The recent general election by 1004 Estate House Owners and Residents Association (HORA) Lagos, has thrown up Barrister Omolara Ademola as the new chairman.
Ademola, who held forte as acting chairman of HORA in the last one year, won despite past attacks by opposition that saw a diatribe of allegations pelted against her.
The opposition were part of a group of residents that reportedly indulged in illegal connection of electricity and non payment of service charge who alleged that Ademola misappropriated about N9billion.
The story went viral in most major online platforms, social, print and electronic media and it took the effort of some residents who were in the majority to debunk the allegation as unfounded.
Thus, the recent general election followed the expiration of the current term of the exco as 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 position.
However, at about 7am on the election day, Onigbe reportedly put a public notice in the estate announcing her formal withdrawal from the race.
This scenario invariably made Ademola a sole candidate to the position. However; in order 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 per cent 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; and Chike Egbuji as General Secretary.
They have all since been 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.
