A MIXED bag of surprises, suggestive of crisis and lost of confidence in the process, may herald today's governorship primaries of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Lagos.
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  First, 11 of the aspirants, under the aegis of Lagos Governorship Aspirants 2014, want a postponement of the primaries billed to commence at the Onikan Stadium by 9.00am even as the party Headquarters noted that the scheduled primary would go on as planned.

  Among the concerns raised is that the "conceived indirect primaries (as constituted) could lead to agitation, tension and litigation and may ultimately deprive the party from presenting a valid candidate for the gubernatorial election in 2015."

  They also referred to a suit filed on Tuesday by two party members in Lagos against the party, the INEC and all the governorship aspirants.

  Instead, they canvassed direct primaries and consensus-building before the primaries could hold within the stipulated timeframe.

  The aspirants at the meeting, who also appended their signatures to the letter, include: Olanrewaju Ope, Ganiyu Olanrewaju Solomon, Adeyemi Ikuforiji, Tayo Akinmade Ayinde, Dr. Leke Pitan and Kadri Obafemi Hamzat.

  Others are: Dr. Tola Kasali, Olasupo Shasore, Adekunle Disu, Adetokunbo Tobun Agbesanwa and Adetokunbo Williams.

  Conspicuously absent from the meeting was Akinwunmi Ambode.

  Their letter was addressed to the APC National Chairman, the National Legal Adviser, National Secretary, National Organising Secretary, the National Leader and the Chairman of the APC in Lagos State. (See text of the letter below)

  However, the APC has decided to go ahead with the primary election.

  Second, the aspirants are protesting  that the electors should come only from 20 local government council areas recognised by the 1999 Constitution (as amended).

  However, there are 37 other councils, designated development area councils, created via an enactment of the State House of Assembly.

  Thus, there are technically 57 local government councils, where votes had taken place during the last local government elections in the state, and elected council chairmen and councilors are in place.

  Third, the aggrieved members of the party have gone to court, to stop the primaries being held in the said additional 37 local government development area councils.

  The applicants want the request to be heard expeditiously, but this may not happen until after the primaries.

  Fourth, there is alleged threat of boycott of the primaries by the aggrieved aspirants and their supporters.

  If this happens, the boycotters would have unwittingly left the field for probably only one aspirant —  Ambode, who did not attend the meeting of the aspirants, to pick the coveted party ticket.

  Fifth, there is palpable fear, based on alleged intelligence report, that violence may mar the primaries, on the instigation of some of the aspirants, "who are bent on stopping the group of the grandmaster of Lagos politics."

  The fingered aspirants are alleged to be from parts of the state that are prone to perennial breach of public peace and order.

  A foretaste of what could happen was enacted on Tuesday at the Assembly primaries in Arena in the Ebute-Metta, Lagos Mainland Constituency I and Ojokoro in Ifako/Ijaiye Constituency.

  Several lives were reportedly lost following the announcement of results of the exercise.

  The protests were allegedly triggered "by the way and manner the exercise was conducted by party officials."

  However, today's primaries organisers are not leaving anything to chance, as security is fully mobilised for the primaries that will take place at the Onikan Stadium.

  According to the state APC chairman, Chief Henry Oladele Ajomale, the primaries ordinarily would hold at the party headquarters, going by the guidelines, but  the Lagos chapter applied to the national secretariat for a change of venue for convenience sake.

  In granting the waiver, "the National Secretariat, in a letter dated  December 1, 2014, wrote inter-alia: 'We refer to your letter dated  November 28,  2014 in respect of the above mentioned subject and wish to convey approval for the use of Onikan Stadium, as the venue of the governorship primaries,'" Ajomale said yesterday in a statement.

  Consequently, the leadership of the party informed the delegates that accreditation would start by 9.00am while voting would kick off by noon.

  Over 3,000 delegates are expected at the venue for the exercise, with "all logistics put in place, "including adequate security and traffic management for a hitch-free exercise," Ajomale said.

  In the interim, investigation reveals that the primaries may be a one-way affair, as the national leader of the APC and former governor of Lagos State, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, "has thrown his full weight behind the candidature of Ambode," an insider said yesterday .

 The  source stated that the contest was "a battle between the camp that has stature (reference to Governor Fashola's group) and a bloc that has stature and structure (indicative of the Tinubu circle)."

  It was gathered that the Tinubu camp had wrapped up over 80 per cent of the primary voters as at yesterday, with the possibility of the number moving up to 95 per cent at the stroke of voting today.

  The results of the House of Assembly primaries held on Tuesday are indicative of the outcome of the governorship primaries.

  Some incumbent members of the House of Assembly lost the chance to return to office, losing to wards of stalwarts and loyalists of Tinubu.

  For example, Mr. Oladimeji Ajomale, son of the Lagos APC chairman, Chief Ajomale, defeated a sitting lawmaker, Mrs. Omowunmi Olatunji-Edet to pick the ticket for the Oshodi/Isolo Constituency.

  In Ikeja Constituency II, currently represented by the House Speaker, Adeyemi Ikuforiji, Mr. Folajinmi Jubril, son of the National Publicity Secretary of the APC, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, defeated a hip-hop artiste, Kenny St. Brown and two others to become the party candidate. 

  Some high-profile incumbent lawmakers that lost their seats are: the House Majority Leader, Adebayo Adeyeye and the Chief Whip, Razak Balogun; Ipoola Omisoro; and Kabiru Lawal, who was defeated by Nollywood artiste, Desmond Elliot.

 The aggrieved aspirants' letter

   In the letter written to the APC's National Chairman, John Odigie  -Oyegun, the aspirants disclosed that they affirmed the supremacy of the party and its constitution.

  However, they brought attention to the "need for the party to be gravely concerned and reserve further action with respect to the recently released guidelines for the upcoming party primaries in Lagos State and the legality of the indirect primaries, as it relates to Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) regulations 2014, the Electoral Act 2010, as amended and APC constitution."

  The aspirants evaluated the ward congress held earlier based on the 20 local government areas and 37 local council development areas (LCDAs), noting that the party constitution states that, "the local governments shall be defined as listed in the 1999 Constitution, which for Lagos was listed as 20."

  They raised concerns that the "conceived indirect primaries, as constituted, could lead to agitation, tension and litigation and may ultimately deprive the party from presenting a valid candidate for the gubernatorial election in 2015."

  They reflected on the suit filed on Tuesday by two party members in Lagos against the party, INEC and all the governorship aspirants.

 They posited that both the direct primaries and consensus-building could be concluded within the stipulated INEC timetable frame.

  However, the Publicity Secretary of the party in the state, Mr. Joe Igbokwe, told The Guardian yesterday that, "we are going ahead as planned."

  According to him: "The indirect election will take place at Onikan, as scheduled.

 Everything has been put in place to ensure a hitch-free exercise. I do not think it is fair for some aspirants to want the party to change the rules when the exercise is only hours away.

 They ought to have been busy, looking for delegates rather than come up with these excuses."