Crisis in Alimosho: APC Primaries marred by Manipulation, Suspicion, and Outrage

By Olu Daniel

Lagos, Nigeria — The All Progressives Congress (APC) primaries in Alimosho Federal Constituency have plunged into deep controversy, with widespread accusations of vote manipulation, political imposition, and an orchestrated collapse of democratic processes in Lagos State’s most politically significant constituency.

According to multiple sources, the chairmanship elections across six local councils — Agbado Oke-Odo LCDA, Alimosho LGA, Ayobo-Ipaja LCDA, Egbe-Idimu LCDA, Igando-Ikotun LCDA, and Mosan-Okunola LCDA — have come under scrutiny after reports emerged that candidates were declared winners despite having no accredited delegates. In most of these councils, party members claim the results were “written, not voted.” Only Igando-Ikotun LCDA reportedly held a relatively credible chairmanship primary.

Chairmanship Votes Cast After Media Pressure

Following public pressure, media scrutiny, and interventions from party elders, accredited chairmanship delegates were eventually allowed to vote at approximately 4 p.m. on Saturday. However, concerns persist about the integrity of the process, particularly regarding the opaque voting procedure, that denied agents of aspirants the opportunity to witness the voting proper, ballot boxes kept out of sight of agents and collation procedures that followed.

Meanwhile, the councillorship primaries in all 36 wards of the constituency were abruptly postponed indefinitely.

Bisi Yusuf at the Eye of the Storm

At the center of the storm is Hon. Bisi Yusuf, Director-General of the Tinubu Mobilization Group for 2027. Widely seen as a power broker in Alimosho politics, Yusuf is being accused of deliberately engineering the delay of the councillorship primaries to prevent a humiliating defeat in his home base. Critics claim he invoked vague “security concerns” as a cover for political maneuvering.

Failure to Deliver, Yet Attempting to Dictate

Yusuf has allegedly struggled to build a stronghold within his own local structures, despite reportedly controlling over ₦200 million in mobilization funds. Sources say his influence within the party’s two major factions — The Mandate Movement and The Justice Forum — is almost nonexistent. After switching loyalties between the factions, Yusuf now finds himself isolated, distrusted, and politically vulnerable.

Party members further accuse him of trying to impose his cronies on the constituency by halting the primary process and selecting handpicked candidates behind closed doors. “He didn’t mobilize during the general election, he didn’t fund any campaign effort, and now he wants to control the tickets. That’s unacceptable,” said a party official in Egbe-Idimu LCDA.

BARR BABATUNDE OGALA SAN WHAT HAPPENED TO ALIMOSHO FEDERAL CONSTITUENCY DELEGATES’ VOTES.

Leaders, officers and members of the All Progressives Congress, APC, in Alimosho federal constituency consisting of Alimosho LGA, Agbado Oke Odo LCDA, Ayobo Ipaja LCDA, Egbe Idimu LCDA, and Mosan Okunola LCDA are in deep shock over the results of the chairmanship primaries as declared by the Babatunde Ogala SAN led primaries organizing committee.

It is hugely disturbing that open electoral frauds can be perpetrated under the watch of a senior member of the Nigerian bar. How did ballots cast for aspirants by delegates disappear, while pre-written ones got stuffed into the ballot boxes in their stead. Why did Mr Ogala accredit delegates in the open, made them vote in secret absent aspirants agents, ballot boxes kept away from the agents, while delegates were dispatched out of the venue immediately, only to bring out ballot boxes into the open for public collation hours later. These questions begs answers from the senior silk.

Each council in Lagos State have 27 delegates exclusively drawn from the 27 man APC LGA Executive Committee. In Alimosho federal constituency due to a subsisting power sharing agreement between the Mandate Group and Justice Forum. Mandate Group have 15 delegates while Justice Forum have 12, by this arrangement the primaries should be between the aspirants of the two caucuses..

In ALIMOSHO LGA let us assume without consideration of the above factor that Akinpelu Johnson of the Justice Forum won the primaries. The result accredited to Mr Johnson should have reflected nine out of twelve Justice Forum delegates, since a fellow Justice Forum member Adebisi Francis contested this same primaries with him having three delegates loyal to him. However with the fraudulent exchange and replacement of the ballot boxes. The pre-determined results were read with zero vote allotted to the Mandate Group sponsored aspirant Dare Ogunkoya who left home with thirteen delegates.

In MOSAN OKUNOLA LCDA APC members are still wondering how Barr Ogala will explain to the world how 26 votes came from 24 accredited delegates on the day of the primary. How Adunni Opeyemi Akindele got 23 votes, while Barr Rotimi Ekundayo Ogunwuyi sponsored by the Mandate Group has two votes, while Akintola Abiodun Falade of the Justice Forum had one vote in the exercise. He will also have to answer how a deceased executive committee member and a chairmanship aspirant who had to resign from the committee voted in the exercise.

AYOBO IPAJA LCDA Azeezat Owonla Odubajo the Mandate Group sponsored chairmanship aspirant has 15 delegates which she camped and marched to the venue of the election. The council chairman Oladipupo Oluwaloni sponsored by the Justice Forum with 12 delegates, were both bested by Luqmon Agbaje who did not have a single delegate. Why did Barr Ogala led team in a gestapo manner stopped delegates from snapping their ballots papers as proof since their agents barred from keeping watch over the votes cast.

EGBE IDIMU LCDA Tayo Ayinde of the Mandate Group have 14 trusted delegates while Idris Balogun of the Justice Forum has 13 delegates. Idris Balogun should not have been cleared to contest this primary since members who had in the past taken the party to court were automatically barred. He took the party to court after he lost the 2022 primaries of the House of Representatives and worked for the Labour party. Even at that, the delegates in his camp should have been shared among the three aspirants in his caucus, who refused to adopt him a consensus. Tayo Ayinde with 15 delegates did not carry the day under Barr Ogala’s watch.

In AGBADO OKE-ODO LCDA Abiodun Ejibadero who is not an APC card carrying member from that Council, absent any sponsorship from both the Mandate Group and the Justice Forum caucuses was declared winner. The incumbent council chairman and Mandate Group sponsored chairmanship aspirant Oladapo Famuyiwa with 15 delegates and Vice Chairman Aminat Moromoke sponsored by the Justice Forum were bested Mr Ejigbadero a closet ally of Rt Hon Mudashiru Obasa the Speaker of the Lagos State House of Assembly.

In Igando Ikotun LCDA this is the only council in Alimosho federal constituency where the Barr Ogala led committee allowed the votes to count. The results declared merged the votes of the delegates, the results from Igando Ikotun is the reflection of how all the LCDAs and LGA should have gone.

Stakeholders now fear that the party’s inability to ensure transparent and fair primaries could trigger mass disillusionment, protests, and possibly defections ahead of future elections. “Alimosho is the heartbeat of Lagos politics,” a youth leader in Egbeda warned. “If the party loses credibility here, it will ripple across the entire state.”

Calls for Sanwo-Olu and Party Leadership to Intervene

With discontent rising, party members, aspirants, and stakeholders are calling on Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu and the Lagos APC leadership to step in urgently. Many are demanding the immediate rescheduling of both chairmanship and councillorship primaries under transparent and credible conditions.

“There must be a return to internal democracy. This manipulation cannot stand,” said an aspirant whose name was allegedly replaced in the written result list. “We have spent millions campaigning, mobilizing, and following due process. What we’re witnessing now is nothing short of a betrayal.”

The collation of the chairmanship primaries raises allegations of ballot tempering: aspirants and agents alleged that ballot switching by the Babatunde Ogala SAN led committee, resulting in over voting at the APC state secretariat, all eyes are now on Lagos APC to determine whether it will salvage its legitimacy — or lose the trust of the people who once anchored its electoral dominance.

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