In the run up to the 2025 Lagos local government elections, two of the most prominent politicians in the state were conspicuously silent on the event, at least on X, the social media formerly known as Twitter, according to a count by Ikeja Record.
X played a significant role in both Mr. Peter Obi and Mr. Gbadebo Rhodes-Vivour’s popularity among Lagos voters during the 2023 general elections.
In 2023, Mr. Obi won Lagos, defeating former Governor, Bola Ahmed Tinubu on his home turf. Premium Times, at the time, reported that the victory was “a demystification of Mr Tinubu, who had been predicted to win the state where he was governor between 1999 and 2007.”
While Mr. Rhodes-Vivour failed to clinch the state’s governorship seat, he received more than 300,000 votes in the 2023 election. He plans to run again in 2027.
Both politicians have continued to engage on X as their preferred social media platform amid the lingering crisis in Labour party, the vehicle with which they contested the 2023 general elections
Between January 1, 2025 and July 16, 2025, Mr. Obi made a total number of 226 tweets, while Mr. Rhodes-Vivour crossed the 100 mark.
A member of a youth coalition working for the Obidient movement told Ikeja Record the relative silence from both politicians was a “strategic choice” due to existing issues within their political party.
“Their party which is still the Labour party and its ecosystem has been hijacked by the operatives of the Tinubu government leading to intractable crisis and a duplicate executive in several states including Lagos state,” a member of Take Back Naija, Joseph Onuorah, said.
“The whole build-up to the party congresses and submission of candidate names in the state was mired with controversy of the nature that makes it difficult to achieve any meaningful compromise and political objectives, talk more of victory in the past LG elections in Lagos state.”
Meanwhile, Mr. Obi and at least one other high-ranking member of the Labour party, are part of a coalition that has adopted the African Democratic Congress (ADC) as a political vehicle for the 2027 general elections.
“The ADC coalition is also still at an early formative stage, not advanced sufficiently to be tested in any local elections,” Mr. Onuorah said. “So, that vehicle was also not a viable option for a local election in Lagos state or any other state for that matter.”
“Therefore the approach of both leaders was a strategic choice not to engage the process in a way that doesn’t reflect the true strength of the Obidient movement in Lagos state until the coalition formation is concluded,” Mr. Onuorah added.
No grassroots movement
The general lack of political mobilisation was injurious to the Labour party in the local government elections, which were held on July 12.
The ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) won all 57 chairmanship seats and 375 out of 376 councillorship seats in the state, with only one councillorship seat going to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
“The only reason why they have no business talking about Lagos grassroots politicking is because they do not have a grassroots movement,” a vocal member of the APC on X, Mr. Silva-Ope Oladipupo, said of Mr. Obi and Mr. Rhodes-Vivour’s silence.
“Their best bet is to ride on the support they get from social media.”
A Lagos-based writer, Abdur-Rahman Adewale, who voted on Saturday in Erikorodo ward in Ikorodu North, observed that the election was marked by low-voter turnout.
He suggested the politicians’ silence may be linked to “a large disorientation about the importance of the local government as an arm of government and the service it offers to the people.”
“I think campaigning and spreading the word will go a long way,” Adewale said.