LP Decries LASIEC Guidelines

The Chairman of the Lagos State chapter of

Labour Party (LP), Pastor Biodun Popoola,
has faulted the guidelines of the Lagos State
Independent Electoral Commission (LASIEC)
on the council election scheduled to hold on
July 22, saying it will infringe the democratic
rights of the people.
At a conference in Lagos, Popoola explained
that the guidelines would disenfranchise
Nigerians who were desirous of serving the
people, because the conditions stipulated by
the umpire were unfair.
He said many political parties have been
boxed to a corner and may not not field
candidates for the election, because of the
stringent guidelines. The LP Chairman said
LASIEC was doing the bidding of the ruling All
Progressives Congress (APC).
He said: “The guidelines release by LASIEC on
April 7 for the forthcoming local government
elections, by Justice Ayotunde Phillips, which
spelt out the administrative charges to be
paid by political parties on behalf of their
candidates, is to limit participation of other
political parties.
“It is in furtherance of their premeditated
caveat to disenfranchise the poor by
instructing that candidates must attach tax
clearance certificates for three years among
other requirements.”
Popoola said that the decision of the
commission not to use Card Reader machine
for the conduct of the council election,
because the law setting the commission had
no provision for the use of the machine, is to
conduct a dubious election.
He added: “This is totally at variance with
democratic process; it is atrocious, intolerable,
condemnable and unacceptable. The Lagos
State Labour Party has gone to court to seek
relief on the outright cancellation of the
primitive, impervious administrative fees
slammed by LASIEC.”
The party chieftain said the party would
participate in the election, adding that it
would continue to struggle against the
annihilation of the people’s fundamental
political rights. He added: “We have therefore
embarked on state-wide consultations in the
last few weeks, to solicit for support in the 57
councils in order to thwart the ploy to keep
Lagos State under one party perpetually.”
He maintained that the LP had all it takes to
win the council polls in the areas that it would
field candidates.
Popoola called on LASIEC to play by the rule
of the game, noting that the composition its
board was already making most of the
political parties uncomfortable.
He said: “Some card-carrying members of the
APC are on the board of LASIEC. Some of
them had contested elections in the past, for
the House of Representatives and the House of
Assembly.
“They are now serving in the board as umpires
to supervise the election in which their party
will participate. There is no way they would
discharge their duty without discrimination or
bias.”