The Lagos party agent of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the presidential election, Fouad Oki, said that the party will re-strategise its position in the state following the defeat suffered by its presidential candidate, Bola Tinubu.

Mr Oki made the statement on Monday at the INEC collation centre in Yaba, Lagos, after Peter Obi of the Labour Party was declared winner in the state. 

Mr Oki said the party would review its structure in Lagos and its process. “When a child falls, he looks at the front, but when an adult falls, he looks at the back; we will review the process, ” Mr Oki said. 

Mr Oki pointed at the low voter turnout as the reason for the party’s poor performance in the Lagos presidential polls. 

“Democracy at work, the people have spoken. We have heard their voices; we are going back to review our process. I am sure that Lagosians have told us what needs to be done,” Mr Oki said.  

Mr Oki also blamed naira scarcity and technology as major factors that caused the state’s low voter turnout. 

“We should understand the event of the last two weeks and it has a qualitative factor on the voters’ turnout. I’m sure that the next two weeks will be quite different. When you deploy technology, you must except some hiccups that were created by the viewers. It is part of the learning process,” he said. 

Similarly, Tunji Shelle, the representative of the Peoples Democratic Party, decried the discrepancies in the electioneering process. 

He pointed at the thuggery, political violence, inadequate training of electoral staff, mal-functioning electoral materials and voting manipulation as major setbacks for the integrity of the election process in Lagos state.

“I don’t think the AD-HOC staff are properly trained, so it affected the output at the end of the day. We are not ready for the use of BVAS. The uploading process was not properly done; most of the results that could have come out of the BVAS are not the ones used at the end of the day.” 

Mr Shelle asserted that Mr Obi’s presidential ambition can not be relegated because he has changed the dynamics of politics, but ” he can not go far.”

However, the state chairman of the Labour Party,  Dayo Ekong, expressed her delight at the results, which led to her party’s victory in the state. 

She added that the party’s victory in Lagos presidential election was well deserved. 

According to her, there is no doubt that the party’s governorship candidate will emerge as the winner because he possesses the values of Mr Obi. 

She also assured the youths that her party would bring the change they had desired for a long time and give them a sense of belonging.