By Adeyemi Adeleye/Adekunle Williams

The All Progressives Congress(APC) Local Government chairmanship primaries are currently underway at the party secretariat in Ikeja,amid heavy security.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the Lagos State Independent Electoral Commission (LASIEC) has fixed July 12 to conduct elections into the 20 Local Governments (LGs) and 37 Local Council Development Areas (LCDAs) in the state.

NAN political correspondents monitoring the primaries report that there is heavy presence of police operatives at the venue to ensure a hitch-free conduct.

The State Commissioner of Police ,CP Moshood Jimoh, is seen monitoring security situation within and around the venue.

Operatives of Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC), and those of Department of State Security (DSS) are also on ground to provide security.

Officials of Lagos State Traffic Management Authority (LASTMA) are also on ground .

Vehicular movements on the entire stretch of the road leading to the venue were restricted.

The development created gridlock around ACME Road and other roads, forcing vehicles to take alternative routes to access their destinations.

NAN reports that hundreds of delegates from the different council areas are being screened for accreditation.

Addressing newsmen briefly before the commencement of the delegates accreditation, the Chairman of the APC Electoral Committee, Mr Babatunde Ogala, called for fair reportage from the media.

Ogala, who asked the media of their assessment of the venue, said that the committee had provided adequate security for all the participants.

According to him, though the accreditation was supposed to start at 9.00am, the committee delayed commencement by some minutes to ensure delegates coming from far places were part of the process. NAN)

•PHOTO: The Lagos State commissioner of Police, CP Moshood Jimoh inspecting state of security at the venue of the APC Chairmanship Primaries in Lagos State, with other sister security agencies.