston. He was the Head of Lagos State Physical Planning Permit Authority Liaison Unit of the state’s Internal Revenue Service (LIRS). In 2016, he joined the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) as a manager, and worked at the Relationship Management Unit and Sector Account Management Unit in the Office of the Executive Chairman.
Laguda will be flying the APC flag in the february bye-election against candidates of the other political parties.
