Four female elected council officers in Lagos State have died — within two months of their election and inauguration.
The deceased are all members of the All Progressives Congress (APC).
Last 13 July, APC was declared winner of all the chairmanship seats in the 20 Local Government Areas (LGAs) and 37 Local Council Development Areas (LCDAs) in the election conducted a day earlier.
The four elected officers — Councillor for Ward C1 in Ibeju-Lekki LGA, Oluwakemi Rufai, Councillor for Ward C3 in Odi-Olowo/Ojuwoye LCDA, Zainab Shotayo; Vice Chairman of Badagry West LCDA, Oluremi Ajose; and Councillor for Ward F in Shomolu LGA, Basirat Mayabikan — all died in succession.
Rufai passed away on 13 August — 17 days after her swearing-in, while Shotayo who died five days after.
Last Saturday, Ajose passed away, to be followed the next day by Mayabikan.
Rufai, the only female member in her legislative council, reportedly died after a brief illness.
Five days later, Shotayo, one of the youngest councillors in the state, and the sole woman in her council, also passed away following a brief illness.
The causes of the deaths of Ajose, the daughter of Oyekan Possi Ajose, the Alapa of Apa Egun-Awori Kingdom; and Mayabikan, were not publicly stated.
Spokesperson for Lagos State APC, Hon. Oluseye Oladejo described the situation as unfortunate, adding that insinuations of foul play would be disrespectful to the memories of the deceased.
He told TheCable: ‘As much as the situation is most unfortunate, it smacks of disrespect to the memories of the departed to insinuate anything untoward.
‘All of them happen to be from different local governments and local council development areas. So it can’t be pinned down to any internal crisis.
‘We should allow the families, friends, party and well-wishers to mourn them in peace. There’s absolutely nothing to investigate’.
Announcing the council election results, the state Independent Electoral Commission said that APC clinched all 57 chairmanship seats and all but one of the 376 councillorship positions.
The Peoples Democratic Party PDP) secured victory in Ward D of the Yaba LCDA, where its candidate, Babatunde Dosunmu, defeated the APC contender. Dosunmu, a former APC member, defected to the PDP shortly before the poll.
