Ahead of the July 12 local government polls in the state, the Lagos State chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC) has cleared at 54 women chairmanship aspirants to contest in the party’s primary elections scheduled for Saturday, 10 May, 2025.
According to the list of screened aspirants released by the party and obtained by thegazelenews.com, Amuwo Odofin Local Government leads with six female aspirants; while Apapa Iganmu and Ejigbo Local Council Development Areas followed with three aspirants each.
Two female aspirants were disqualified by the screening committee while one female aspirant from Ojo Local Government was absent during screening.
The cleared aspirants emerged following a week-long screening exercise held at the party’s state secretariat on Acme Road, Ogba, between April 29 and May 3, 2025
The screening committee also cleared 360 male aspirants.
A total of 432 aspirants both males and females were thus cleared by the party’s Electoral Committee.
Out of the 470 aspirants screened, 432 were cleared to contest in the primary elections, while 38 were disqualified or voluntarily withdrew from the race.
The disqualifications were largely due to issues such as lack of Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs), missing APC membership cards, and discrepancies in academic certificates, especially at the secondary school level.
There was screening committee for each of the three Senatorial District in the state. The committees were tasked with overseeing the vetting process and all preparatory activities leading to the party’s primaries in the 57 councils.
The committees were also tasked with overseeing all pre-election processes across the state’s 20 Local Government Areas and 37 Local Council Development Areas (LCDAs).
According to party guidelines, the primaries will adopt an indirect system, with delegates drawn from executive members in the LGAs and LCDAs. Disqualified aspirants have until Monday, 5 May, 2025, to appeal, while post-primary petitions can be submitted between Monday, 12 May and Tuesday, 13 May, 2025.
Concerning the APC guidelines, indirect primaries—where executive members across the 20 Local Government Areas and 37 Local Council Development Areas (LCDAs) will vote—are slated for Saturday, 10 May, 2025.
The Chairman of the party’s Electoral Committee and former National Legal Adviser of the party, Babatunde Ogala, SAN, described the screening exercise as “thorough, rigorous and challenging.”
He affirmed that all cleared aspirants possess the capacity to deliver quality governance at the grassroots level if elected.
The Lagos State Independent Electoral Commission (LASIEC) had scheduled elections into 57 Chairmanship and 376 Councillorship seats of the 20 Local Government Areas and 37 Local Council Development Areas, LCDAs, for Saturday, 10 July, 2025.
