Thousands protest at Lagos APC secretariat over alleged primary election manipulation

Thousands of aggrieved members of the All Progressives Congress (APC) on Tuesday stormed the party’s Lagos State secretariat in Ogba, protesting alleged irregularities and manipulation of results in the recently concluded House of Representatives and Lagos State House of Assembly primary elections.

The protesters, drawn from Amuwo-Odofin, Eti-Osa, Ajeromi-Ifelodun, Somolu, Agege, Oshodi-Isolo and Alimosho, accused the state APC chairman, Cornelius Ojelabi, and leaders of the Justice Forum political group, including its chairman, Hon. James Faleke, of influencing the primaries in favour of preferred candidates.

They called on President Bola Tinubu, the APC National Working Committee and the party’s appeal committees to investigate the conduct of the primaries and reverse what they described as widespread violations of the party’s constitution and electoral guidelines.

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Constituencies at the centre of the dispute include Amuwo-Odofin Federal Constituency, Amuwo-Odofin Constituency II, Ajeromi-Ifelodun Federal Constituency, Oshodi-Isolo Constituency I, Eti-Osa Federal Constituency and Somolu Constituency II.

One of the petitions was filed by House of Representatives aspirant, Ayodele Adebowale Adewale, who challenged the outcome of the primary election in Amuwo-Odofin Federal Constituency.

In a petition to the APC House of Representatives Primary Appeal Committee, Adewale alleged that the exercise conducted across the constituency’s 11 wards was riddled with procedural irregularities.

According to him, no official APC membership register was presented during accreditation, while party members were accredited solely with APC slips without proper verification of identity or membership status.

He further alleged that many of the slips used for accreditation were unofficial and may have been mass-produced outside approved party structures.

Adewale urged the committee to investigate the accreditation and voting processes across the constituency, review all election materials used, nullify the results and ensure strict compliance with the party’s constitution and electoral guidelines.

He also submitted video evidence, which he said captured his interaction with election officials during accreditation in Festac 1 Ward and highlighted concerns about the conduct of the exercise.

Similarly, the House of Assembly aspirant for Amuwo-Odofin Constituency II, Hon. David Olukoya Doherty, petitioned the APC Primary Appeal Committee over alleged irregularities in the election conducted across the constituency’s seven wards.

Doherty claimed the process lacked transparency, alleging that the selection of returning officers was manipulated in favour of the incumbent lawmaker and that aspirants were excluded from key decisions, including the choice of voting venues.

He also raised concerns over the absence of a verified membership register and alleged that accreditation was conducted using APC slips without proper identity checks.

The aspirant further alleged that armed men disrupted voting in the riverine wards of H, I and J through intimidation and gunfire, forcing party members to flee and rendering the exercise inconclusive in those areas.

In Ajeromi-Ifelodun Federal Constituency, petitioners alleged widespread procedural violations, result manipulation and irregular collation during the House of Representatives primary election.

According to the petition, electoral officers failed to report to the designated collation centre, while results were allegedly collated and altered elsewhere before submission to party officials.

The petitioners further alleged that votes were recorded in some wards where elections either did not hold or were disrupted by violence.

They called for a thorough investigation, verification of original ward-level results, forensic examination of disputed result sheets and a review to ensure that the final outcome reflected votes genuinely cast by party members.

Also under scrutiny is the APC House of Representatives primary election in Oshodi-Isolo Constituency I.

According to a situation report submitted to party leaders, aspirant Ogundipe polled 11,939 votes against Alakija’s 3,086 votes across the constituency’s five wards.

The report alleged that after the election, the returning officer, Prince AbdulRasaq Omoloja, was lured to the local government secretariat by party officials and detained against his will.

Despite the alleged intimidation, the report claimed that the returning officer successfully transmitted the authentic results to the APC National Secretariat.

In Somolu Constituency II, the incumbent lawmaker, Hon. Samuel Olu Apata, also petitioned the party over alleged attempts to overturn the outcome of the House of Assembly primary election.

Apata maintained that the election was conducted peacefully and transparently and that he won with 9,081 votes, defeating Hon. Aturase, who polled 814 votes, and Mr. Alli Balogun, who secured 677 votes.

He alleged that some party leaders were plotting to substitute him with another aspirant who did not win the primary election and appealed to the APC national leadership to affirm his victory and issue him the party’s nomination certificate.

Speaking on developments in Agege, former ward chairman, Hon. Ismail Macaulay, alleged that the declared results did not reflect the actual outcome of the primary election.

“We did not vote for Agbelebu and Shakiru. We voted for Egunjobi and Ninolowo,” he said.

According to him, the results were altered after the exercise.

“Ojelabi, members of the state executive committee and some leaders of the Governance Advisory Council upturned the results. Let Ojelabi produce evidence of the results he announced. I am the secretary of Ward B in Agege, where Agbelebu contested, and he did not win the primary,” he alleged.

Macaulay further claimed that the affected candidates were removed because of their perceived political alignment within the party.

The protesters insisted that the integrity of the APC’s internal democratic process was at stake and urged the party leadership to address all grievances transparently to prevent further discontent ahead of the 2027 general elections.

Neither Cornelius Ojelabi nor any member of the Lagos APC executive committee was available to address the protesters. Calls and text messages sent to the state chairman were not returned as of the time of filing this report.