It will not be business as usual for All Progressive Congress (APC) in the forthcoming local government election as indications have emerged that the party may find it easy to win all the council seats as it had earlier been
projected.
Opinion polls conducted by IntergrityReporters revealed that party members and many watchers of APC among Lagosians who do not belong to any political party are not happy with the undemocratic action and attitude of APC leaders in the state.
Those who spoke with IntergrityReporters said that the manner and way some candidates were imposed on the party by the leaders are not in tune with democratic culture.
It could be recalled that at the stakeholders meeting held at the APC secretariat on Acme Road, Ikeja recently, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, National Leader of APC told the gathering that 18 former council chairmen would be given automatic tickets to re-contest for the local government election which will hold in July irrespective of whether they performed very well during their last term and whether the people of the local councils even want them to return.
It was gathered that the former Governor of Lagos State, Tinubu said the former 18 chairmen have been exempted from participating in the primaries and they have been given automatic tickets which did not go down well with the party loyalists.
A leader of the APC in Lagos, who preferred his name not to be mentioned, said that the pronouncement was against the constitution of their party, adding that it is high time such undemocratic action be having its way in APC. To him, APC should not encourage illegality to triumph in Lagos.
“The pronouncement is unconstitutional, if those 18 men were so popular to the extent of being exempted from the primaries, they should be allowed to test their popularity before their party men and women. Article 20 of the party is so clearly stated that there must be primaries, while Article 21 says it is an offence not to conduct primaries,” the party leader told IntergrityReporters.
The leader, who was not happy with the development, queried that how on earth could Lagos state be perpetrating illegalities? He appealed to the leaders involved to rescind their decision and allow every contestant to meet on the field.
Integrity reporters’ revealed that there is uneasiness among party men and women at the local government levels, from Agege to Ojodu LCDA, Ifako-Ijaiye to Ojokoro, Amuwo-Odofin LG to Apapa. One of the affected aspirant confided in this newspaper that he was afraid of what may likely happen to APC in the local government election. He doubted if the outcome of the election will be favourable to the party as he said that “no solider will go to war with disintegrated army and win the war.”
