The elected All Progressives Congress (APC) candidate for the House of Representatives in Eti-Osa Federal Constituency, Oyekanmi Elegushi, has ‘voluntarily’ withdrawn his candidacy in deference to the party’s leadership.

Tobi Etti, the Director of Media Unit, Prince Oyekanmi Elegushi Campaign Organisation, disclosed this in a statement on Tuesday in Lagos.

Etti said that Elegushi had conveyed his withdrawal from the contest in a letter addressed to the National Chairman of the party, Sen. Abdullahi Adamu.

He said even though Elegushi won the party’s primary election for the 2023 election in the federal constituency, he relinquished the ticket in obedience to the party and its leadership.

“While pledging his loyalty to the party, he (Elegushi) appealed to his supporters to respect the decision of the party and ensure all the candidates of the party are returned elected in the 2023 elections,” Etti said.

Elegushi won the May 27 primary election of the APC for Eti-Osa Federal Constituency after polling 25 votes to defeat the incumbent, Mr Ibrahim Obanikoro, who polled 23 votes; while Azeez Raji Rasaki pulled 2 votes.

On Tuesday, residents of the Ikate Eti-Osa local government took to the street on a peaceful protest about their mandate taken away from them.

The protesters said that the Eti-Osa local government primary election was hijacked – that Prince Oyekanmi Elegushi was the winner and not Babajide Obanikoro as pronounced.

This led to a peaceful protest from Prince Oyekanmi Elegushi supporters.

Meanwhile, Bankole Wellington, popularly called Banky W, won the PDP ticket to represent the party as its House of Representatives candidate in the upcoming 2023 elections.

Banky W is also contesting for the Eti-Osa Federal Constituency seat.

The music star polled 28 votes to beat his closest opponent who scored three votes.

A total of 140 aspirants vied for PDP tickets for the 40 seats in the Lagos State House of Assembly, while 85 aspirants sought the state’s 24 House of Representatives seats.

The keenly contested primaries began at 5 p.m. that Monday.

In a viral video, the votes of the primaries were counted and closely monitored by the delegates and members of the party.

Banky W first announced his decision to run for the House of Representatives seat back in November 2018.

In the 2019 elections, he contested the House of Representatives seat under the Modern Democratic Party (MDP) but lost to Ibrahim Obanikoro of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).

The music star announced that he would be running for the seat again in April 2022.

“We must engage with Nigeria where it is, not where we prefer it to be. In 2019, we planted the seed. In 2023, by the grace of God and with your support, we will win the seat. The time for just talking is over. It is time to #TalkAndDo. I hope I can count on you. We move,” he tweeted at that time.