Ahead of the Lagos State Local Government election, the All Progressives Congress (APC) has indicated that its candidates list for the chairmanship and councillorship polls would emerge through consensus between the party leaders, aspirants and members across the 57 Local Governments and Local Council Development Area (LCDA) in the state.
The party said that the need to adopt consensus lists for both the councillor and chairmen seats will ensure a rancour free primary exercise as well as sustain the existing unity among members of the Lagos APC.
It added that uniting on lists of the candidates will allow the party win all elective seats during the poll in the state, saying we have 57 councils but the number of aspirants is over 400 and all of them can’t seat in the office.
While advocating that the members embrace consensus, ahead of Saturday’s primaries for the July 12 council election, the party urged aspirants and their supporters to stay peaceful before and during the primaries.
The party announced its intention on Wednesday during a strategic stakeholders meeting attended by the Deputy Governor, Obafemi Hazmat, the Speaker of the House of Assembly, Mudasiru Obasa, the Senator representing Lagos West district, Dr. Oluranti Adebule, and others.
Addressing party stakeholders, the State Deputy Governor, Dr Obafemi Hazmat, said that consensus was not new in the party, urging aspirants to give concessions to allow the emergence of best candidates.
According to him, Let us do it the way we have been doing it before now. It is consensus. We apportion things to ourselves and it has ensured unity within the party. We should not deviate from this ideology.
Also speaking, Chairman, Governance Advisory Council (GAC) in the state, Tajudeen Olusi, said that with over 500 chairmanship aspirants, there was the need to adopt consensus to pick those who would be the standardbearer for the poll scheduled for July 12, 2025.
“It has become imperative for all of us to support and cooperate with the party. Five persons cannot occupy a single seat. We have in some places where 12 aspirants contesting a councillorship seat. We should take things easy, talk to ourselves and concede to one another.
“We should seek continuous peace and progress of the party. Conceding to one another is not new in our party. We should embrace it,” Olusi added.
The Chairman of the APC Electoral Committee, Babatunde Ogala, urged party leaders, particularly Hazmat and the Speaker of the Lagos House of Assembly, Mudashiru Obasa, to prevail on aspirants to accept consensus.
Assuring stakeholders of the committee’s resolve not to let the party and aspirants down, Ogala said, “What is at stake is very much. Our presidency is at stake. Our party’s image is at stake. Lagos is seen nationwide as a key sector.
“In fact, don’t be surprised that other states are just waiting to see the outcome of these primaries to learn from it. So, I am conscious of that and will not let you down.
“We will not let the President down. Let me assure you that in carrying out this task, we have tried to be very fair. We have put integrity into place and we have been very thorough.”
Stating that the committee had been following the party’s guidelines to the letter, Ogala said that the screening had been fair and “there was no element of influence”
According to him, the committee hopes to release the final list of successful and unsuccessful aspirants by the end of Thursday.
Asking aspirants to exhibit sportsmanship after the primaries, the chairman said that the consensus option was preferable as it would make the task easy for the committee.
“I am appealing to the party chairman, I am appealing to the leaders to make this job easy for all of us. We are open to it. If the leadership of any local government agrees, we are willing to accept and just do affirmation. It is an appeal. And it is doable. We have done it in the past,” he said.
On process of the election, Ogala, who noted that the guidelines prescribed indirect primaries, said, “Consensus is a clearly recognisable democratic process just as the indirect primaries is a clearly recognisable process and direct primaries.”
According to him, the chairmanship primaries will hold at the state party secretariat for logistics reasons while councillorship will hold in various wards on Saturday.
He said that the 57 committees had been put in place to conduct councillorship primaries at the ward level, assuring that it would be fair and open.
Ogala said that only aspirants, with an agent each, would be allowed into the venue of election on Saturday, threatening that the committee would disqualify any aspirant found flouting the guidelines.
Earlier, the APC Chairman, Cornelius Ojelahi, urged all stakeholders to prioritise the party above all ambitions.
“The focus of our meeting is to appeal to all of us that this is our party. It beckons on all of us to continue to tolerate one another, to live in peace and harmony.
“Realising that the moment we are ready to walk together as one family under the same umbrella, we will be able to build friendships across the states.
“Let all of us put the interests of the party above our personal interests, realising that this is our party, this is the only party,” Ojelabi said.
The chairman, who expressed the party’s commitment to providing enabling environment for all aspirants, urged them to cooperate with party leadership and make President Bola Tinubu proud of the party in the state.
