Society Gists

…Calls for Cancellation

Some Members of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Lagos State have voiced out their displeasure over the conduct of the primary noting that the exercise
was not transparent and Alleged that there
were overvoting considering the number of delegates on the list sent from the Headquarters.

One of the stakeholders who craved anonymity alleged that after the election was conducted, it was expected that the results would be sorted and announced, but instead, party members were asked to go back home and the results sorted and announced in questionable circumstances.

The leader of one of the leading political groups in Apapa Local Government further called on the APC state chairman and major stakeholders in the party to look into the undemocratic practice, noting that the election be canceled while calling for a proper election to be held.

The group also questioned the performance of the incumbent Apapa local government chairman, which was alleged to be unpopular and performed far below expectations and does not deserve to be returned elected because the votes cast at the primaries did not reflect the intentions of the party’s delegates.

“Opposition parties are waiting for such mistakes so that they can take over the APC-controlled Local Government in Apapa.

The group further noted that all the chairmanship and councillorship candidates have spent a lot of money before getting to the point of primaries and seeing the manners in which the primaries were marred with overvoting as against the official list sent from APC headquarters in Abuja which indicated that just 22 delegates are expected to vote from Apapa local government but the result shown was 27, which the group noted that it is a pointer that the election was not valid and need to be rerun.

According to a Punch newspaper report which indicated that other local governments also alleged imposition of candidates in the Lagos Mainland Local Government and Yaba Local Council Development Areas. The Punch report further indicated that the party’s primary election, held at its secretariat in Ikeja, concluded with candidates emerging through indirect election and consensus for most of the 20 local governments and 37 LCDAs.

Some protesters, who gathered on Apapa Road in Ebute Metta before marching to Arise TV on Victoria Island, claimed that party leaders were imposing unpopular aspirants as consensus candidates without the consent of other contestants. They threatened to challenge the decision in court unless a unanimous agreement was reached.

Taorid Owolabi, leader of the protesters, called for the primary to be rescheduled, citing a lack of consensus among aspirants. He urged the State Working Committee to adopt revised guidelines that reflect the peculiar circumstances of the LGAs and LCDAs.

Another protester, Sodeeq Olawepo, warned that the party’s failure to resolve the issue could lead to litigation and affect its performance in the upcoming local government elections and the 2027 general election.

However, the APC spokesperson in the state, Seye Oladejo, denied allegations of imposition, stating that the party has a solid mechanism to resolve candidacy issues. He assured that the party would field candidates for the local governments in the upcoming election.

Meanwhile, an aggrieved aspirant in Orile-Agege LCDA, Abimbola Oladokun, and an Aspirant from Apapa local government condemned the primary, claiming the exercise was not democratically conducted due to irregularities.

Meanwhile, the aggrieved party member explained that the primary was closely monitored by Deputy Governor Obafemi Hamzat who urged delegates and party members to conduct themselves peacefully.

The Chairman of the Lagos APC Electoral Committee, Babatunde Ogala, explained that councils with consensus candidates were allowed to affirm their choice before others cast their votes.