Sanwo-Olu beat the incumbent governor by a landslide at the party’s primary election. Former Lagos Commissioner for Commerce and Industry, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, has comprehensively beaten incumbent governor, Akinwunmi Ambode, to clinch the governorship ticket of the All Progressives’ Congress (APC).Sanwo-Olu beat the incumbent in the APC’s Lagos State governorship primary election that was conducted at all wards in all 20 local government areas of the state on Tuesday, October 2, 2018.In Tuesday’s election, Sanwo-Olu polled 970,851 votes, hundreds of thousands of votes more than Ambode’s 72,901 votes.The APC’s national working committee (NWC) panel in charge of the election officially confirmed the result on Wednesday, October 3, 2018.”I, Clement Ebri, the Chairman of the Lagos State APC governorship primary election committee, thereby declare Babajide Sanwo-Olu the winner of that election,” the committee chairman, Clement Ebri, announced on Wednesday morning.Controversy over primary electionIn controversial fashion, the committee had previously cancelled the election on Tuesday, noting that it had not been in charge of its conduct and supervision as it should.”We want a victory that will be credible, and will be in line with the guidelines and rules,” Ebri said on Tuesday evening.With confusion over the state of the election late on Monday, the Lagos State APC chairman, Tunde Balogun, announced the result of the election that the NWC already dissociated itself from.Balogun announced, “I am aware that conflicting information has been circulating on our primary election, but I must tell you that the election was held and it was free and fair.”It would be very painful to disenfranchise the over 1.5 million members who voted across the 245 wards in the state.”After a meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari late on Tuesday, APC national chairman, Adams Oshiomhole, dismissed the NWC’s cancellation of the election and directed the panel to make Sanwo-Olu’s victory official.”The election has been held, anyone who is aggrieved should complain after the declaration of results,” he said.
