The Labour Party (LP) in Lagos State has expressed serious doubts about the Lagos State Independent Electoral Commission's (LASIEC) ability to conduct credible local government elections scheduled for July 12, 2025.

Speaking at the West Africa Civic Tech Conference held in Lagos yesterday, LP's Lagos spokesperson, Ife Salako, cited LASIEC's past performance and what he described as a pattern of institutional inefficiency as reasons for his skepticism.

"I don't have confidence in LASIEC to conduct a free and fair election," Salako stated. "But, we can actually force them to do the right thing. There is a way that someone may not want to do the right thing, but when you put pressure on them, they can do the right thing."

Despite questioning the commission's neutrality, Salako remained optimistic that pressure from political parties and civic actors could compel LASIEC to uphold electoral standards in the upcoming polls.

Leadership Crisis Affecting Candidate Submissions

Salako also addressed the ongoing leadership tussle within the Labour Party, which has created uncertainty over candidate submissions in several local councils. The party is currently divided between factions loyal to Julius Abure, Lamidi Apapa, and a caretaker committee reportedly backed by Abia State Governor Alex Otti.

This internal conflict has made it difficult for the party to uniformly present candidates to LASIEC across Lagos State.

The LP spokesperson criticized LASIEC for seeking clarification from the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) on which LP faction to recognize, calling it a failure of administrative responsibility.

"You go to your INEC portal. Who is recognised there as the chairman of the party? If INEC does not recognise Abure, then they should remove the name of Abure from their portal," he said. "But you know, Abure has been there for a while."

Salako insisted that INEC's current records clearly recognize Julius Abure as the party's national chairman and urged LASIEC to follow suit. According to him, any deviation from INEC's established position would amount to institutional inconsistency.

"How long will it take?" he questioned, referring to the electoral umpire's delay in resolving the leadership conflict. "Until INEC takes a position and officially replaces the name on the website, there is no point arguing about who to submit the names to LASIEC. Right now, INEC has Julius Abure as the chairman of the Labour Party, and anybody coming from that name should be recognised."

The Lagos local government elections are set to take place on July 12, 2025, with political parties preparing to field candidates across the state's local councils.