Tinubu’s Daughter Threatens Protest over ‘Manipulated’ Lagos APC Primaries Amid Rising 2027 Power Struggle

Femi Ashekun/

Fresh cracks have emerged within the Lagos chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC) after the President’s daughter, Mrs Folashade Tinubu-Ojo, openly threatened to mobilise protests over what she described as manipulated outcomes in the party’s recently concluded legislative primaries.

Tinubu-Ojo, who is the Iyalooja-General of Nigeria and one of the most influential grassroots political figures in Lagos, accused powerful interests within the ruling party of altering results in favour of the Justice Forum bloc, deepening fears of an escalating internal crisis ahead of the 2027 general elections.

Speaking during a meeting of market leaders and stakeholders at her office in Alausa, Ikeja, on Wednesday, she alleged that the declared outcomes in Mushin Federal Constituency 2, Agege Constituency 2 and Ojokoro Constituency did not reflect the actual votes cast during the primaries.

Her intervention is widely seen as significant because it exposes growing tensions within the Lagos APC, regarded as the political stronghold of President Bola Tinubu and the engine room of the party’s national dominance.

The Lagos APC had earlier released the names of candidates who emerged from the House of Representatives and Lagos State House of Assembly primaries conducted ahead of the 2027 elections.

The list, signed by the state APC chairman, Cornelius Ojelabi, showed that 24 candidates secured House of Representatives tickets, while 40 others emerged as candidates for the Lagos State House of Assembly.

However, Tinubu-Ojo insisted that some aspirants who genuinely won the contests were being denied victory through internal manipulation.

“We are ready to protest because of Seye Oladejo of Mushin Federal Constituency 2, Mutiu Olaide Oladeebo of Agege 2 Constituency and Olotu Ojo of Ojokoro Constituency because we know they won this election. Their mandates should not be given to somebody else,” she declared.

Her comments have added a dramatic new dimension to the simmering rivalry between the APC’s dominant political blocs, the Justice Forum and the Mandate Group, both of which have historically shaped power calculations within Lagos politics.

Tinubu-Ojo warned that the perceived favouritism towards the Justice Forum could destabilise the party and weaken internal unity at a critical political moment.

She alleged that politicians were abandoning the Mandate Group because of the growing perception that Deputy Governor Obafemi Hamzat, believed to be nursing governorship ambitions, enjoys the backing of the Justice Forum and could become the next power centre in Lagos politics.

“We have to cry out now. Let APC cancel the Justice Forum and Mandate Group. We are one family. We are all for APC,” she said.

“Everyone is now joining the Justice Forum because they believe that is where the incoming governor belongs.”

She further accused party leaders of rewarding political opportunism while discouraging loyalty and hard work within the APC structure.

“It is saddening. It is a way of telling us that hard work does not pay in politics. Something must be done about it,” she added.

She argued that traders and market women, who form a major voting bloc in the state, deserve stronger political representation and greater recognition for their longstanding support of the ruling party.