Emmanuel Thomas, Lagos
[wysija_form id=”1″]April 27, 2014 – Lagos State Government has explained that elections into the 20 local governments and 37 local council development areas in the state cannot hold for now since voter register that would be used for the election is still in possession of Independent National Electoral Commission(INEC).
Commissioner for local Governments, Mr. Ademurin Kuye who made the revelation at a press briefing in Lagos said that over 400,000 Permanent Voter Cards(PVCs) that are to deployed during the elections are still in possession of INEC and yet to be delivered to Lagos State.
He said that the state government will start planning for the elections once the voter register and the pending PVCs are released to the state.
He said that the defeat of the All Progressive Congress(APC) by opposition Peoples Democratic Party(PDP) in Lagos State cannot be attributed to lack of performance by the local government chairmen and current executive secretaries.
According to him, the APC lost territories during the election due to the presence of President Jonathan in Lagos State and his alleged distribution of money to electorates. He added that other factors include ethnicity and religion.
For him, APC lost in those areas because those resident in those areas feel that President Goodluck Jonathan was from their area and decided to vote for him in addition to those fielded during the election who happened to have ethnic affinity with those resident in the affected areas.
On proposed relocation of Alade market in Ikeja, he said the state government is giving a human face to dealing with the traders adding that a month ago, the state government held a meeting with the traders and the private developer, stressing that the arrangement was to give them the privilege as first beneficiary when the whole project is completed.
