- LCDA: ‘we acted within the law’
Residents of University of Lagos Estate, Magodo, have accused the Ikosi/ Isheri Local Council Development Area (LCDA), of acting above its constitutional powers by attempting to cancel a properly conducted election in the estate.
The angry residents, in a protest letter, said the council is overreaching itself and meddling on matters the residents believe their internal mechanism can resolve.
Trouble started when the estate conducted its election last November 30, under the Chairmanship of Omotola Rotimi, who, together with her team, came up with election guidelines and modalities which stressed that election campaign must stop at midnight Thursday, November 28.
The Nation, however, learnt that the out-going Chairman, Alhaji Adebayo Ibrahim Alli, who was also a candidate for the chairmanship position, while addressing the Annual General Meeting (AGM), asked his supporters to vote massively for him in view of his achievements.
However, some residents condemned Alli’s action and subsequently, wrote a petition during the electoral process calling on the Election Committee to disqualify him from re-contesting as he has ran foul of the electoral laws of the estate.
The Election Committee, The Nation learnt, did a head count with a result of 24 people against four for Alli and declared him disqualified. The committee also said any vote cast for him amounts to zero.
A resident, Prof Olatunde Makanju, said, for instance, that at the close of the election and the announcement of the results, the other candidate, Oluwole Muftau Sowole, garnered 81 votes with four votes declared invalid and was subsequently declared the winner.
Accordingly, Sowole read his acceptance speech in the presence of three council officials that registered their presence and also took photographs with the new chairman.
Prof Makanju, however, said residents of the estate were taken aback when supporters of Alli took over the estate social media platforms and started spreading falsehood by declaring himself winner of the election with 98 votes when the Election Committee accredited 179 voters and the rightful winner got 81 votes.
Another resident, Prof Babafemi Badejo, said apart from the infraction of asking the electorate in the estate to vote for him at the AGM, the former chairman had another infraction against a resolution passed that there should be no major expense from the purse.
Prof Badejo alleged that Alli instructed the security men to remove the poster of the candidate for the Treasurer position because he had a preferred candidate. He also accused him of putting his billboard outside the estate against the electoral guidelines.
Badejo said the former chairman’s supporters wrote to the Committee for Dispute Resolution which declined hearing.
The Elders Committee, which is made up of past chairmen and secretaries and four residents above 80 years, chaired by Prof Funsho Akere, also couldn’t interfere because the infraction was so clear.
Rather, the Elders Committee asked a representative of the council present at the election to share his observation with the Elders Committee to have insight into what transpired, but he allegedly refused, saying he has submitted his report to the council Chairman.
The Elders Council was left with no option but to take a decision that the newly elected chairman should continue in office until their investigation is concluded.
When The Nation reached out to Alli to get his side of the story, he said he is not in a position to say anything, but that a group, Justice and Peace, has written a petition to the council about what he termed “a flawed election.”
He questioned why his votes were not counted and his opponent declared winner of the election. He, however, expressed faith that the Elders’ Committee will do the right thing and declare him winner of the election.
However, a council official, Yinusa Salami, claimed that it’s the constitutional right of the council to monitor elections done in the CDA’s under the council area.
He accepted that UNILAG Estate wrote the LCDA of their intention to conduct election but didn’t get official response from them before going ahead with the election.
He denied that the council was represented in the election, claiming that anybody could have claimed that he came from the council.
Salami said: “The Council was not there, didn’t send a representative and there was no official communication between us and the estate as to the date of the election.
“Afterwards, we received a petition from the incumbent chairman that his votes were not counted after the election. As an arbiter, we invited both parties to get to the root of the crisis and to know why a candidate will vie for a position and his votes will not be counted while declaring his opponent a winner. Our interest is for peace to reign in the estate rather than taking sides with any group” he added.
The Nation, however, gathered that a February 10 held meeting for both parties at the council secretariat did not achieve much. But the Ikosi-Isheri LCDA Chairman, Princess Samiat Bada, was said to have scheduled another meeting to seek peaceful resolution of the impasse.
Princess Bada, however, faulted the election for not holding in August and not having an official of the council as witness.
