Lagos goes to poll today And LASIEC pledges neutrality

As Lagosians troop out today to elect their representatives at the Local Council level, the Lagos State Independent Electoral Commission (LASIEC) has disclosed its

readiness to conduct a free, fair and credible election, allaying fears or doubts on the neutrality of the commission as an electoral umpire.

It, therefore, reiterated its commitment to providing a level playing ground for all political parties and their candidates.

The Commission’s chairman, Justice Ayotunde Phillips, who disclosed this yesterday at a pre-election media briefing, which held at the Commission’s headquarters in Yaba, Lagos, said it is committed to conducting a free, fair and credible election today, as provided for in the relevant enabling laws.

“In demonstration of our commitment, we have deployed non-sensitive materials to the 57 Local Governments and Local Council Development Areas, so that Electoral Officers have adequate time to distribute the materials to locations where they would be used today.

“Accreditation and voting will take place simultaneously between 8:00am and 3:00pm. I want o reiterate that the results of the Chairmanship election will be declared at the collation centres in each of the councils, while the results of councillorship elections will be declared at the Ward collation centres. The only condition that may warrant the declaration of results outside the collation centres is if it is discovered that the environment is not safe and conducive,” she said.

According to Guardian report, Phillips noted that through its new innovation, the Election Support Centre, it would be monitoring developments at the various Collation Centres and other locations in the state through reports sent to the centre at the headquarters by the field officers of the commission.

She appealed to the media to be patriotic and fair in their reportage in a more responsible manner, devoid of narrow mindedness and self-centeredness. “As the owner of the pen, you should be circumspect in its usage. It is our collective responsibility to see to the success of the poll.”

The Commissioner of Police, Fatai Owoseni has read riot acts to miscreants or groups who might be planning to hamper the smooth conduct of the election, warning that they should be ready to face the full wrath of the law.

Owoseni, who disclosed that 30,000 policemen have been deployed for the exercise, with the support of other security agencies, warned that any attempt to disrupt the activities of security personnel, would invite the full weight of the law.

“All VIPs who are otherwise entitled to use security apparatus, should also not go on the street tomorrow under the guise that they are monitoring election. The law is very clear as to whom to monitor election, any VIP who will be part of this process should quietly go and cast their votes and go back home. We have also put machinery in motion to ensure a hitch-free poll.

“We believe that we are good to go. Before now threat analysis had been done, what we called threat analysis was to look at variables that can affect the security of the process and of course the security agencies have put our acts together and we have put those things, and that is the essence of creating what we called Inter-agency Committee On Election Security, all these concerns have been put together.

“We want to assure the electorate and the good people of Lagos that everyone will be able to exercise their franchise under the law without fear of molestation, as other citizens go about their lawful business thereafter without let or hindrance.”