#LagosLGPolls: APC’s conflicts have made it stronger

THE National Leader of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Senator Bola Tinubu on Saturday has said that the current crisis rocking the party will only make it stronger, saying conflicts and conflict resolution remain the hallmarks of any true democracy.

Tinubu made this remark to newsmen after casting his vote at exactly 12:15 p.m. at polling unit 026 in Ward F in Ikeja Local Government in the ongoing council polls in the state.

The national leader of APC spoke against the background of the fallout of the party’s chairmanship and Councillorship primaries for council polls and the attendant protests and complaints.

The former governor said that the competition showed the popularity of APC and that the fallout of the primary won’t affect the chances of APC in the elections.

According to him, the complaints are normal in democracy.

“We must have the competitiveness. If yours is a popular party, there is no way you won’t face the turbulence of democracy, including its twists and turns and the complaints.

“You will agree that as we have 57 LGAs, and LCDAs, the problem is that to every slot, you have an average of 13 aspirants.

“That is the popularity of our party and the desire to achieve the aspirations of the people.

“We can only have one chairman, we can only have one vice, you can only have one ward councillor and you have 18 people in a ward fighting for a seat of a councillor,” he said.

“Conflict and conflict resolution is the hallmark of democracy. You have to find a way to resolve all conflict and we have done so, that is why you see peace all over today.

“Yes, when you are in politics, you should expect that level of anxiety and interest,” Tinubu added.

On the automatic ticket given to 18 chairmen of council to completion their term, Tinubu said that it was the resolve of the leadership of the party.

He said, “We are very transparent about the automatic tickets we gave to 18 chairmen.

“We didn’t say don’t contest, we didn’t say don’t run, we didn’t say don’t vote, we didn’t say you are disqualified, or that you don’t have right. Nobody abrogated anybody’s right.”

According to him, where there are complaints, people should watch out personal interest.

“We have to live with these conflicts in any democratic exercise, we need to be patient, tolerant of leadership blames,” he said.