No Preparation Yet For Council Poll

NOW that the general elections are over, all eyes are fixed on the Lagos State Governor, Babatunde Raji Fashola to fulfill his promise of conducting election into council areas in the state.

The delay, five months after the exit of democratically elected officials, is raising doubts over the possibility of keeping faith with his promise, before the expiration of his tenure on May 29.

The last election that ushered in the council officials, whose tenure expired on October 29, 2014 was held on October 21, 2011. It was expected that duly elected officials should have taken over the affairs of the councils, but against all expectations, last January, the governor installed interim executive secretaries to manage the affairs of the 20 local governments and 37 local council development areas (LCDAs).

The excuse of government and the State Independent Electoral Commission (LASIEC) then, was non availability of an updated voter register from the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), and the need for delineation of more polling units, which they claim must be properly done before council elections.

At the swearing-in of the transition committees, Fashola said “the officers were inaugurated to serve in transitional capacity till the end of March, hoping that by then all will have been sorted out with the voter register, and then we go to the elections to elect officers into all levels in the local government structure.”

After the general elections, there is no pointer to that direction, despite the fact that the register had been updated, and existing polling units were used by INEC for the successful conduct of the general elections in the state.

Towards the end of 2014, perception was that no council election would hold till after the 2015 general elections. Even though government denied it, the governor’s body language and action actually showed that the election would be well after the general elections.

With the look of things, stakeholders are of the view that conducting the election is still uncertain, considering that Fashola has less than two months to go.

A reliable source at LASIEC told The Guardian last week that there is no preparation yet for the polls. He noted that the voter register was updated by INEC ahead of the general elections and that the issue of delineation of polling units was suspended because of the outcry over creation of new polling units, noting that on the part of the electoral umpire “there is no preparation for now.”

Though he was silent on the possibility of conducting the polls before the expiration of this government’s tenure, the tone of his response indicates that the election may not hold based on the constitutional provision that stipulates that 90 days must be given prior to the election.

The main opposition party in the state, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has condemned the unusual delay, describing it as embarrassment to democracy.

Speaking through its Publicity Secretary, Taofik Gani, the party said, “We are demanding that Section 7 of the Constitution, which states that democratically conducted local government election must be observed, should be strictly adhered to, meaning that they must conduct the poll. The executive secretaries put in place remains illegal and an embarrassment.

“A governor, who is a lawyer and Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) should not ignore such provision. This ambition is the desperation to hold on to the state, they will fail and this time Lagosians will vote against the All Progressives Congress (APC), for depriving them democratic local councils,” Gani stated.

The Publicity Secretary, who ruled out the possibility of his party taking the state government to court because it will take time, said it would continue to use the media to advocate for a change.

The chairman of the Conference of Political Parties (CNPP), Akinola Obadia, told The Guardian that the governor is justified based on his argument that he cannot conduct the poll without a proper voter register and non-availability of the Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs) by then. He said now, that the PVC is ready and the voter register updated, Fashola would soon order LASIEC to go on with the preparations.

Obadia, who is also chairman of Inter-Party Advisory Council (IPAC), noted that CNPP has been in touch with government on the issue and since the necessary things have been put in place, “we should give him some time so that he can arrange for the election. So nobody should be biased about this issue, the general election has just been concluded, so we should give him time.”