The political atmosphere in Lagos is getting more competitive as the local government election is fast approaching. In this report, GBENGA OLONINIRAN details the internal divisions within different political parties fielding candidates for the poll

Campaigns have commenced towards the July 12, 2025, local government elections in Lagos State, according to the timetable released by the Lagos State Independent Electoral Commission, but some political parties still battle internal divisions.

Notable among the embattled parties is the ruling All Progressives Congress and the Labour Party.

The state chapter of the APC has been embroiled in crisis as aggrieved members continue to protest the primaries conducted by the party on May 10, 2025, at its Lagos headquarters.

Despite the leadership of the party maintaining that it held a successful primary to produce candidates for the 20 local government areas and 37 local council development areas, some members faulted the consensus process adopted by the party to pick candidates. Meanwhile, some candidates also emerged through indirect voting.

Agege APC members divided

In the Agege and Orile Agege area of Lagos, the APC is divided into two factions over the LG primaries. A faction under the banner of the Presidential Campaign Council has continued to reject the result of the primary that produced chairmanship and councillorship candidates for the area.

Another APC group led by the Speaker of the Lagos State House of Assembly, Mudashiru Obasa, says it is in support of the result of the primary.

The PCC convened for the third time to fire at Obasa, claiming that the Speaker?s influence in Agege was imposing. According to them, the candidates who emerged at the primary for the council elections were Obasa?s loyalists.

The spokesperson for the group, Bamofin Akinyemi, said, ?The APC is under siege. The recent local government primaries held on Saturday, May 10, 2025, have exposed a crisis of representation, fairness, and internal democracy that cannot be ignored by anyone who genuinely believes in party integrity and inclusive governance.

?The results being circulated in the aftermath of the so-called primaries are nothing short of fiction. They do not reflect the votes, the voices, or the volition of APC members in Agege and Orile-Agege. Instead, they mirror a deeper rot, the continued stranglehold of a political monopoly built over the past 16 years and personified by one man: the Speaker of the Lagos State House of Assembly, Mudashiru Obasa.

?Obasa?s dominance of local political structures has reached a critical tipping point. Under his watch, the APC in Agege has ceased to function as a participatory platform. It now operates as a private fiefdom, where ward executives and local government officers, loyal to him by design or coercion, act as a rubber stamp to ratify predetermined outcomes.

According to him, ?There are two political blocs in Agege APC today: the Obasa Movement and the APC membership.?

?The former is obsessed with control; the latter is demanding fairness,? Akinyemi said while addressing a press conference in Lagos on Monday.

Earlier in May, while speaking during a stakeholders? meeting and formal presentation of candidates at the Central Primary School in Agege on May 18, Obasa appealed to members to prioritise the party?s unity over personal grievances.

Obasa acknowledged that while every party member had the right to express dissatisfaction, such discontent should not be used to destabilise the party.

?You know that everyone deserves to be elected into all the elective positions that are backed by the constitution and in the council. The positions that were vied for were not family positions, and if after the election, some people came out to vent their anger concerning the primary election, they have the right, but not to use the anger to destroy the house (APC),? he said.

?We know everybody cannot be a leader, and they did not choose themselves ? we chose them. If we are all leaders, who will be the followers? So we must learn to exercise patience and have confidence in our party. When the party has taken a decision, we must as party members abide by the decision,? Obasa said.

He further urged members to reach out to those who felt sidelined in the primary process.

?We must not fight them; we must look for ways to bring them back. If we have to appeal, let us start now by appealing to them. We were friends yesterday and there is the belief that we can be friends tomorrow,? he added.

Obasa reminded members that the upcoming local government poll was just a stepping stone towards the 2027 general elections.

He dismissed claims of imposition of candidates, saying, ?How can anyone impose candidates on this kind of crowd?? He described the Agege primary as peaceful, free, and fair.

Also speaking at the event, the Chairman of Agege Local Government, Ganiyu Egunjobi, expressed satisfaction with the conclusion of the primaries, describing the candidates that emerged as a reflection of the people?s will.

Women group kicks

Hundreds of APC female members had stormed the State House in Marina with petitions appealing to Lagos? Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu to help them reach out to President Bola Tinubu over the LG primaries.

At the top of their demands was an agitation for the cancellation of the APC LG primary for ?gb?do/Oke-Odo Council.

In the petition jointly signed by the LGA Vice Chairperson, Funmilayo Odelabi, and the LGA Woman Leader, Mary Ishola, addressed to Tinubu, they sought the intervention of Tinubu to review the alleged ongoing attempt to impose candidates in the council for the LG elections.

?We, the women of the APC, reject the outcome of the election in its totality as it does not conform to the standards of democracy and openness you have set for our party over the years and is far from the reality on the ground in Agbado/Oke-Odo LCDA.?

?We appeal to you to compel the Primary Elections Committee to announce the true result of the election or the conduct of a fresh election in the full glare of all relevant stakeholders.?

The PUNCH reports that the Appeal Committee set up by the APC in Lagos treated over 100 petitions in respect of the outcome of the primaries. It has yet to disclose its report.

Among other areas where aggrieved members are protesting the APC LG primaries are the Lagos Mainland Local Government Area and Yaba Local Council Development Area.

When contacted, the APC spokesperson in the state, Chief Seye Oladejo, said the party was resolving the issues.

He said, ?They?re talking to them locally and at the state level. We?re trying to resolve whatever disagreement and see how we can bring peace and how we can continue to work together.

?The primary was bound to attract such conflict based on interests. It?s just normal, people took it just as if it were the real elections. That?s why we?re having that kind of situation. It?s something we have always managed, and this will not be different.?

A chieftain of the Labour Party in Lagos, Sam Okpala, has claimed that there is no division within the party.

This is despite the fact that in mid-May, the Lagos State Independent Electoral Commission said it wrote to the Independent National Electoral Commission for guidance over the emergence of three factions within the LP ahead of the July 12 LG poll.

Speaking during a stakeholders forum held in Ikeja, the LASIEC Chairman, Justice Bola Okikiolu-Ighile (retd.), revealed that the commission received invitations from three separate LP groups to monitor their primaries, prompting the agency to seek clarification from INEC.

?On our records, we have three factions (of the Labour Party) with different sets of names, and because of that, we had to forward a letter to INEC for advice, and we are awaiting a response on that.

?Without that, we cannot participate in any primary. And this, we had intimated to each faction.?

A Secretary of an LP Caretaker Committee in the state, Dorcas Omorodion, said the committee was making efforts to unite all party members.

?It is general knowledge that there are internal issues in our party. And for the sake of the election that is fast coming, we intend to bring all warring factions together. There are plans by the state committee chairman, Rotimi Odunaike, to visit all local governments and try and bring all warring factions together so that we can have a larger front towards the elections,? Omorodion said in a telephone interview.

The committee had claimed earlier in May that it had suspended Pastor Dayo Ekong, and Sam Okpala as chairman and secretary of the party, respectively, over alleged gross misconduct and breach of the party?s constitution.

Meanwhile, Okpala spoke to our correspondent on Tuesday and dismissed what was happening in the party as ?handiwork of some fifth columnists.?

He said LASIEC and INEC had affirmed him and other executives as the authentic leaders of the LP in Lagos.

The claim could not immediately be verified as the spokesperson for LASIEC, Tope Ojo, has not responded to inquiries when called on the phone several times.

Okpala said, ?We don?t want to be distracted. We don?t want to be derailed. The Labour Party is intact. The focus of the Labour Party as we speak now is towards winning majority seats and chairmanship positions in the forthcoming local government election in Lagos State. As far as we are concerned, the Labour Party is not factionalised.

?As far as Nigerian law is concerned, INEC is the regulatory body that oversees political parties. And it is within their purview to know who is what in any political party. And INEC responded positively to the inquiry.

?LASIEC, in fairness to them, of course, should be confused as a body. They are neutral umpires, and they did what they were supposed to do by getting in touch with the regulatory agencies for political parties, which is the INEC. And INEC clarified to them the leadership of the party in Lagos State. The Labour Party in Lagos State is led by Pastor Mrs. Dayo Ekong as the chairman and my humble self as the state secretary, and with the other 22 members of the state?s working community. There is no controversy over that.

?And it was based on this clarification that we were issued with LASIEC forms for our candidates to come in, and as we speak today, LASIEC has placed the names of our prospective candidates for the election on their notice board. So what are we talking about here? We are working!?

PDP, others brace up

According to the LASIEC boss, 19 registered political parties would be participating in the upcoming elections.

?We have 19 registered parties (participating in the LG elections),? she said.

LASIEC also confirmed that it observed the Peoples Democratic Party and Social Democratic Party primaries.

The Deputy Chairman of the PDP in Lagos, Tai Benedict, said the party was also having minimal division, but ?it is manageable.?

?In every political party in Nigeria now, there is division, only that the PDP division is very minimal since the exit of Jandor (Abdul-Azeez Adediran).

?We have very minimal problems, but it?s not as if there are none. But we can manage. Our campaign for the LG elections is ongoing. We?re going to manage our resources and try as much as possible to showcase to Lagos residents that we?re still in existence.

?We might be lucky with some local governments,? Benedict said in an interview.

The Lagos State chapter of the African Action Congress on Saturday also launched a campaign committee for its councillorship candidate in Alimosho, Oworonshoki and other areas of Lagos.

?We are excited to announce the launch of our campaign committee for our party?s candidates in Alimosho,? the party?s campaign chairman in the area, Samuel Jimoh, said in a statement.

The AAC chairman in Lagos, Ayoyinka Oni, said the party was ?the only true pro-people party in Lagos.?

?The AAC is bringing the people?s alternative to the ballots, unlike the other parties that have made Lagos a city for the rich alone. From Oworonshoki to Alimosho, to other areas, our candidates are campaigning at the grassroots level for the LG poll,? Oni said in chat. (The PUNCH)

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