APC Slots: Lagos Female Politicians, Kemi Nelson And Jumoke Okoya At War

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The old saying, ‘Men can hurt my body, but women can scar my soul,’ is one of those undeniable truths all women experience but most easily deny. However, this is exactly the event now playing out between two Lagos female political amazons, Chief (Mrs.) Kemi Nelson and Hon. Jumoke Okoya-Thomas.

 

There is silent war between these two women of importance, a very credible source told Global Excellence magazine. Expectedly, both women feigned ignorance of any rift when Global Excellence magazine sought their comments last weekend. The war, the source informed, actually was sparked by the camp of Hon. Okoya-Thomas, and

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has so blossomed it’s now getting the attention of both the state and federal arms of their political party.

 

According to Global Excellence magazine source, the relevance of Kemi Nelson, a former commissioner for women affairs during the Asiwaju Tinubu government in Lagos State, was openly called to question for the first time by Okoya-Thomas, a former member of the House of Representatives and younger ally within the same political family when she literally plotted and finally snatched Kemi’s post as women leader of the Lagos State chapter of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC). It didn’t end there; according to the source, Okoya-Thomas and her camp later threw a party and, like brave soldiers who triumphed in war, they reportedly mocked Kemi’s imagined loss of power. The rather depressing situation, we gathered, drove Kemi to bid for a higher office.

 

While the high-wire scheming lasted, the source regaled Global Excellence magazine, the situation witnessed the camps of both women literally knifing each other at their backs. Meanwhile, during the APC national convention that held on Saturday, June 23, 2018 in Abuja, Kemi Nelson was lucky to have made the Lagos executives’ ‘Unity List’ as Southwest Zone women leader, automatically throwing her up ahead of her former position. The source stated that Kemi Nelson’s new position which normally should douse tension had further fuelled the alleged war.

 

Following her announcement as the Southwest women leader, the source said, Jumoke allegedly wrote a petition to the zonal body ‘to reconsider its decision’. Global Excellence magazine was told that Hon. Jumoke stated ‘reasons why the post should not be awarded Kemi Nelson’.

 

However, the source said that a former senator from Lagos State, Mr. Tokunbo Afikuyomi, has waded into the matter for an amicable settlement. According to the source, “Afikuyomi volunteered to settle the rift between them (Kemi and Jumoke) because of her closeness to Jumoke.”

 

The former senator, according to the source, enjoys good relationship with both women but is closer to Hon. Okoya-Thomas, hence his decision to reconcile the women.

 

This reporter sent a text message to Hon. Jumoke Okoya-Thomas on her two known mobile phones, Glo and MTN for her comments but she did not reply. Two days after, the reporter called her. When she picked the called and realized it was for the same reason, she promised to call the reporter back saying ‘I’m in a ‘serious meeting’. When the reporter sent a message to Mrs. Kemi Nelson for her comments on the reported feud between her and Okoya-Thomas, she simply texted back ‘I’m not aware’.

 

-Folorunsho Hamsat