Disquiet in Lagos APC ahead of LG polls
Voters’ registration: Makarfi urges Nigerians to boot out APC in 2019
There is disquiet among aspirants of the All Progressives Congress (APC) ahead of the July 22 local government elections in Lagos State, reports.
Daily Trust
The bone of contention, it was learnt, was the alleged move by the party leadership to impose some candidates in the 20 local government areas and 37 local council development areas.
While some of the aspirants had agreed to what a source called the “gentleman agreement,” others were reportedly protesting the arrangement.
The agreement, the source said, was for some aspirants who had served in their councils for first term to return.
The directive to that effect allegedly emanated from the APC National Leader and the strongman of Lagos politics, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu.
An aspirant who spoke with the Daily Trust, said, “As for me, I’ve decided to step down in deference to the leadership and to show my loyalty. However, people are not happy at all; we should have been made to test our strengths in the primaries.”
There was also uneasy calm in Alimosho Local Government Area which was regarded as “the home” of Governor Rauf Aregbesola of Osun State as some party stakeholders were reportedly at war with him over his insistence on some aspirants.
When contacted, spokesman of the APC, Mr Joe Igbokwe, said the party was managing the crisis over the primaries, confirming that the aspirants “are just too many”. He said in a ward for instance, 30 people The Senator Ahmed Makarfi-led National Caretaker Committee of the PDP has called on eligible Nigerians to register and collect their Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs) in order to vote out the ruling APC in 2019.
The committee also told INEC to maintain neutrality by allowing potential voters in all wanted to be councillor.
Our correspondent learnt that there are more than 2,000 party members who have shown interest to be chairmen and councillors for the 57 councils and 377 wards in the state. the 774 local government areas in the country to participate in the exercise which begins today.
A statement yesterday by the spokesman of the committee, Prince Dayo Adeyeye, said INEC must avoid a repeat of the 2014 scenario which allegedly disenfranchised many Nigerians during the exercise.
“We want to inform Nigerians that this is an opportunity for those who are suffering and undergoing the suffocating hardship, poverty, hunger, comatose economy, insecurity, crass ineptitude, gagging of the press and opposition leaders and members and more atrocities to get registered in order to vote out this non-performing APC-led administration at all levels,” the statement said.