Chairman of Ifako-Ijaiye Local Government and All Progressives Congress (APC) candidate Usman Hamzat emerged winner at Polling Unit 027, Ward C1, College Road, Ifako-Ijaiye, where he cast his vote, in the local government election.
Jubilant scenes erupted at the polling unit after Presiding Officer, Kareem Aderonke declared Hamzat winner with 335 votes out of 336 valid votes cast among 848 registered voters.
Labour Party (LP) candidate Adedayo Ashade secured one vote, while People’s Democratic Party (PDP) candidate Michael Oloyede recorded no votes.
Voting in Ifako-Ijaiye commenced late, as officials of the Lagos State Independent Electoral Commission (LASIEC) began arriving only at 9:28 a.m., delaying accreditation and voting despite the early turnout of voters from 8 a.m.
Hamzat cast his vote at 10:12 a.m. after arriving at the polling unit with his family at 10:10 a.m.
He expressed confidence in victory despite the late arrival of LASIEC officials.
Speaking after his declaration, Hamzat described voter turnout at his polling unit as satisfactory.
He said voter education had been sufficient despite perceptions to the contrary.
“Well, it’s on the average. If you look at my polling unit now, we have well over 300 voters who came out to vote there. So for me, it’s okay on the average.”
He added that people are generally interested in participating in governance and attributed low participation in some areas to misplaced voter cards and citisens’ perception of local government elections as less important.
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“Generally, there’s always a vote in our party, the country generally. People are always interested in being a part of the system and all that. For them saying there is no information or that there was not really much sensitisation on it, I don’t think that is true because I know vividly that INEC and LASIEC organised a lot of sensitisation programmes and engagement with the communities like the Christian Association of Nigeria, the Muslim community, and the youth.
“So, I think some people, a lot of our people, have misplaced their voter cards. Most of them feel because they’ve misplaced it, they cannot vote. I think that’s the major problem. And the fact that people always believe local government is just a local thing and all that, so a lot of our people are not always interested in coming out to discharge their civic responsibility.
“It’s just like when the government said we should register for our NIN and all that; people didn’t go for it. But when they saw that it was going to affect them, they started rushing it. So that’s our system in the country, which is a very bad thing.
“So for me, it’s just the nature of our people. I would just advise that it’s always very important for our people to come out to discharge their civic responsibility by electing into offices their leaders. So that’s my advice to our people,” he said.
On whether full local government autonomy would affect council performance, Hamzat noted that Lagos State local governments already enjoy full autonomy and are performing well.
He said: “Well, first and foremost, since I assumed office, Lagos State local governments have full autonomy. Our funds are always released to us. So for me, and that is why it is majorly in Lagos State that local governments are doing wonderfully well and performing.
“Just recently, we saw a lot of local government chairmen commissioning state-of-the-art public health centres, commissioning road projects and all that. For me, I don’t see it affecting it or anything, but it’s just the people that are not always interested in doing things right. That’s my view about it.”
Meanwhile, Vice Chairman of Ifako-Ijaiye Local Government and APC vice chairmanship candidate Oluwatoyin Awoniyi-Akerele described the election as peaceful and expressed optimism about their re-election.
Awoniyi-Akerele arrived at Polling Unit 023, Ward B, at 11:08 a.m. and voted at 11:23 a.m. She commended the peaceful conduct of the exercise, stating that people were coming out gradually and that all party agents were cooperating.
She said the APC was confident of re-election, having performed well for the community, and assured residents that the administration would continue its good work to deliver the dividends of democracy.