Protests continue to greet the outcome of the primary elections organised to pick the Chairmanship and Councillorship candidates of the Lagos State chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC) for the forthcoming local council elections in the state, reports thegazellenews.com
The latest protest is coming from 13 aggrieved Chairmanship aspirants in Ikosi-Isheri Local Council Development Area who have expressed displeasure with the nomination of the incumbent Chairman, Princess Samiat Bolanle Bada as the candidate of the party in the council.
TheGazelleNews.com recalled that Bada was the candidate listed as the party’s choice when names were officially released by the party after the primary elections which took place on Saturday, 10 May, 2025.
The 13 aspirants in a strongly-worded petition addressed to the state APC Electoral Committee, condemned the choice of Bada as the party’s Chairmanship candidate for Ikosi-Isheri LCDA.
Copies of the petition were sent to the President, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu; the Governor of Lagos State, Babajide Sanwo-Olu; the Speaker of the state Assembly, Rt Honourable Mudashiru Obasa; and the Chairman of the Governance Advisory Council (GAC), Prince Tajudeen Olusi.
Thirteen aspirants who signed the petition are: Toyin Wasiu Balogun, Abiodun Anna Martins, Princess Bola Kazeem, Babatunde Adetunji, Oyekunle Jegede, Bidemi Akintunde, Oromidayo Balogun, Adebajo Abiodun Adetunji, Abiodun Sunday Odufowokan, Fatimah Oluwatosin Hussein, Oluwole Ogunleye, Obedat Olohungbebe and Adeyinka Oyediran.
In the petition dated Monday, 12 May, 2025, titled: Petition Against the Unconstitutional Third-term Bid of Princess Samiat Bada on Forthcoming Local Government Elections, the aggrieved aspirants anchored their protests in six grounds on which they are agitating for the disqualification of Bada.
Thegazellenews.com reports that the petition copy of which is in possession of our correspondent, was officially received at the state APC secretariat by one Enitan.
The aspirants’ six grounds of protests are as follows:
(a) Violation of the 1999 Constitution as Amended: according to the aspirants, the 1999 Constitution as Amended, Fourth Alteration Number 16 which was signed into Law in 2018 stipulates that a local government elected official is only entitled to two-terms. Either elected or through succession, once he or she has taken oath of office twice, he or she is not eligible to run for the same office again.
Princess Bada, according to them, should not have contested because she has been sworn-in twice and taken oath of office twice.
Thegazellenews.com recalled that Princess Bada was first sworn-in as Chairman when she succeeded late Fatai Oyesanya in 2019 and then sworn-in again in 2021 when she was elected as the Chairman of the council. On both occasions, the state Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu performed the swearing-in rites.
(b) Inconsistencies in Enforcement of Party Rules: the aspirants are aggrieved that while the rule of no third term was applied in Agbado-Okeodo LCDA where the incumbent Chairman was not allowed to contest, the same rule was not enforced in Ikosi-Isheri LCDA.
Thegazellenews.com can also recalled that the incumbent Chairman of Agbado-Okeodo LCDA, David Famuyiwa first took oath of office as Chairman of the council when he replaced his boss, Augustine Arogun, who died in 2018 and took the oath again when he was elected in 2021. But while Famuyiwa has not been considered, Bada, in similar situation, has been picked as the party’s candidate.
(c) Erosion of Internal Democracy: the inconsistent enforcement of rules by the party has eroded the internal democracy mechanism of the party which they noted, has disenfranchised loyal and qualified party members.
(d) Tenure Already Exceeds Constitutional Limits: According to the aggrieved aspirants, allowing Bada to contest and going on to win according to expectation and permutation, will make her exceeds specified tenure for her office.
“Already, she has spent six years as council Chairman, adding another four to it will make it 10 years. Prior to that, she has been Vice Chairman of the council for another six years,” the petitioners noted.
(e) Imposition Without Proper Electoral Process: the aspirants accused the local APC chapter of imposing Bada without proper consultation and discussion with the other aspirants.
“There were 15 aspirants who collected forms but the local executive did not bother to consult with us, they just imposed someone who should not have contested on us,” they said.
(f) There are widespread public disapprovals from residents and stakeholders in Ikosi-Isheri LCDA.
“Residents and stakeholders are not happy with the situation,” they said.
The aspirants are seeking the disqualification of Bada by the electoral committee, want the intervention of President Tinubu, Governor Sanwo-Olu, Speaker Obasa and Prince Olusi-led GAC.
“We are loyal party members and we remain committed to the supremacy of the party.
“However, we feel obliged to let the party know how we feel and the need to hear our grievances,” they said.
When thegazellenews.com contacted the state APC, our correspondent learnt that the issue was raised but the legal team of the party cleared Princess Bada to contest.
“The argument was that she can run because her first tenure was just to complete the tenure of her deceased boss,” an executive member of the party told this medium.
However when our correspondent raised the issue of the Supreme Court ruling on Bayelsa Governorship election where the APC Governor-elect was prevented from being sworn-in due to the fact that his running mate was found guilty of certificate scandal, the APC member responded thus:
“Similar thing happened to ex-President Jonathan. He completed the tenure of Late President Yar’Adua, contested and won between 2011 and 2015 and contested again in 2015. If he had won, he would have spent 10 years in office”.
However, the aspirants were unanimous in making reference to the 1999 Constitution as Amended Fourth Alteration Number 16 which was signed into Law in 2018.
“This provision of the Law became operational in 2018 which was after the Jonathan era which ended in 2015,” they said.
As the argument goes back and forth, thegazellenews.com believes the law court will have to settle the dispute.
