Seye Oladejo, the Publicity Secretary of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Lagos State, has insisted that the party conducted a credible local government primary election on Saturday, May 10, 2025. He dismissed allegations of candidate imposition by party leaders, explaining that the primaries were conducted using the indirect election method and that results were announced transparently. In this interview with OLADIPUPO AWOJOBI, Oladejo discussed why aspirants are keen to contest under the APC platform and emphasised the importance of embracing democratic values. Excerpts:

What would be your reaction to the protests that have rocked the state in the wake of recent local governments’ primary elections of the APC?

We conducted primary elections into 20 local governments and 37 Local Council Development Areas (LCDAs) and 377 councillorship positions and we have pockets of protests on less than 10% of that, you will agree with me that it is a pass mark if it were to be an examination. Also, you will agree with me that people will want to express their grievances in a democracy, when they are discontented and dissatisfied. What you are seeing has been the secret of the success of our party in this dispensation because people know when you pick the ticket of the APC, chances are high that you would be successful in the election. You can see why these positions are being keenly contested. It is just a reflection of the belief of the people and the confidence of the people of Lagos State in our party. So, there is nothing strange about that in a democracy. It’s in line with the democratic principles all over the world for people to protest when they are not happy. We just want them to channel their protests and their grievances to the appropriate committee set up for this and all will be well. We also want to commend the people who are protesting for their peaceful conduct so far. We believe that we will continue to witness this kind of peace and we will continue to respect the rights of the people to live in and thrive in a peaceful state.

Some people are saying that your party imposes candidates during elections and that the primary election is usually a formality…

There is no question of imposition because once you sign to be a member of a political party, you are duty bound to abide by the rules, guidelines and the constitution of the party. When the Lagos State Independent Electoral Commission (LASIEC) published their guidelines for the election, we also published our own and it behoves on any member that is interested in any of the offices to abide by the guidelines. The guidelines clearly stated that we were going to conduct those primaries along the line of consensus and indirect primaries and all these are guaranteed under the constitution of the APC. So, there was no case of imposition. We only had consensus candidates in about six local governments; Yaba LCDA, Lagos Mainland LCDA, Otto Awori LCDA, Iba LCDA, Ijede LCDA and Lekki LCDA. All others were keenly contested and we had delegates, who were also members of the executives of the party at the various local governments and LCDAs, who voted in the open. The aspirants had their delegates and the votes were counted and the results were declared openly. So, I need to be convinced about imposition as some people have alleged. It was just an attempt to hoodwink or misinform unsuspecting members of the public.

But if the process was so transparent, why are they protesting. In Agege, for instance, some people said that a leader influenced the election of the candidates in the LG and LCDA and there were such cases in other places too; why did the party set up a panel if the process was credible?

If we had primary and you had complaints, you need to respect the views of the complainants, which was why we set up a panel to hear the complaints. The panel has been empowered to listen to the complaints, make recommendations to the electoral panel and make amendments where necessary. It’s just a normal process and you cannot just dismiss those complaints, though we have persuaded them that the election was largely successful. But if there are complaints, the normal thing is to consider the complaints and see what can be done about them.

Will it be a coincidence that it is believed that the aspirants that were loyal to a former minister of interior, Rauf Aregbesola, lost out because he has lost out with the leaders of the party, while those loyal to other leaders in Alimosho area won?

All aspirants are supposed to be loyal to the political party. The only platform that can take them to office is the political party not loyalty to leaders. It would be foolhardy to say that because people are loyal to some leaders they were denied the right to contest, that’s not correct and I am not aware that anybody was disqualified on that basis. I am not convinced that this would be the right thing to convey to members of the public, your loyalty is to the party. We are not running a zero party system, where your pedigree or influence would take you to office. We are running a party system and it’s only a party that can take you to office according to the 1999 Constitution of Nigeria as amended. It is only a political party that can be used as a platform to take you to office, not the influence or sponsorship of any leader, to the best of my knowledge.

What would be your reaction to the call that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) should conduct elections into local councils as the party ruling a state usually clinches all local governments’ chairmanship seats as against elections conducted by INEC?

We are in a democracy, if that is the popular view across Nigeria, we have to abide by it, but if it’s not acceptable to all and sundry, the state independent electoral commission has to continue to conduct the local governments elections. However, people are entitled to their opinions, but the vast majority of the people will have their way.

With local government financial autonomy and direct allocations to the local governments by the federal government, will there not be issues as Lagos State is conducting elections into LCDAs that are not recognised by the constitution?

Let me draw your attention to the fact that the Nigerian Constitution allows each state to make laws on local governments administration. That is what has happened now, the law of the Lagos State House of Assembly says elections should be conducted into the 20 Local Governments and 37 LCDAs. Anything different from that would be illegality. When we get to the bridge of allocations and all that, we know how to cross it. But all these are issues that have been interrogated by our legal team and we know we are not running foul of any law.

What would be your appeal to the people as we have been having voter apathy in recent elections, what would be your advice to the voters on the forthcoming local governments elections in the state?

The voter apathy that you talked about has been made possible by the opposition. This is an opposition that is not providing any alternative to the people. We, the progressives, were in opposition for many years, and it got to a stage that we were only in Lagos State, but we were able to find our way back until we formed the government at the centre. The opposition should take a cue from that and play opposition politics the way it should be played. They should make it competitive and make our democracy attractive by presenting viable alternatives to the people and what they would do differently. But what kind of opposition do we have, an opposition that cannot even put its party in order and you think the voters would have confidence in such an opposition? We have intrinsic confidence and we believe that with the pedigree of the Chairman of LASIEC, they will conduct a free and fair election. However, it’s not the business of the LASIEC to bring out voters, it’s the duty of the ruling class and the opposition to come out and convince the voters to vote on the day of the election. All hands should be on deck on this. We don’t have any doubt that the election would be free and fair and the best party would win.