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Many chairmanship aspirants and party leaders are up in arms over what they describe as a plot to impose candidates, thereby sidelining grassroots democracy.
A deepening crisis is brewing within the Lagos State chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC) ahead of the July 12 local government elections. Many chairmanship aspirants and party leaders are up in arms over what they describe as a plot to impose candidates, thereby sidelining grassroots democracy.
The aggrieved members and leaders, drawn from various local government areas (LGAs) and local council development areas (LCDAs), accuse key figures within the party of attempting to handpick candidates rather than allowing a level playing field. This move has sparked outrage among some aspirants and party members, who allege that the process is being manipulated to favor preferred candidates.
The Lagos State Independent Electoral Commission (LASIEC) had released the timetable and guidelines for the commencement of the electoral process for the 57 council chairmanship seats and 376 councillorship positions spread across the state’s 20 LGAs and 37 LCDAs. The announcement came as the tenure of the current local council officials is set to end in July.
The party leaders in various LGAs set up internal committees to screen aspirants and streamline those to be adopted as consensus candidates. However, this move has been met with resistance from some aspirants and party members, who claim that the process is being used to impose preferred candidates rather than allowing for fair competition.
IREPORT247NEW recall that a group of 15 aspirants vying for the chairmanship position in the Ojokoro Local Council Development Area (LCDA) of Lagos State under the All Progressives Congress (APC) have denied reports of a consensus candidate being endorsed for the upcoming local government elections.
The aspirants’ coordinators, Mustapha Rasheed and Segun Sekoni, described claims that Mobolaji Sanusi had been endorsed as the consensus candidate as false and misleading.
They clarified that the list circulated by Sanusi was simply an attendance sheet from a meeting with the Speaker of the Lagos State House of Assembly, not an endorsement list.
Rasheed and Sekoni emphasized that no agreement, vote, or consensus decision was reached during the meeting, contradicting Sanusi’s claims.