The leadership of the Labour Party and Peoples Democratic Party in Lagos State has accused the All Progressives Congress of instigating violence during elections in the state.

However, the ruling APC has fired back, cautioning the LP and PDP against spreading misinformation and urging them to focus on putting their houses in order.

The Lagos State Independent Electoral Commission recently announced July 12, 2025 as the date for the local government elections across the state.

The announcement, made by LASIEC’s Head of Public Affairs, Tope Ojo, expectedly signalled the formal commencement of the electoral process for the upcoming LG elections to be held in the 20 LGAs and 37 Local Council Development Areas of the state.

Speaking in an interview with Sunday PUNCH, the spokesperson for the Lagos Labour Party in the state, Ife Salako, expressed concern, saying he hoped the events of the 2023 presidential election would not re-occur.

He alleged that the APC orchestrated violence during the election as they were caught off guard by the LP’s victory.

Salako said, “Now it is clear, even the guys on the street that they use to commit these atrocities have said they are not going to be used for such things again. The LP is making efforts to ensure that its people are no longer intimidated at the polls so that we can have them come en masse to vote for their preferred candidate.”

He argued that while the APC is noted for violence, the PDP is a dead political force.

“You can’t talk about peace and be talking about APC. As far as Lagos is concerned, PDP isn’t a functioning party. PDP is out of it. APC has no strategy to win the election; the only strategy they have is to be violent, rig, and snatch the ballot box,” he said.

In his submission, the Deputy Chairman of the PDP, Tai Benedict, dismissed Salako’s claim that PDP has lost its relevance, saying several LP members had recently defected to the party.

“PDP is functioning in Lagos. Some members of the Labour Party still defected to our party last week.

“The Labour Party has been able to win elections in Lagos because of the PDP. LASIEC should ensure the election is free and fair, and they should know that posterity will judge,” he said.

Responding to the opposition parties, the APC Publicity Secretary, Seye Oladejo, lamented that it was unfortunate the state had opposition parties that were always making excuses.

He stated that the LP and PDP were nonexistent, adding that they needed to get their parties in order.

Oladejo noted, “Technically, we can say their parties are just names on paper. We don’t even know which factions of the PDP or LP are speaking. Or are we the ones unleashing violence to put their parties in disorder?”

He said due to their troubled state, both PDP and LP would struggle to have agents during the forthcoming election.

“We are talking about parties that will struggle to have agents during the election. If a party can’t get agents for a poll, that speaks to their nonexistence.

“Why should parties be talking about violence or rigging when they have no supporters? It’s ridiculous. It is not good for our democracy that the opposition is not thriving,” Oladejo said.