The woe betiding the ward congress exercise of the Nigeria’s ruling party berthed in Lagos state as a group within the party known as “Lagos4Lagos” also went ahead to conduct its parallel primaries to elect ward executives across the 245 wards in Lagos state.
The lead visioner Lagos4lagos Abdulazeez Olajide Adediran had on Friday accused the Lagos state governor of hijacking the whole process. Olajide Adediran in the interview had vowed to go on with parallel congress just as he asserted that his members had fulfilled all parameters to partake in the ward elections and will not be disenfranchised.
True to his words, the Lagos4Lagos group trooped out in their numbers I places like Ward G1 in Mushin local government area of Lagos state to conduct the primaries, electing their ward officials through affirmation.
The Lagos state chapter of the party had earlier made its position known that the ward congress will be by consensus, a move which according to groups like Lagos4Lagos is tantamount to imposition. This according to Jide Adediran played out during the just concluded local government election where the party and the state government handpicked candidates for various offices instead of letting interested aspirants go to the field to test their popularity.
It is still unclear if the parallel congress conducted by the Lagos4Lagos group will receive the blessings of the National ward congress committee or will be an effort in futility.
TimenewsNg also reported that the a faction of the All Progressives Congress in Osun state conducted its own parallel congress too just as the state party structure adopted consensus.
In states like Rivers, call for boycott by members of the party cast a doubt on the veracity of the congress held there. Senator Magus Abe had earlier called for the boycott of the congress.
In Enugu state, a court case instituted by members of the party stalled its conduct while in states like Zamfara and the FCT, APC’s ward congress was called off by the national secretariat.
