A chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Mr Akintunde Fadayomi, has expressed optimism that the APC would win the December 3, 2016 Ifako-Ijaiye Federal Constituency bye-election in Lagos.

On Saturday, Fadayomi, the Chairman of APC in Ifako-Ijaiye Local Government Area, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos that the APC had been able to sell itself adequately to the members of the constituency.

According to him, the party is fully on ground and admired by most of the residents.

“Even if all opposition parties form an alliance, we are going to defeat them.

“We will work hard to put our new candidate in the position formerly occupied by our party before the demise of Mr Elijah Adewale,” he said.

The chairman said that the party would unite all its members including those who might feel unhappy about the outcome of the party’s primary election held on Friday.

Fadayomi urged the party members to leave their differences behind and work together for the party’s victory.

NAN reports that Mr Nurudeen Akinwunmi on Friday defeated Mr Adisa Owolabi to emerge the winner of the APC primary election for the bye-election.

The Chairman of the APC Primary Election Organising Committee, Mr Ismael Ahmed, said that Akinwunmi polled 219 votes to defeat Owolabi who secured 166 votes.

According to him, 392 delegates were screened for the poll from 11 wards that made up the federal constituency.

He said that the total number of votes cast was 388, out of which 385 were valid and three invalid.

An official of INEC in the state, Mrs Bose Oluwatomisin, had told NAN, “It was free and fair and the atmosphere was peaceful.

“There was internal democracy, the election had no rancour, though there is always room for improvement.”

NAN reports that Mr Elijah Adewale, who represented the constituency in the House of Representatives, died in Abuja on July 20.

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has fixed Dec. 3 for the bye-election into the vacant seat.