Lagos LG Election: List of Political Parties, Candidates Emerge

• The Lagos state local government election has commenced across the councils in the commercial city of Nigeria
• According to records, 139 candidates in no less than 10 political parties are running for 57 chairmanship positions across the state
• It was learnt that 14 political parties have fielded 842 candidates for the 376 councillorship positions in the legislative seats across the state

The Lagos State local government election, scheduled to hold on Saturday, July 12, is a race between 139 candidates in no less than 10 political parties for 57 chairmanship positions across the state.

Also, 14 political parties have fielded 842 candidates for the 376 councillorship positions in the legislative seats across the state.

How many parties have candidates in Lagos LG election

According to The Punch, the Lagos State Independent Electoral Commission (LASIEC) document indicated that among the 19 political parties that initially expressed interest in the council election, only 15 of them submitted a list of candidates ahead of the poll

The ruling party in the state, All Progressives Congress (APC), is the only party that fielded candidates in all 57 local councils and the 376 wards. Thus, it is the party that is most represented in the election.

The APC is followed by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), having candidates for the 45 local governments and 259 wards. After the PDP, the Labour Party comes next with 22 chairmanship and 130 councillorship candidates. This was followed by the Zenith with six chairmanship and 21 councilorship candidates.

Other political parties whose candidates were approved by LASIEC include Accord, African Action Congress, Action Alliance, Allied People’s Movement, All Progressives Grand Alliance, Social Democratic Party, National Rescue Movement, Young Progressive Party, Youth Party, Action Peoples Party, and African Democratic Congress.

LG autonomy yet to be implemented

The election is coming one year after the Supreme Court judgment granting financial autonomy to the 774 local government areas in Nigeria. However, the federal government had yet to implement the Supreme Court judgment one year after its ruling.

This is because the federal government continued to channel the local government allocations through the state government. Analysis has shown that 36 state governors received N4.5 trillion from the President Bola Tinubu administration.

The governors have retained control of the local government allocations, a development that directly defies the Supreme Court judgment that mandated the direct funding of the local governments.

On Thursday, July 11, 2024, the Supreme Court ruled that the local governments in Nigeria must be directly sent their allocations from the federation account, stating that the practice of sending the funds through the state government was not constitutional.

Supreme Court affirms establishment of EFCC

Legit.ng earlier reported that the Supreme Court dismissed the suit instituted by some state Attorneys General challenging the establishment of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) Act on Friday, November 15.

The suit, initially instituted by the attorneys general of 16 states, sought to abolish the anti-graft agency.

While some states withdrew from the suit, some others asked to be joined as co-plaintiffs.

Source: Legit.ng