Strong indications have emerged that the All Progressives Congress, APC, may win all the slots of the Saturday, Local Government elections to elect Chairmanship and vice-chairmanship, as well as councilorship officers into 20 Local Government Areas, LGAs and 37 Local Council Development Areas, LCDAs, going by results from wards and council areas so far. Though, the exercise, marred with apathy, hitches and pockets of violence, was adjudged to be generally peaceful across the state. Security apparatus were adequately deployed across the polling areas in the metropolis to ensure safety of lives and property of citizens. They were seen moving in convoy patrolling some areas. Commander of the Rapid Response Team, RRS, of the Lagos Police Command, Chief Superintendent of Police, CSP, Yinka Egbeyemi, led a t of personnel to trouble prone areas to maintain peace. LASIEC, had earlier stated that the results of the polls would be announced by the presiding officers at each polling unit and subsequently, the final results will be announced by it after collations across councils. One of the early results received by Vanguard showed APC sweeping the votes in Iba LCDA. Ward E, pulling unit 022 update showed councilorship, APC 93, APGA 1, PDP. 11 While chairmanship recorded APC 98, APGA 0, PDP 3, void 4. Vanguard also gathered that the youngest council chairman, under the APC platform in Coker-Aguda LCDA, emerged winner with an emphatic result. Details of results were still been awaited as of press time. Same reports of APC winning filtered in from such councils as; Oriade, Oshodi, Apapa, Ono, Amuwo-Odofin, Surulere, Agege, Alimosho, Ikeja, Ikoyi, Ajeromi-Ifelodun, Ikorodu, Epe, Ipaja Mosan -Okunola, riverine areas in Badagry, among others. of results were still been awaited as of press time. Same reports of APC winning filtered in from such councils as; Oriade, Oshodi, Apapa, Ono, Amuwo-Odofin, Surulere, Agege, Alimosho, Ikeja, Ikoyi, Ajeromi-Ifelodun, Ikorodu, Epe, Ipaja Mosan -Okunola, riverine areas in Badagry, among others. Meantime, there was low turn out of voters in a contest with a total of 6,570,291 registered voters across 13,323 polling units in 20 LGAs and 37 LCDAs. Vanguard gathered that on the final list of candidates for the election according to LASIEC on the eve of exercise, a total of 133 candidates will be contesting for the office of the Chairman with 131 Vice Chairmanship candidates. Of the 133 candidates for the office for the Chairman, 16 are women and of the 131 Vice Chairman candidates, 106 are women. Indicating that the contesting parties fielded more women for the office of the Vice-Chairman. While 15 parties are to contest in the election, it was observed that an average of three political parties was on the ballot papers for both the LGA/LCDA chairman and council election. While experiencing some hitches in logistics, late opening and commencement of polls was a general observation across the state. Specifically, Mushin, Ikoyi, Ikeja, Obalende, Amuwo-Odofin, Somolu, Surulere, among other LGAs, recorded late deployment of electoral materials. It was observed that officials were still waiting to be deployed to their assigned polling units by 8:16 am. By 10:00 am, only 17 of the polling units visited in Mushin had polling officials present and were concluding set-up to commence accreditation and voting process. However, in Ward C Surulere and in Lawanson, Mushin LGA, most of the Polling Units did not have security personnel on-site as of 11 am. Additionally, a few security personnel were seen on the streets of Lagos state. It was also discovered that majority of political parties did not deploy party agents to the polls: APC and Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, agents were the only party agents seen in the majority of the polling units visited. While other party agents were seen in few polling units.
