A group of members of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Lagos’ Eti-Osa East Local Council Development Area (LCDA) have urged President Bola Tinubu to form a panel to investigate alleged injustices experienced by some candidates in the party’s recently concluded chairmanship and councillorship primaries in advance of the state’s upcoming local government elections.
Party members are upset with the way the primaries were conducted and the results, which have led to major protests throughout Lagos. The polls were held at the party’s state secretariat on Acme Road.
Demonstrators claimed that party leaders and election committee members unfairly excluded other candidates by manipulating the process to favor hand-picked candidates.
A group named Concerned APC Stakeholders in Eti-Osa East LCDA wrote an open letter to the president that was made available to reporters on Thursday, urging Tinubu to step in and form an investigative panel.
With the goal of making amends and reestablishing internal party democracy, the group is calling for a probe into the alleged “impunity” and “electoral fraud” that they say polluted the primaries.
“The primaries’ outcome has left many candidates feeling resentful, not because they lost fairly, but rather because the public’s will was subverted and the process was compromised.” What was meant to be a democratic exercise in several local government areas throughout the state—most obviously in Eti-Osa East LCDA—became a deliberate display of partiality, dishonesty, and betrayal of the core values of our party.
The situation involving Hon. John Campos Ogundare, the current Chairman of the Eti-Osa East LCDA, is especially unsettling. He was denied the party’s chairmanship ticket in a highly undemocratic way, despite his outstanding performance and the evident changes that were documented under his direction, such as the restoration of security, environmental reforms, youth empowerment, and improved cooperation between the party and the government.
According to the record, Hon. Campos Ogundare addressed the LCDA’s security issues head-on in the first six months of taking office, restoring calm and tranquility to a region that had previously been riven by turmoil and dread.
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His people-oriented policies continue to win over the hearts of the locals, and there have been noticeable advancements. The letter partially stated, “Therefore, it is not only unreasonable but also unfair for such a man, who has established trust and collaboration, to be denied the chance to carry on his good deeds by selfish and inconsiderate leaders.”
In the cited letter, “A Call for Presidential Intervention In The Crisis Rocking APC In Lagos Arising from Electoral Malpractices & Injustice That Marred the just-concluded primaries of the party in The State for Forthcoming LG Elections,” the APC stakeholders stated that the party could not afford the internal conflict caused by the primaries, particularly in Eti-Osa, where the party lost the area’s Federal Constituency to the Labour Party in the general election on 2023.
As we write this, sir, the APC in Eti-Osa East is divided, and the majority of the decent members of the LCDA are angry over the injustice done to the council’s _performing_ Executive Chairman, who is the favorite of the electorate and is revolutionizing administration in the neighborhood where you live.
As the electoral fraud stands in sharp contrast to your commitment to justice and fairness, the letter went on, “Mr. President, it would be to your detriment to let this injustice continue.”
