The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) is confident of upturning the result of some council elections announced by the Lagos State Independent Electoral Commission (LASIEC).The confidence of the party is anchored on the weight of evidences at its disposal to prove that it won no fewer than five or six chairmanship positions. Part of the evidence at the disposal of the Lagos PDP is the video clip of returning officers announcing the result, of the election at the various councils' The Lagos State Independent Electoral Commission, (LASIEC), led by Justice Fatai Adeyinka (Rtd.), has conducted the council election, declared the controversial winners who were sworn in last week by the Governor of Lagos State, Barrister Babatunde Raji Fashola. It is however incontrovertible that the election was revolutionary as the ruling Action Congress of Nigeria, (ACN), almost lost some local council areas but for the alleged daring dexterity of the umpire.The mass protest that accompanied the announcement of the result and the intrigues of LASIEC officials leaves much to be desired but undoubtedly an obvious indication that Chief Bola Tinubu, the national leader of the party and its financier may be loosing his grip on the Lagos electorates.How genuine or otherwise some of these grievances are is definitely a matter for the electoral body to prove. But on a balance of scale, the process is apparently flawed and it is a good example of how not to conduct a transparent election. For one, the delay in the announcement of the result has given room for suspicion. Secondly, the pronouncement of the Chairman was at variance with what eventually transpired on the day of the election. Since the return to democratic rule in 1999, the former governor has asserted his imperialistic influence over the people and existing institutions in the state, deciding who becomes what in the political game. Opposition to his decisions is very rare as party members whose loyalty are in doubt are shown the way out. But the last election was a deviation from the routine. The incumbent office holders , that is the local Chairmen and Councillors performed dismally. Their presence were not felt by the people. There was a disconnect between them.The revolution that almost kicked the ruling party away were masterminded by the son of a former Senator and the incumbent Ambassador of Nigeria to Ghana, Musiliu Obanikoro. His son, Babajide, was the attraction. He was charismatic and his humility and generosity endeared him to the people of Ikoyi /Obalende . He contested to represent his people in the Federal House of Representative under the Peoples Democratic Party but lost the election to the Action Congress of Nigeria. Determined to make an impact and affect his people positively, he contested in the last election as the Chairman of the local council development area but was robbed of victory. Nigerian Compass reported that from the collations at the wards, he was winning until the LASIEC officer who was supposed to announce him as winner, like a bolt from the blue, absconded. There were serious protest by the people of Obalende/Ikoyi who thronged out to vote for him. In the process of this struggle, it was reported that thugs sponsored by the ruling party attacked them and even shot at them.Hon. Obanikoro has however submitted that he won the election and that he would regain his stolen mandate with legal means.The case of Badagry was another example of how the PDP were robbed. It was reliably gathered that the LASIEC officer had announced the PDP candidates as winners but getting to the LASIEC office, the result was altered and the (ACN) was declared the winner. Instead of addressing the allegations levied against his agency, Justice Adeyinka asked the aggrieved parties to go the tribunal. This was against the backdrop of an intentional delay in announcing the result coupled with locking out journalists among other intimidation. Expectedly, the ruling Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) clinched all the available 57 chairmanship positions in the state with the PDP going home with only 18 councillorship positions. The election has come and gone but the question still remains: How transparent was the process' Just like the usual furore that has always characterized every election in the country, this result has been another major source of controversy among concerned parties in the last couple of days. Indeed, other than the 2007 general elections conducted by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) under the leadership of Prof Maurice Iwu, no other poll in the recent past had generated as much protests and condemnation as the last Saturday's election. Much of the public criticism of the process is based on operational lapses of the umpire, especially the poor logistics arrangement.However, in most council areas where Nigerian Compass monitored, the performance of the umpire was less inspiring. In Ajeromi/Ifelodun Local Government, Badagry, Agbado-Oke-Odo LCDA, Somolu logistic challenges were suggestive of ineptitude of the electoral officers in charge, lack of adequate preparation or deliberate connivance with a particular party in the contest. For instance, at Ward C, unit 005, Onibaba polling unit in Ajeromi, there were protests by the voters over inadequate supply of ballot papers. Another perceived betrayal was what the umpire said before the election: 'The vote will be counted in the presence of everybody and the winner will be declared instantly. Security personnel will also follow them (electoral officers) to the collation centres. So, there wouldn't be any hanky panky.' At Ward C, 052, Orodu Primary school, in the same council when a team of journalists visited the area, as at 11: 15 a.m voting was yet to start because a wrong voters' register was brought to the polling unit. A visibly angry voter, Mr. Jide Kajola, could not hide his anger, saying, 'We are angry because they are just keeping us waiting endlessly. I have been here since 8 o'clock but electoral officers didn't come until 10 o'clock. And even when they came, they brought a wrong voters' list. So, we have asked them to go and bring our own register. We are still waiting for them.'At Ifelodun LCDA, a boy was caught with two empty boxes at about 11:45 a.m. And when confronted, he said the bus which was supposed to convey them to their respective units disappointed them. But the Electoral Officer for the council area, Mr. Ayodeji Pedro, debunked the claim, saying they merely changed some boxes with worn out keys. He, however, confirmed logistic challenges.Badagry was not speared of the perceived irregularities either. At Badagry West LCDA, Mrs. Basirat Adele, the Electoral Officer in charge of ward C, unit 006, disclosed that only 400 ballots were supplied as against a registered list of 1134 voters. The Chairman of the council, Hon Bamigbose Hontonyon Joseph, confirming the shortage in an interview with journalists, said, 'The only challenge we have is limited supply of ballot papers which is a peculiar situation all over. And this is because if the materials are too much, people may be tempted to do otherwise. I think it is a control measure by LASIEC.'Apart from all these irregularities, there were also allegations of widespread ballot snatching and stuffing in Somolu, Ikoyi/Obalende, Ojoo and Agbado Oke-Odo LCDA, among others. For instance, at Agbado Oke-Odo, a 14-seater Volkswagen bus with registration number XU 200 BGD was caught with thumb printed ballot papers. As such, the PDP has declared as unacceptable the results of the election announced by the LASIEC which gave victory to the ACN. And accordingly, there were protests against the outcome of the poll across the state. It only took the intervention of the police to disperse the aggrieved voters and PDP supporters who besieged the secretariat of Agbado Oke-Odo LCDA protesting the victory of the ACN.The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) is confident of upturning the result of some council elections announced by the Lagos State Independent Electoral Commission (LASIEC). The confidence of the party is anchored on the weight of evidence at its disposal to prove that it won no fewer than five or six chairmanship positions. Part of the evidence at the disposal of the Lagos PDP is the video clip of returning officers announcing the result, of the election at the various councils.Example: The Returning officer for the council election in Badagry Central Local Governments, Mrs. Tokunbo Fatoyinbo appeared in a video clip and read out the result of the council election held on Saturday, October 22nd.The result announced by the LASIEC officer was as follows: Total votes cast-113, 970, ACN- 6,383, APGA- 30, CPC- 425,NMP- 137 and PDP- 7,353.There was jubilation and shouts of victory by supporters of PDP. But Mrs. Fatoyinbo, the returning officer did not declare the PDP candidate winner. When party loyalists shouted on top of their voices that she should declare the winner, Mrs. Fatoyinbo laughed and told the jubilating crowed that: ' Every body knows where he or she stands.' The crowd satisfied with the reply.Senator Obanikoro had earlier submitted that most of the officials of the Lagos State Independent Electoral (LASIEC) are card carrying members of the ACN and staff of the councils in the state. He added before the election that added that: 'As I speak now (Friday evening), Tinubu's still vetting the list of presiding officers for the election, particularly insisting that he alone must decide officers for Ikoyi/Obalende election where my son is contesting. Do you now see that he is the Chief Returning officer for this election'' he said.Accusing Tinubu of having displayed lack of capacity to conduct free and fair elections, Obanikoro said all of Tinubu's dispositions preparatory to today's election have shown that the former governor is innately undemocratic and has continued to deploy cheap political tricks to manoeuvre our good people of Lagos for outright selfish reasons.
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