The dust raised by the outcome of chairmanship primary conducted by Lagos chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC) may not settle soon after the aggrieved members stormed the party secretariat to express their displeasure over the exercise and demand for a re-run of the primaries that produced 51 candidates for the July 12, 2025.
They alleged that the modalities adopted for the exercise and its outcome fell shot of the promises made to party members before the controversial primary was conducted.
The protesting members on Tuesday were from the Local Governments and Local Council Development Areas (LCDAs) including Badagry West, Mushin, Lagos Island, Amuwo-odofin, Itire-Ikate, Ikoyi-Obalende and Coker-Aguda.
The protesting members, who defied the rainfall, were armed with placards bearing different inscriptions to express their grievances over the primary conducted by the party’s former national legal adviser, Babatunde Ogala.
Some of the placards read ” We Say No to Open Imposition of Candidates”, ” President Tinubu Save Our Party from another Defeat”, “Return the mandate to the Choice of the People” and ” APC Must Show The Beauty of Democracy for Others to follow”.
Leading the aggrieved members and the selected delegates from Badagry West, Emmanuel Bankole, urged the Appeal Committee set up by the party, led by the Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice, Lawal Pedro, to take a critical look into their case and allow just to prevail.
Bankole said that the aspirants were not afraid to lose election but their appeal was that the process for the primary must be free, fair and credible.
According to him, majority of the delegates from the council who led the peaceful protest voted for Oluremi Nutayi but were surprised that she got no vote when the result was announced that Ibrahim Rauf won the game.
While arguing that they were rigged out of the process, he added that they have confidence that justice will be served in their case through the Appeal Committee.
The leader of the protesters believes that the Mr..Lawal Pedro-led Appeal Committee are people of great integrity and characters that will be guided by ample of evidence submitted to them.
He explained that it will be a difficult task for the party to campaign to the electorates to vote for them in Badagry West during July 12th Local Government election when the peoples’ choice was denied ticket.
According to him, the action of the Lagos APC leadership has killed the spirit of the aspirant and her supporters who have been working for weeks in accordance with the guidelines released by the party’s leadership.
While leading the aggrieved members of the party from Mushin, Qadri Temitope, said that they were not against the party but to express their displeasure on the outcome of the primary election.
He however noted that some of the leaders of the party in Mushin sold their conscience and betrayed the interest of the majority by imposing unpopular candidate on the people.
Temitope explained that out of the 10 wards that make up the council, no one was chosen among the delegates to vote during last Saturday’s primary held at the Secretariat in Acme.
He further alleged that the outgoing Chairman for Mushin, Emmanuel Bamigboye, summoned a meeting at the council where he imposed the delegates for the primary election on the members.
The aggrieved member added that other members of the party did not participate in the just concluded exercise due to the council chairman’s actions.
According to him, the majority who were schemed out of the exercise believes that the Appeal Committee will do justice to their complaint saying Mushin has more than enough aspirants qualified to represent the party against the choice of the leaders.
It would be recalled that Ogala announced that Appeal Committee will commence sitting immediately at the Secretariat on Acme to look at complaints and petitions in the aftermath of the exercise.
