LGA polls: ACN, PDP, others battle for Lagos

EXACTLY seven days to the October 22 elections into the 20 Local Councils and 37 Local Council Development Areas (LCDAs) of Lagos, leading political parties– Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) and Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) among others have intensified moves and counter-moves to outwit one another in the battle for the grassroots.
With the PDP returning to the polls after a long absence that reduced the last two elections to a no-contest as the ruling ACN had a field day clearing most of the electoral trophies, the 2011 exercise promises to be a tough contest. The last time the PDP participated in council elections in Lagos was in 2003. It boycotted subsequent elections in protest of the creation of 37 LCDAs, which it insisted was illegal as they were yet to be ratified by the National Assembly.
Lagos PDP Chairman, Chief Setonji Koshoedo, anchored PDP’s participation on the stark reality that the 37 LCDAs were illegal in name only.
“The PDP would be taking part in the forthcoming local government election in Lagos State. We refused to take part in the last one and to our surprise the illegally created local governments have been enjoying Federal Government allocation all along. I believe we have to take part, if the LCDAs have been indirectly accepted that they exist,” he said.
On offer for the October 22 electoral combat among 28 political parties are 57 chairmanship and 376 councillorship slots. And Chairman of the Lagos State Independent Electoral Commission (LASIEC), Justice Abdul Fatai Afolabi Adeyinka (rtd) has assured voters and the parties of a credible election. He said that about 18,000 electoral officers and adhoc staff would be deployed for the election and that he has asked the Police to deploy about 20,000 policemen to ensure adequate security.
The political parties cleared fot the polls include: APN, ARP, SDMP, KOWA, FRESH, NMPP, ACN, PDP, APGA, NCP, ADC, ACCORD, MPPP. Others are CFN, CPC, JP, PMP, AA, Labour, MDJ, ACPN, DPP, APS, ALP, ANPP, PRP, ND and NNPP.
Poster war

Koshoedo and Ajomale

Across the length and breadth of the state, in spite of complaints arising from alleged imposition of candidates in ACN and PDP, candidates of parties cleared for the contest are currently embroiled in poster war. Colourful posters of the contenders have been pasted in all nook and crannies of the councils while underground lobbying and counter-lobbying are in the upswing. They are expected to carry out a flurry of road and street-to-street campaigns this week as the election reach zero hour.
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