Former Lagos State Labour Party Chairman, Salako Floats Political Movement

P.M.EXPRESS reports as was disclosed by Comrade Salako during a press conference held at the LTV arena, Ikeja, Lagos, where he unveiled 35-man Executive members of the new group.

Also in attendance were delegates from all the 20 Local Government Areas (LGAs) 37 Local Council Development Authorities (LCDAs) in Lagos State.

During the unveiling, Comrade Salako introduced himself as the founder, Administrative Leader and Chairman of PANFO for the purpose of achieving the group’s political goals.

He stated that he was forced to exit the Labour Party, which gave birth to PANFO, in order to pursue his political career after bouts of persecution for being upright and fighting the cause of a true, vibrant, and ideal democratic order.

He explained that he was a member of the APC from inception in 2014 till 2022 when he joined Labour Party, borne out of conflict of interest at that material time. And he moved to Labour Party in 2022 to 2023, where he led a 24-man State Executive Caretaker Committee to run and re-build the Labour Party for a period of five months, which impact was felt at the 2023 Presidential elections, which heralded a paradigm shift in Lagos State and has remained a lasting memoir in the history of Nigeria.

Comrade Salako stated that on 20th April, 2023, he officially withdrew from Labour Party under a circumstance, which ranged from sustained harassment, assault and victimization stemming from their perception of him being a Bola Tinubu/APC mole and hatchet job man in Labour Party, just because his wife, Mrs. Foluke Daramola-Salako belongs to the APC.

He wondered how they expected him under a democracy to violate the right of his wife to “freedom of Association” enshrined in the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (as amended) or destroy his home for suppressing her aspirations, which is a clear violation of the right of women we all promote and advocate.

“Hence, it was a terrible and tomentous period of operation for me throughout the period of my stay in Labour Party during my tenure as the State Chairman of Labour Party in Lagos State, to the extent that my office was starved of funds and I was obviously told that no fund shall be released to the Office of the State Chairman of Labour Party in Lagos State unless I stepped down. So, I had no choice than to accede to the induced condition of the National Chairman of the Party, Barrister Julius Abure, to step aside from office.”

“I was removed from office as the State Chairman of Labour Party in Lagos State, because Foluke Daramola-Salako, my wife, worked with Bola Tinubu and she is a member of the All Progressives Congress (APC).”

He stated that following his voluntary resignation and withdrawal of membership of Labour Party on 20th April, 2023, he realign his political vision and aspiration with belief in a true and liberal democratic order built on discipline, strong ideology and core values of Capacity, Character, Competence and Social Charisma of   which Labour Party lacked and PANFO was formed.

“Passion Alliance Forum (PANFO), by divine agenda and grace, is the newest emergence of an organic association with the ideals of political reality in Lagos State, and it is the unveiling/launching of this epitome of political associations, whose core values are broadly CAPACITY, CHARACTER, COMPETENCE, AND SOCIAL CHARISMA that we are gathered here today to actualize.”

He stated that the goal in PANFO is to build a political association that should be run on aligned political ideals in a way will reward every investment of resources into politics in the way and manner deserving of every member, from the bottom to the top, with transparency, equity, empathy, and mutual trust from a group of politically compatible associates/social like minds from Labour Party in Lagos State.

Some of the Executive members of PANFO apart from Comrade Salako included State Deputy Chairman – Hon.  Omotayo Oyindolapo Elizabeth, State Secretary – Hon. Kazeem Adeniyi Owoyele, State Deputy Chairman, Special Duties – Dr Idowu Ganiyu Adeyemi, State Deputy Chairman on Civil Engagement – Dr Babatunde Fatoke, State Vice Chairman (Lagos West) – Hon. Abdulhakeem Goriola and others.