The Lagos State Independent Electoral Commission (LASIEC) has begun to announce the results of the July 12 local government elections in the state’s 20 local government areas and 37 local council development areas (LCDAs), with the All Progressives Congress (APC) emerging victorious in both chairmanship and councillorship contests.
The elections, which took place peacefully over 13,325 polling units in Lagos, were characterised by low voter turnout but few incidents. There were 57 chairmanship and vice chairmanship positions, as well as 376 councillorship seats, to compete for.
Out of 19 registered political parties, 15 fielded candidates for the elections. The APC was the sole party to compete for every available seat, followed by the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), which ran in 45 councils and 259 wards.
The Labour Party (LP) fielded candidates in 22 LGAs and 130 wards, whereas other parties such as ZLP, AAC, AA, and YPP had fewer candidates.
In Lagos Island Local Government, LASIEC announced APC’s Taiwo Oyekan the victor of the chairmanship election, with 28,385 votes, defeating PDP’s Ajibade Olusegun, who received 1,271. Other parties fell far behind.
In Amuwo-Odofin, APC’s Prince Lanre Sanusi (PLS) won a landslide victory with 24,926 votes, defeating LP’s Engr. Seyi Ipinlaye, who received 1,962 votes. Sanusi’s victory was hailed as historic in the area, following months of strong grassroots agitation.
Tunde Azeez (alias “Disco”) of the APC won the Agege LGA election with 31,503 votes. His nearest challengers from APM and ZLP received 86 and 10 votes, respectively.
Adebayo Adefuye, the APC Chairmanship candidate for the Yaba LCDA, praised the exercise as seamless and credible. After casting his ballot, he announced his agenda, “Yaba tuntun” (New Yaba), which he described as a new beginning.
He also commended the federal government’s decision to enforce local government budgetary autonomy.
