2023 Nigerian Senate elections in Lagos State

The 2023 Nigerian Senate elections in Lagos State was held on 25 February 2023, to elect the 3 federal Senators from Lagos State, one from each of the state's three senatorial districts. The elections coincided with the 2023 presidential election, as well as other elections to the Senate and elections to the House of Representatives; with state elections being held two weeks later. Primaries were held between 4 April and 9 June 2022.

Background
In terms of the previous Senate elections, two of the three incumbent senators were returned as Oluremi Tinubu (APC-Central) and Solomon Olamilekan Adeola (APC-West) were re-elected while Gbenga Bareehu Ashafa (APC-East) lost renomination. In the Central district, Tinubu was re-elected with 58% of the vote as Adeola held his western seat with 53%; in the open East seat, Adebayo Osinowo held the seat for the APC with 59% of the vote. These results were a part of the continuation of the Lagos APC's dominance as most House of Representatives seats were won by the party, it won a majority in the House of Assembly, and Buhari won the state in the presidential election.

Lagos Central
The Lagos Central Senatorial District covers the local government areas of Apapa, Eti-Osa, Lagos Island, Lagos Mainland, and Surulere. Incumbent Oluremi Tinubu (APC), who was re-elected with 52.9% of the vote in 2019, declined to seek re-election to focus on assisting the presidential campaign of her husband—former Governor Bola Tinubu (APC).

All Progressives Congress
After it was confirmed that Tinubu would retire from the Senate, four candidates emerged: Oyinlomo Danmole—former Commissioner for Home Affairs and Culture, Wasiu Eshinlokun Sanni—Deputy Speaker of the House of Assembly and MHA for Lagos Island I, Ademola Rasaq Seriki—former Ambassador to Spain, and Akeem Apatira. Another potential candidate—House of Assembly Speaker Mudashiru Obasa—was reportedly pushed out of the contest by party leadership and assuaged with a promised return to the HOA Speakership. In the primary—held at the Teslim Balogun Stadium in Surulere, Eshinlokun-Sanni defeated runner-up Seriki by 29% margin.

People's Democratic Party
Before the primary, analysts noted three major candidates: Adesunbo Onitiri, Adetokunbo Pearse, and Wale Gomez with an anonymous party chieftain naming Onitiri—the 2019 nominee—as the frontrunner. However, on primary day, Gomez won the nomination amid massive controversy and protests as party officials had allegedly switched venues at the last minute.

Lagos East
The Lagos East Senatorial District covers the local government areas of Epe, Ibeju-Lekki, Ikorodu, Kosofe, and Somolu. In 2019, Adebayo Osinowo (APC) was elected to the seat but he died in June 2020. In the ensuing by-election, Tokunbo Abiru (APC) was elected with 87.2% of the vote; he is seeking re-election.

All Progressives Congress
On the primary date, an indirect primary in Magodo resulted in the renomination of Abiru unopposed. In his acceptance speech, Abiru praised party members and promised to do more for the district.

People's Democratic Party
On the primary date, four candidates contested an indirect primary in Somolu that ended in Nicholas Akobada winning the nomination after results showed him defeating runner-up Agnes Adenike-Shobajo by an 11-vote margin. However, the primary was marred by controversy over alleged irregularities and a purportedly manipulated delegate list.

Campaign
Analysis from The Nation in late December 2022 gave the advantage to Abiru, in large part to the relatively little active campaigning conducted by Akobada.

Lagos West
The Lagos West Senatorial District covers the local government areas of Agege, Ajeromi-Ifelodun, Alimosho, Amuwo-Odofin, Badagry, Ifako-Ijaiye, Ikeja, Mushin, Ojo, and Oshodi-Isolo. Incumbent Solomon Olamilekan Adeola (APC) was re-elected with 53.3% of the vote in 2019. In April 2022, Adeola announced that he would run for the Ogun West senate seat instead of seeking re-election to his current seat.

All Progressives Congress
After Adeola announced that he was vacating the seat, the immediate frontrunner in the primary was Musiliu Obanikoro—former Senator and former Minister of State for Defence; however, state party leadership instead backed former Deputy Governor Adejoke Orelope-Adefulire for the seat. However, Orelope-Adefulire did not return the primary forms and suddenly withdrew from the contest, pushing state party leadership to draft another former Deputy Governor—Oluranti Adebule—as a candidate. However, the deadline for candidate entry had already passed and the sudden Adebule candidacy led to controversy. On the primary date, results showed victory for Adebule over Obanikoro by a significant margin of 55%. Adebule thanked delegates in her acceptance speech and promised quality representation. For his part, Obanikoro walked out of the venue and later claimed that Adebule was not eligible to run in the primary. In a purported attempt to placate Obanikoro, Lagos APC leadership pressured its Eti-Osa Federal Constituency nominee Oyekanmi Elegushi to withdraw for Ibrahim Babajide Obanikoro—Musiliu Obanikoro's son and the runner-up in the Eti-Osa APC primary.

People's Democratic Party
Before the primary, observers noted potential issues with both candidates as frontrunner Segun Adewale had previously contested several elections in his native Ekiti State while Yommy Ogungbe is from the Badagry area just like gubernatorial candidate Abdul-Azeez Olajide Adediran; after three terms of Adeola, an anonymous party member surmised that some voters may prefer an indigene senator while pundits doubted that both a senatorial and gubernatorial nominee could emerged from the same area. Reporting also noted Adewale's multiple electoral defeats and legal issues. In the primary, Adewale defeated Ogungbe by a wide margin; in his acceptance speech, Adewale thanked delegates and pledged to work with party members to win the general election.

Campaign
Analysis from The Guardian in December 2022, labeled Adebule as the frontrunner due to APC strength in the area but noted Adewale's experience in the district. A piece from The Africa Report in January echoed those sentiments; however, it pointed out opportunities for Adewale: namely, the district's high non-indigene population (a PDP-leaning demographic) and Interior Minister Rauf Aregbesola's discontent with his own APC (Aregbesola has large amounts of supporters in Alimosho). Analysts contended that if Aregbesola backed Adewale and/or Adewale successfully convinced most Labour Party supporters to vote for him on the senatorial line, Adewale had a chance.