LP, Youth Party Call for Annulment of Lagos LG Elections Citing Malpractices
Kehinde Adeleye
The Youth Party has sharply criticized the Lagos State local government elections conducted on Saturday, July 12, 2025, calling the exercise “shambolic” and “blatantly rigged” in favor of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).
Their reaction comes on the heels of a similar condemnation by the Labour Party, which described the election as a “dangerous blueprint for electoral fraud” ahead of the 2027 general elections.
On Sunday, the Lagos State Independent Electoral Commission (LASIEC) announced that APC candidates had won all 57 chairmanship seats contested.
The party also claimed 375 out of 376 councillorship positions, with the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) winning just one ward.
In a statement from Francisco Doregos, Chairman of the Youth Party’s Lagos chapter, the party accused LASIEC of overseeing a severely compromised process, citing cases of voter suppression and widespread irregularities.
“Expectedly, the Lagos State Local Government Elections were shambolic and blatantly rigged against our candidates with reckless and shameless abandon,” Doregos said.
Doregos alleged that the electoral commission was compromised from the start, citing the appointment of commissioners with clear ties to the All Progressives Congress (APC).
He further criticized LASIEC for failing to meet key legal obligations, including the issuance of official election notices and the publication of the voters register before the polls.
The Youth Party also accused security agencies of being used to intimidate and hinder its candidates. Despite these challenges, the party claimed it performed better than other opposition groups in areas where it fielded candidates.
“We were obviously the preferred party without rigging,” Doregos asserted.
“We emerged as the most preferred choice across the polling units where we fielded candidates, outperforming the PDP, AA, ZLP and other opposition parties,” he added.
The Labour Party also voiced strong disapproval of the election results. In a statement signed by Senator Nenadi Usman, Chair of the party’s National Caretaker Committee, and released in Abuja by her Senior Special Adviser on Media, Ken Asogwa, the party accused the All Progressives Congress (APC) of blatant electoral manipulation, allegedly aided by officials of the Lagos State Independent Electoral Commission (LASIEC).
According to Usman, the APC’s clean sweep of the election was “shameless” and “unprecedented in Nigeria’s electoral history.”
“The farce that played out in Lagos on Saturday under the guise of council election has once again exposed the APC as a party allergic to democratic principles and due process,” the statement read.
“The audacity with which LASIEC officials collaborated openly with APC operatives represents a new low.”
The Labour Party claimed that its agents across various parts of the state reported numerous irregularities, including ballot boxes already stuffed with thumb-printed papers and pre-filled result sheets brought to polling units even before voting began.
“While no one expects electoral decency from the APC, we had hoped they would at least pretend. Even that pretence has now been discarded,” the party lamented.
Calling for calm among its supporters, the Labour Party demanded an immediate cancellation of the results and the conduct of a fresh, credible election process that truly reflects the will of Lagosians.
“Lagos, known as the Centre of Excellence, should not be reduced to a theatre of electoral absurdity. What happened on Saturday is a clear red flag, one that all true democrats in Nigeria should be alarmed by,” Asogwa warned.
