By Kolade Kokumo, Lagos
Aggrieved members of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Lagos State have stormed the party’s secretariat, protesting alleged irregularities that characterised the recently concluded House of Representatives and State House of Assembly primary elections in several constituencies across the state.
The protesters, comprising party members, supporters and loyalists of aggrieved aspirants, called on the APC leadership and the party’s various appeal committees to investigate the conduct of the primaries and reverse what they described as widespread violations of the party’s constitution and electoral guidelines.
Among the constituencies at the centre of the controversy are Somolu Constituency II, Amuwo-Odofin Federal Constituency, Amuwo-Odofin Constituency II, Ajeromi-Ifelodun Federal Constituency, Oshodi-Isolo Constituency I,Eti-Osa Constituency II, and Agege Constituencies I, II.
In Somolu Constituency II, the incumbent lawmaker, Hon. Samuel Olu Apata, petitioned the party over what he described as attempts to overturn the outcome of the House of Assembly primary election.
Apata’s supporters in their thousands maintained that the primary election was conducted peacefully and transparently and that he emerged victorious with 9,081 votes, defeating Hon. Aturase, who polled 814 votes, and Mr. Alli Balogun, who secured 677 votes.
His supporters alleged that some individuals within the party were plotting to substitute him with another aspirant who did not win the primary election.
They therefore appealed to the APC national leadership and relevant party organs to officially recognise and affirm his victory, investigate alleged efforts to alter the election outcome, protect the democratic rights of party members whose votes produced the declared result, and issue him the party’s nomination certificate as the lawful winner of the primary.
The protesters insisted that the integrity of the APC’s internal democratic process was at stake and urged the party leadership to address all grievances transparently to prevent further discontent ahead of the 2027 general elections.
Sources explained that the official of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) who came to monitor the primary refused to announce the election result immediately it was concluded. He promised to make the outcome public through the Chairman of Shomolu Constituency 11, Akin Mejolagbe.
“We didn’t know their game plan was to rob Peter to pay Paul. This Alli Balogun is unknown to us. One powerful woman in Abuja is trying to impose him on us and we reject him outrightly,” one of the supporters who identified himself simply as Saheed said.
Speaking during the protest, Hon Olasupo Kazeem from Somolu Constituency II said they protesting against injustice spotted in the outcome of their House of Assembly primaries.
He said: “We are here to express our grievances because the name of the person who emerged at our primaries, was substituted through back door politics.
“That is what we don’t want; we have a primary election where the person who emerged is Hon. Samuel Olufemi Apata with a margin of 9081 and somebody who came a distant third with 677 votes had his name published as our candidate. We reject brazen robbery in totality.
“We are not going to take it because we do not know the person. He has not been part of us, he didn’t play politics with us, he has never attended any political meetings.
“How come you now impose such a person on us?
“We are telling our leaders, Apata is the one we want, No Apata, No vote!
“It is going to be dangerous if the party did not rescind this path. In the recent past some people say Ebi npa wa, (we are hungry), Hon Apata came to our rescue at the local level to reduce the pangs of poverty and hunger to its barest minimal levels. Many members of his constituency benefited from the succour provided through his empowerment programmes. “If you impose someone we don’t know, how are we going to convince our people to vote for us? How do we introduce an impostor to our constituents? What do we have to tell them?
“By the way, he is not even from our local government and that makes the whole joke very ridiculous. We collectively gave our mandate to Hon Apata through our massive votes. It is going to be dangerous for our party in the general elections if nothing is done to address this terrible injustice.”
The House of Assembly aspirant for Amuwo-Odofin Constituency II, Hon. David Olukoya Doherty, petitioned the APC Primary Appeal Committee over alleged irregularities in the primary election conducted across the constituency’s seven wards.
Doherty alleged that the process lacked transparency from the outset, claiming that the selection of returning officers was influenced in favour of the incumbent lawmaker and that aspirants were excluded from key decisions, including the choice of voting venues.
He also raised concerns over the absence of a verified membership register and alleged that accreditation was conducted using APC slips without proper identity checks.
The aspirant further alleged that armed individuals disrupted the exercise in the riverine wards of H, I and J through intimidation and gunfire, forcing party members to flee and rendering the process inconclusive in those areas.
Consequently, he asked the committee to conduct a full, independent and transparent investigation into the election across the seven wards, review all accreditation materials and procedures, nullify the primary election results, discipline individuals found culpable of any wrongdoing, and guarantee strict adherence to APC rules and guidelines in future primaries.
In Ajeromi-Ifelodun Federal Constituency, another petition alleged widespread procedural violations, result manipulation, and irregular collation of results during the House of Representatives primary election.
The petitioners claimed that electoral officers failed to report to the designated collation centre and that results were allegedly collated and altered elsewhere before being submitted to party officials.
They further alleged that votes were recorded in some wards where elections either did not hold or were disrupted by violence.
Specific allegations included the inflation of vote figures in Ago-Hausa, Temidire I and Olodi wards, the absence of membership registers in several wards, failure to conduct proper accreditation, and incidents of voter intimidation and exclusion.
The petitioners therefore requested a thorough investigation into the conduct of the election, verification of original ward-level results, forensic examination of disputed result sheets and signatures, and a review to ensure that the final outcome reflects the genuine votes cast by party members.
Also under scrutiny is the APC House of Representatives primary election in Oshodi-Isolo Constituency I.
According to a situation report submitted to party leaders, the primary election was successfully conducted across the constituency’s five wards, with aspirant Ogundipe reportedly polling 11,939 votes against Alakija’s 3,086 votes.
However, the report alleged that after the election, the returning officer, Prince AbdulRasaq Omoloja, was lured to the local government secretariat by party officials and subsequently detained against his will.
The report further claimed that despite the alleged intimidation, the returning officer succeeded in transmitting the authentic results to the APC National Secretariat.
Supporters of the reported winner urged the party leadership to uphold the results already transmitted by the electoral committee and reject any attempt to alter the outcome.
Prince Hakeem Ola, who spoke on behalf of protesters from Amuwo-Odofin Constituency II, said the alleged injustice against Doherty was unacceptable.
He said: “In Lagos State, we are one big family. Some cabal cannot sit in one place and pick a candidate for the party.
“They should allow members of the party to decide who they want to represent them. In the recent primary election, Hon. David Olukoya Doherty won the primary in Amuwo-Odofin Constituency II.
“But the party hierarchy wants to turn it upside down. That is why we are here to tell the party leadership that Hon. Doherty is the people’s choice for Amuwo-Odofin Constituency II.”
For Oluwasola Olugbemi from Agege Local Government, the party leadership should not impose unpopular candidates on the people.
He said: “I want to say that we are in a democratic system of government, where everything needs to be done democratically.
“It’s a game of numbers. The party gave a directive across Lagos State and Nigeria that primary elections should be conducted.
“After the primary election, a candidate should emerge. For Agege Constituency I, High Chief Ganiyu Egunjobi won with 9,000 votes against 450. Yet, somebody who scored 450 votes was declared the winner.
“Please, is that justified? Is that democratic? In Agege Constituency II, Hon. Azeez Oladapo (Ninolowo) won with more than 8,000 votes against all other candidates, but the reverse was the case. The mandate of the people was not respected. Instead, the candidate with the fewest votes was declared the winner.
“Please, are we operating a military system of government? We are not. That means they want to act tyrannically. They want to be harsh.
“They want to be dictators, which is illegal and uncalled for. And if you can remember, during the 2023 general election, Agege delivered victory while many other local governments lost. Only Agege and Orile delivered their votes and mandate for President Bola Tinubu.”
