The All Progressives Congress (APC) Caretaker Committee in Lagos says parallel congresses by aggrieved groups will not affect the party in future elections but reveals it has started conciliatory moves.

APC Caretaker Committee chairman in Lagos, Tunde Balogun, disclosed this on Thursday.

“We are doing a lot of reconciliations. We want to convince people to continue to work peacefully with others to avoid acrimony,” Mr Balogun admitted.

Parallel congresses trailed the APC nationwide ward and local government congresses in Lagos, held on July 31 and September 4, respectively.

While the Lagos APC held its congresses in designated areas, spelt out by the APC congress committees, a splinter group within the party, Lagos4Lagos Movement, led by Olajide Adediran, held a parallel congress in different locations.

The caretaker chairman noted that although there were parallel congresses, it would not impact the party in upcoming elections.

“Maybe in few places, there were parallel congresses. Parallel because of people who decided to have things on their own and do things the way they like. But generally in Lagos, we had a very peaceful and successful conduct of the congresses,” he stated. “We followed directives of the national body of APC- the National Caretaker Committee. If some people decided to have parallel congresses, they had their reasons for that. They have recommended consensus arrangements for the congresses across the nation.”

Mr Balogun added that APC in Lagos “is such a formidable” party.

He insisted that the “few” parallel congresses would not adversely impact the party’s fortune in 2023.