LAGOS LG RULING: No Cause For Alarm —ACN

The Lagos State chapter of the Action Congress of Nigeria has reacted to the judgment of the Lagos State Local Government Election Tribunal, on the Ikoyi/Obalende LCDA, saying there is no cause for alarm as the party’s lawyers are studying the judgment in readiness for appeal, which it feels is quite in sync with democratic contests.

In a release issued in Lagos, and signed by the Lagos State Publicity Secretary of the ACN, Joe Igbokwe, the party said that even as it does not accept the judgment, it has exposed the hypocrisy of those that invested so much in destabilising Lagos who went to town with the vile propaganda that there was no local council election in Lagos.

The party insists that there is no big deal in the judgment, which is one out of several others the party has won and urges the party members to remain calm and law abiding as the party takes the necessary steps to further strengthen the democratic process in the state local councils.

“In a democratic dispensation, it is natural that after elections, there are bound to be disputations and that is why the judiciary is there to sieve the grains from the chaff. In the case of Ikoyi/Obalende LCDA, we saw the desperate efforts to claim the LCDA every means possible. We expected to contest against other parties and as such, we expected to either win or lose elections, which is how it is supposed to be.

“After what we believed was a free and fair election, our opponents who have planned another strategy, knowing their strength, went on an extensive campaign to rubbish the election and even went to the extent of mobilizing thugs and urchins to cause breech of the peace in Lagos . They denied that any election took place and in another breath, claimed they won the election.

“While we felt that the election was free and fair, we advised those who felt otherwise to approach the court. Thank God they did only after seeing the futility to resort to self help and thank God that the judgment they are now celebrating was gotten through the same system they desperately tried to rubbish. Thank God, what they presented as obtained in the same election they were desperately trying to deny is the basis of the present judgment but we seriously object to this.

“We are pleased that the process in Lagos is giving room for the opposition to canvass for and win local councils contrary to what obtains in all PDP states where the party merely awards itself all available local council seats in the name of election and where the courts have been made annexes of PDP head offices and approve whatever the party desires.”

According to Igbokwe, “we have no doubt about the capacity of Lagos to midwife a free and fair democratic process in the face of the deliberate efforts of the PDP to rubbish the local councils and its electoral system for their selfish benefits. The present judgment, even in its flawed nature, is proof of the credibility of the electoral system in Lagos.

“We had 60 cases arising from the election and we have won 46 so far, lost 6 including two ordered re-runs. We have already won one of the re-run elections and we are awaiting the rest. Lagos ACN has appealed the cases we lost at the tribunal so it is an on going process that has not been concluded.

“We challenge the PDP and its allies to allow for such credible process in the states they govern. A situation where it is only in Lagos that a different party from the one that controls the state can lay claim to victory and go to the tribunal to have such claim affirmed should worry the PDP, which delights in closing the democratic space in all states it controls through fair and foul means and striving to employ all means to control local government councils in states it does not control.

“We want them to learn immensely from the Lagos State process and give other parties fair chances of contesting and winning elections in the states they control. We equally believe that the margin of victory in the Lagos council elections should worry the PDP that delights to award 99.9 percent of registered voters to itself as we saw in the 2011 presidential election.

“Our lawyers are studying the judgment in readiness for appeal at the Appeal Tribunal so we want to inform all our members and supporters to remain calm and law abiding as the judicial system runs its full course. We want to let them know that this is a democratic contest and we entered into it to win or lose. We acknowledge that we may not win it all and that if we eventually lose the case at the appeal, it is no big deal to lose one out of 57 LCDAs. We urge our members to remain firm and steadfast in their support for our great party.”