Leaders of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Agege and Orile-Agege have strongly rejected claims that the chairmanship and councillorship candidates for the July 12, 2025, local government elections were imposed.
The party’s primaries, which took place last Saturday at the state secretariat of the APC, have generated significant controversy. In Agege and Orile-Agege, where Alhaji Tunde Azeez and Idowu Akinola emerged as the party’s chairmanship candidates, some critics have accused the APC of rigging the election process to favour certain aspirants.
However, in a statement issued on Tuesday following a meeting at the Agege secretariat, party leaders rejected these allegations, describing the primaries as fair and transparent. The statement was signed by influential figures, including Speaker of the Lagos State House of Assembly, Rt. Hon. Mudashir Obasa, and other top party members.
“The primary elections were free and fair, and any suggestion that the candidates were imposed is misleading and false,” the communiqué stated. “Those making these accusations are sore losers who have distanced themselves from the party and the community for years.”
The statement also hit out at the critics, pointing out that several of them, such as Kayode Opeifa, former House of Representatives member Dr. Samuel Adejare, and ex-legislator Oluyinka Ogundimu, had long left Agege and ceased participating in local APC activities. “It is a fact that these individuals abandoned both the party and the community,” the leaders said, referring to them as “outsiders” with no current influence.
The communiqué also took aim at chairmanship aspirants like Biodun Ogunji and Bukola Sofidiya, who live abroad and only recently returned to Nigeria to contest. “These individuals, who have lived in the UK and the US for years, suddenly show up in Agege to contest for positions they have no real connection with,” it read.
Regarding the primary election process, the statement reiterated that the APC leadership had adopted a consensus and delegate voting system, with local executives casting the votes. “The leadership of the party, in its wisdom, decided that only those who have consistently supported the party’s activities in the local councils would participate in the primaries,” the communiqué noted.
The leaders made it clear that only those with a genuine commitment to the party and the community had the right to contest. “Anyone claiming to be a contender without a real stake in the community is only deceiving themselves,” the communiqué asserted.
