By YEMI ADELEYE

The ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) in Lagos State on Saturday said that its widespread, unity and strength would guarantee it victory in the Oct. 31 Lagos East bye-elections.

The State Publicity Secretary of the party, Mr Seye Oladejo, said in a statement in Lagos that the Lagos APC was not losing sleep over the upcoming polls.

“APC in Lagos State is healthy and we are the party to beat.

“We remain very strong, we have the widespread, we are growing in leaps and bounds in taking care of our affairs, winning elections and overcoming whatever challenges that will come our way.

“So, APC in Lagos is good and we are one big family,” he said.

According to him, the fact that the party flag-bearers emerged from consensus and not by selection or imposition during the primary, is a testament to the unity and strength of the party.

Oladejo said: “The APC constitution allows us to have a candidate either by consensus or an open primary. The question to ask is if a particular system is working, why do you want to break it?

“The consensus option was to the extent that the aspirants from their own free will, not by compulsion, were able to arrive at a consensus.

“That a particular person should fly the party’s flag and we had an affirmation thereafter where close to 120,000 people came out to ratify that in form of the primary.

“As we speak, we found all the would-be aspirants there working and mobilising for Tokunbo Abiru, our senatorial candidate.

“It shows understanding and discipline in the party and that’s why after the primary, we are not having a situation whereby we will be doing reconciliation and trying to pacify people here and there.”

He said that the party also had a structure of winning elections since 1999.

“We are talking about a party that has been calling the shots since the advent of democracy in 1999.

“The party has viable structures in every nooks and crannies of this state. That ticket is about the party because Tokunbo Abiru is not an independent candidate.

“So, it is not right to say that he doesn’t have a structure, it is about the party, he is carrying the party flag.

“Since his emergence as a candidate, he has become the baby and business of the party and we are going to, by God’s grace, ensure he wins the election,” he added.

Speaking on APC’s defeat in Edo, the spokesman ruled out the possibility of defeat for his party in Lagos, saying that the circumstances and scenarios were different.

“There is no way APC will lose that seat, we are also not mindful of the fact that they (oppositions) are trying to mobilise forces within and outside the state to come work for the PDP candidate; that will make the victory very sweet.

“We know what played out in Edo State and that will not happen here; it was a case of APC scoring an own goal and that will not happen here.

“When it comes to coming bye-elections, we are not losing sleep, you can see the impacts of the campaign.

"You can see that we are not taking things for granted, you can see that we are confident but not complacent,” he said.

The spokesman said that Gov. Babajide Sanwo-Olu had been able to surpass the expectations of the majority of Lagosians in the past one year in words and actions.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that APC has fielded Mr Tokunbo Abiru and Mr Femi Saheed as its candidates for Lagos East Senatorial District and Kosofe state constituency II, respectively, in the forthcoming poll.

The elections became necessary following the demise of two APC former lawmakers. (NAN)

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