Lagos:  PDP, APC bicker over non conduct of LG poll

The Peoples Democratic Party Lagos State chapter has described as illegal and unacceptable the continued stay in office of executive secretaries appointed by Babatunde Fashola to run the local government councils. But the All Progressives Congress has affirmed its readiness to conduct elections in the grassroots any time the INEC makes available the voters’ register. OKUNADE ADEKUNLE reports

It is almost a year since the appointment of the current executive secretaries of the local government councils in Lagos State to administer the area councils. This has necessitated the call by the political elite and parties in the state on the governor, Mr. Akinwunmi Ambode, to conduct election into the 20 local governments and 37 Local Council Development Areas.

The appointment of the executive secretaries were done by the immediate past governor of the state, Mr. Babatunde Fashola, November last year when he instructed all the elected executive chairmen to handover all council’s document to the Council Managers (CM), who manage the affairs of the councils in the state. Although, before the instruction by Fashola, the three years tenure of the council chairmen had expired as they were elected into office on October,  2011 to compensate them for the role they played in returning back the party into power in the 2011 governorship election.

Many of the council chairmen as at that time have been in power since 2008, and running the affairs of the council with the supervision of the local government commissioner, Mr. Ademorin Kuye, who before his appointment as commissioner in 2007 was the executive chairman of Somolu local government.

Kuye was empowered to supervise the activities of the former council chairmen, because of his position as the commissioner in the ministry of local government and chieftaincy.

It is right to note that the removal of the council chairmen and the appointment of the executive secretaries by Fashola generated controversy in the party as some of the ex-council chairmen worked against the choice of Fashola’s successor at the governorship primaries election of the party. They all queued behind Mr. Ambode who eventually won the ticket and the governorship election.
Although it was learnt that when the executive secretaries were to be appointed they were told vividly that they would not spend more than six months for the state government to conduct election into the local governments, and also that the executive secretaries would not contest in the election.

But as new government emerges there is no indication that the government might conduct election into the local governments as they were still run by the executive secretaries appointed by Fashola without no substantial supervision by the ministry of local government but the party, the act which analysts argued were totally contrary to the provision of the Nigeria 1999 constitution as amended.

The fact that the current government has shown no interest in conducting election into the local governments has made the opposition party in the state, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to call on Governor Ambode to organize election into the council areas. In a press statement immediately after the inauguration of Ambode in May 29, the party called on him to abide by the provision of the constitution which states that the local governments shall be run by a democratically elected executive chairman.
The PDP in their press statement stated that the running of the affairs of the councils in the state by the executive secretaries was strange to the constitution, stating that the APC led government has been using the trick to siphon the federally allocated funds for the local government for other purposes. PDP also accused the ruling APC of being afraid of losing some of the councils to the PDP if elections were held in the area councils.

A member of the Lagos State House of Assembly who spoke with Hallmark, Hon. Abiodun Tobun, representing Epe Constituency 1, described the call by the PDP for the conduct of local government election as unnecessary, saying that the state government is not afraid of conducting the elections at the right time.

He explained that the Lagos State government in time immemorial has been having the local governments under elected executive chairmen, adding that the inability of INEC to submit voters register to the Lagos State Independent Electoral Commission (LASIEC) for usage is causing delay in conducting the election.

“INEC refused to release the list of electorate in Lagos for LASIEC to use and to plan the election. We cannot do anything contrary to the provision of the law”, said Tobun.

He added that the Lagos State law empowers the governor to appoint the caretaker committee for local governments for three months, adding that the appointment was renewable.

He explained that the state government does not want to disenfranchise any eligible Lagosians in the forthcoming local government election, stressing that the INEC was not sincere about releasing the voters list for LASIEC so that the election could be held as quick as possible.

“There is no sincerity in what INEC is doing in terms of not releasing the comprehensive voters register in Lagos for LASIEC to plan the election. It is not that the Lagos State government was not ready to conduct election, but the INEC then was never ready to cooperate with the LASIEC to have the necessary document for the election”, said Tobun.

He assured that the state government would conduct the local government election after the expiration of the tenure of the executive secretaries in the next three months, stressing that the Lagos House of Assembly would ensure the state government does the right things according to the law.

However, the factional chairman of Lagos PDP, Capt Tunji Shelle (retd) in a phone chat with Hallmark, stated that the PDP is currently waiting for the implementation of the national conference report on local government election which states that local government election should not be conducted by the state government anymore.

He added that all the local government elections that have been conducted by the state government since 1999 have been fraudulent, pointing out that the continued stay in office by the executive secretaries was illegal.

“We want the national conference report on Local government election to be implemented so that we can have free and fair local government election in Lagos. What we have been having since 1999 were electoral frauds by the APC governments. The appointment of the executive secretaries is illegal, unacceptable and we detest it. We will soon come out publicly on it”, said Shelle.