Critics of Barrister Omolara Ademola who has held forte as acting Chairman of the 1004 Estate House Owners and Residents Association (HORA) Lagos, in the last one year, were disappointed on Saturday the 27th of March, 2021 as she emerged the new Chairman in a general election held in the Estate.
It would be recalled that last year, a group of residents in the high brow Estate who were reportedly indulging in criminal acts of illegal connection of electricity, non payment of service charge and so on, had teamed up to scandalize Ademola by alleging that she misappropriated about N9billion. The story went viral in most major online platforms, social, print and electronic media and it took the efforts of some residents who were in the majority to debunk the allegation as unfounded.
The recent general election had come as a constitutional event following the expiration of the current term of the Exco. The HORA Constitution stipulates that executive officers of the Association shall hold office for two years, at the expiration of which, another election would take place.
Determined to continue offering her services irrespective of distraction from her traducers, she vied for the full Chairmanship position. Another aspirant in the person of Edith Onigbe formerly of the Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) and homeowner in the Estate, also put herself forward for the Chairmanship election.
However, at about 7am on the election day, Onigbe reportedly put a public notice in the Estate announcing her formal withdrawal from the Chairmanship race.
This scenario invariably made Ademola a sole candidate to the position. However, in other to fulfill the requirements of HORA Constitution which stipulates that in the event of a sole candidacy, there must be a majority win or the position will be re-contested; votes were cast for her. At the end of the exercise, she got 76.4% vote, which by the constitution was a majority vote. She was thereby declared the winner.
Other positions were contested for, and the following persons emerged winners: Deji Kolawole as Vice Chairman 1. Joshua Anemeje Vice Chairman 2. Chike Egbuji as General Secretary. They were all sworn in, on Tuesday March 30, 2021.
Voting during the election was done virtually in compliance with Covid-19 protocols and it was coordinated by Chams Plc; a renowned information technology firm in Nigeria.
It would be recalled that Barrister Omolara Ademola had served in the capacity of General Secretary of HORA in 2019 before she became the acting Chairman sometime in 2020 when the incumbent Chairman exited office before the expiration of his tenure. Ademola’s strict and transparent leadership in the last one year had brought some sanity in the Estate.