There was a heavy presence of security operatives on Thursday at the venue of the special state congress of the All Progressives Congress, APC.

The party is set to select its governorship candidate for the 2023 general election in Lagos State at the Mobolaji Johnson Arena in Lagos State.

The patrol vehicles and armoured personnel carriers were stationed at the access roads leading to the venue while the officers were strategically positioned at various entrances and within the premises of the venue.

NAN reports that the special state congress has started with the accreditation of ad hoc delegates from the 20 local government areas of the state as of the time of this report.

Members of the electoral committee for the primaries were around, and delegates were moving around, expecting voting to begin.

Speaking to NAN, Mr. Ademola Sadiq, the Chairman of the Accreditation Sub-Committee for the Governorship Primary Support Committee, said he was impressed by the peaceful and smooth accreditation ahead of the election.

“The accreditation has been so well organised that some local government ad hoc delegates are only expecting two or three delegates to be completely cleared."

“On the whole, we have 1,225 delegates. Hopefully, by my estimation, we have attended to about 800 people, so we are expecting just a few right now.

“In another 20 minutes we should be done with accreditation,” Sadiq said.

He also expressed hope that the exercise would be successful.

“I am expecting outstanding success in the primaries. We are lucky because the number of delegates has been pruned down because of the non-signing of the Electoral Act amendment (by President Buhari Muhammadu).

“We just have 1225, so, within two hours, all of them should be able to vote and we will disperse,” the chairman told NAN.

NAN reports that apart from the incumbent, Gov. Babajide Sanwo-Olu, who is seeking a reelection ticket, two other aspirants in the race were former Commissioners in the state, Wale Oluwo and AbdulAhmed Mustapha.