Low turnout in Lagos council election

The local government election in Lagos on Saturday witnessed low turnout of voters and was further dampened by an early morning downpour which left some major roads and streets flooded, forcing millions of residents to stay indoors.

There was also ineffective participation of some political parties in the exercise. A number of political parties were said to have tactically withdrew at the eleventh hour, and turned in their support to the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) on the grounds of impressed performance of Governor Akinwunmi Ambode, setting the stage for the APC to grab the 57 local government chairmanship and hundreds of the councillorship seats.

The election is conducted by the Lagos State Independent Electoral Commission (LASIEC).

The state governor, Akinwunmi Ambode, who cast his vote at Polling Unit 033, Ward A6, Ogunmodede College, Epe, his home town, said the election was to secure credible leadership for the local councils which have been without elected leaders for five years.

Ambode said a credible leadership at the grassroots was imperative because it will complement what his administration was doing at the state level. He said that necessary steps, including security measures, had been put in place to guarantee the peaceful conduct of the polls. He noted that as a cosmopolitan state, Lagos could not afford not to have a peaceful and orderly election, as to further deepen the confidence of the people in democracy.

“What we are doing is to put a credible process in place to encourage the electorate. People need to go out and vote, so it is important that this election is peaceful.

Speaking further, Ambode said “You can’t stay back at home and expect things to work. Yes, we have done our best at the state level, but we need credible people at the local government level too,” adding that the reports so far, indicted a peaceful election.  At the ward where the governor voted, only the All Progressive Congress (APC) and Action Alliance (AA) were in contest. Other parties including the main opposition, People Democratic Party (PDP) were absent. The APC also dominated the in other units visited across the state, an indication that the ruling party may be having an easy ride to victory.

The last time the state conducted a local government election was in 2012 under the administration of former Governor Babatunde Fashola, with the then Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) now APC, securing all seats across the local government.

At Wards A and B in Ikorodu Central, the turnout of voters was low, the accreditation and voting process slow but peaceful.

Oba Kabiru Adewale Shotobi, the Ayagburen of Ikorodu who cast his vote at Lowa Ward B on Mabadeje Street, attested to the peaceful conduct of the polls.

He emphasised the need for continuity of APC at the grassroots and thanks Governor Ambode for his support in the area of security and provision of social amenities in Ikorodu.

“The teething problem is about the temporary cards which will sorted out soon, I therefore urged all eligible voters to come out and cast their vote towards the development Ikorodu and its environs”

Also in Ikorodu, chairman of Alogba/Rilwan Lawal Community Development Association (CDA),  Alhaji Awofala, said “we have been here since 8:00, the turnout has been low, but the challenge is we have a lot of people that have registered in different parts of Lagos that relocated to Ikorodu and they cannot cast their vote in the polling units

“I advised LASIEC to help people easily move their names from one polling unit to another and not to restrict People’s movement during election, so as they can easily go to their various polling units to cast their vote” said Awofala.

In the Okota and Festac areas, many of polling units recorded very low turnout.  As at10:00am, accreditation had not started as LASIEC officials were seen waiting for voters to show up. It was also noticed that some polling units did not have party agents.

In Igando and Ikotun areas o the state, the rain prevented many voters from the election. The turnout in many polling units was very low. There was no presence of security personnel at Ward A Units 2, 7, 8, 10, 16, 18 and 19 in Ilara community as at 9.30 a.m. However, security men mounted a barricade at the main junction as the Police engaged in stop and search. An electoral officer in the area attributed the low turnout to the rain, adding that voters may still come out as soon as the rain subsided. At at Ward 037 in Ikotun/Igando LCDA, a few voters, majority of them old people, were seen around polling units. One of them, Yemisi Dosunmu, a 57-year-old, said the apathy by youths was not good for our democracy.

She said it was important for the younger generation to understand the importance of voting. “I came all the way from Egbe to vote here because this is where I registered when I was living here. “That is to show you how important this election is to me; our voting age children (youths) need to understand that they have the power to elect leaders of their choice.

“As citizens, it is an obligation and our vote is the only power we have against bad governance, the power lies with us; we need to educate our youths,’’ she said. Also, a 43-year-old engineer, Dauda Ojo, said the poor turnout showed that people lacked the understanding of their voting power.

“Since I started voting, this turnout is one of the poorest, we cannot achieve much if we keep showing apathy towards the election of office holders,’’ he said. Some food vendors at Eredo LCDA took advantage of their proximity to the polling units to make brisk business.

Olusoda Adedeji, the Electoral Officer, Eredo LCDA, assured that the outcome of the election would be credible in spite of the initial low turnout of voters due to the rainfall. Adedeji said adequate security and logistics had been put in place in the five wards and 85 units in the area to ensure a hitch-free election with more than 185 personnel deployed for the exercise. Collation of the results of the election have begun

Meanwhile, LASIEC has blamed the early morning rain for the poor turnout of voters in election. Some officials of the commission said the rain worked against the initial enthusiasm showed by the people in the build-up to the election.

 

JOSHUA BASSEY & ANTHONIA OBOKOH with agency report