LASIEC promises credible council poll

….. APC, SDP boycott Ondo LG poll as 11 parties express interest

The Chairman of the Lagos State Independent Electoral Commission, Justice Abdul-Fatai Adeyinka (retd.), says Lagosians should expect better performance from the commission in the local government election.

Adeyinka said this during the opening ceremony of a three-day capacity building for workers of the commission in Ikeja, the Lagos State capital.

The statement explained that the training on election administration was in partnership with the International Foundation for Electoral Systems, (IFES), with support from USAID and UKAID, and meant for the chairman, commissioners and management staff of the commission.

IFES is a United States- based organisation providing support for the entrenchment of democracy and democratic values.

Adeyinka said LASIEC was desirous of organising credible elections, which was why it decided to partner organisations that could help it.

ALSO SEE: Why Lagos rail project is delayed — Ayorinde

He said, “The partnership with IFES is a confirmation that the commission wants to enhance the electoral process at the local government level in Lagos State.

“We will ensure that the partnership with the organisation achieves the objective of enhancing the credibility of elections into the local government councils in Lagos. We will continue to strive to ensure transparency, fairness and strict adherence to due process in all our activities.”

The LASIEC boss added that the commission would soon embark on retraining of electoral personnel, including the workers of the commission and ad-hoc staff to be engaged for the conduct of elections in the councils.

He said, “Many of the challenges encountered in the process of the conduct of previous elections, which resulted in litigation, were as a result of inadequate knowledge on the part of electoral personnel of the relevant laws and rules guiding the conduct of the elections. We intend to stop this.”

He added that the commission would sensitise Lagosians on the roles they were expected to play in the electoral process as good citizens.

He also stated that the state House of Assembly would soon review some sections of the LASIEC Law 2008, with a view to empowering the commission for better performance.

ALSO SEE: Dysfunctional Renal Centre: Lagos Assembly rise to rescue

In a related developed the scheduled April 23 local government election in Ondo State, 11 political parties including the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), have signified intention to contest the poll.

The decision of the political parties was contrary to the decision of All Progressive Congress (APC) and Social Democratic Party (SDP) to boycott the poll.

The two political parties hinged their decision to boycott the election on the composition of the state electoral umpire which they said would do the biding of the ruling PDP in the state and they claimed that they needed to focus on the governorship election in the state.

However, the chairman of the State Electoral Commission (ODIEC), Prof Olugbenga Ige, said the election would be free, fair and credible Speaking while receiving the list of PDP candidates for the election from the party’s chairman, Clement Faboyede and members of the party’s executive, the ODIEC boss said 11 political parties have already conducted primaries to pick candidates for the election.