Political inclusion in the gubernatorial candidate selection process of the All-Progressives Congress (APC) in Nigeria: a study of Awori settlers in Lagos state

Historically, the Awori are among the earliest settlers in Lagos State, with ancestral roots that anciently span across the northern, eastern, and southern regions of the state. Despite the Awori's dominance across the Local Government Areas (LGAs) and regional divisions, they have never held the governorship position in Lagos State since Nigeria’s independence in 1960. On this note, the study examines the political inclusion in the gubernatorial candidate selection process of the All-Progressives Congress (APC) in Nigeria with a specific focus on the Awori settlers in Lagos State. This includes investigating specific factors of political inclusion that contribute to the possible marginalization of the Awori’s in the politics of Lagos State. A mixed-method approach combining both quantitative and qualitative approaches was adopted for the study. Data were collected from 248 participants comprising of traditional rulers, Awori indigenes, APC party leaders, elected officials, political appointees, APC party members, and members of the civil society such as non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and human rights organizations. Both descriptive statistics and thematic analysis were utilized for the quantitative and qualitative data respectively. The findings discovered that APC party always conducts internal elections for the selection of governorship candidates in Lagos State, however, the APC party's decision is influenced by political godfathers without considering the culture that supports rotational governance in the selection process of governorship candidate among the regional divisions in Lagos State. Therefore, the APC's standard choice of governorship candidate in Lagos State is based on educational qualifications, administrative experience and godfather influence. Based on these findings, the study recommends that the government of the Federal Republic of Nigeria in cooperation with the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) should prepare and pass a new bill to the Senate house of legislatives on political inclusion policies. This is to ensure that every individual Awori in Lagos State irrespective of their demographical characteristic has equal and fair opportunity for political participation and representation.