Countdown To Lagos L.G Polls: 23 Parties Vie For Positions, As PDP, ANPP Opt Out

At long last, the Lagos State Local government elections which had been dogged by litigations, postponements and intrigues, will hold tomorrow in 20 Local Government Areas (LGAs) and 37 Local Council Development Areas (LCDAs).

The last local government election in the state was held in 2002, and by the three-year constitutional tenure of the third-tier of government, an election should have been held in 2005.

The controversies that trailed the Lagos council administration, is not unconnected with the battle of wits between the former governor of Lagos state, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu and former president, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo.

The battle of the titans, however turned into blessing to the local government political office holders who spent more years beyond their tenure in different capacities. From Executive chairman to Executive Secretary.

Now, the die is cast with 23 political parties presenting candidates for chairmanship and councillorship positions in 20 LGAS and 37 LCDAs.

According to the Public Relations Officer (PRO) of the Lagos State Independent Electoral Commission (LASIEC), Mr. Raheem Ajao, 31 parties collected nomination forms, 25 filled and submitted the forms, while 23 took part in the validation exercise.

He revealed that ANPP never showed interest from the outset, saying PDP has officially written LASIEC to inform it of its withdrawal from the race.

With this development, the battle will be between the Action Congress (AC) Action Alliance (AA), People Progressive Party (PPP), All Progressive Grand Alliance (APGA), National Action Council (NAC), Movement for Democracy and Justice (MDJ), Citizens Popular Party (CPP), Justice Party (JP), Alliance for Democracy (AD) and United Nigeria Peoples Party (UNPP) among others.

While LASIEC is busy perfecting the strategy of ensuring a free and fair election, the Lagos State Governor, Barrister Babatunde Fashola (SAN) has assured Lagosians of adequate security to protect lives and property throughout the duration of the exercise.

As at Thursday, foreign observers, which included journalists and researchers have arrived the country. They paid a courtesy visit to the chairman of LASIEC, Hon. Justice Abdul’Fatai Afolabi Adeyinka (rtd). Meanwhile, the Lagos State government has restricted movement tomorrow between 8am and 3pm, during the voting exercise.

dayokanu:

How can Lagos with 15million economically viable people have the same number of Local govt as Bauchi state with less than 5 million people mainly peasants?