List of APC LG candidates now with LASIEC —Afikuyomi

LAGOS State chapter of All Progressives Congress (APC), on Sunday, said list of candidates contesting on its platform for chairmanship and councillorship seats in the July 22 local government election has been submitted to the State Independent Electoral Commission (LASIEC).

The submission, he said, followed the successful completion of the party primaries that produced the candidates.

This was as the party admitted that the exercise witnessed some hitches, which it described as normal in any democratic arrangement, adding that no system was devoid of its problems and challenges.

Chairman, State Election Committee 2017 of APC, Senator Tokunbo Afikuyomi, in a press statement made available to newsmen, further said the process of choosing candidates for the coming election in the 20 local governments and 37 local council development areas, alongside 377 wards in the state had been successfully completed, adding that the party’s chairmanship and councillorship candidates had emerged.

“We have forwarded our list of candidates to Lagos State Independent Electoral Commission in conformity with election guidelines. I congratulate the leadership and teeming APC members for this achievement,” Afikuyomi said.

Speaking on the process adopted by party, Senator Afikuyomi said the APC constitution provided for both direct and indirect primaries to pick the candidates, adding that the party leadership, in its wisdom, opted for a combination of primaries and the consensus option, in compliance with the provisions of Articles 20(ii)a, (iii)a and 21(xi) of the constitution.

He said this was done to ensure the emergence of real grassroots leaders and party men and women who would positively impact the lives of the people at the local level.

Speaking on the violence that trailed the exercise, Afikuyomi said no system was devoid of its problems and challenges, adding that “disputes and disagreements are necessary fallouts of democratic processes.”

He thanked the APC leadership for the confidence reposed in his committee by entrusting it with such responsibility, saying it was a call to duty which the committee had discharged to the best of its abilities.