LG election: IPAC, PDP, LP tackle LASIEC over prices of forms

The Inter-Party Advisory Council (IPAC), the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), and the Labour Party (LP) on Thursday expressed disagreement with the Lagos State Independent Electoral Commission (LASIEC) over the cost of forms for chairmanship, vice-chairmanship, and councillorship positions.

The Chairperson of IPAC in Lagos, Mrs Temilola Akinade, voiced the organisation’s strong opposition to the fees set by LASIEC during a Town Hall meeting organised by News Central Television on governance and electioneering for political party chairpersons in the state.

She stated emphatically that the commission had disregarded the suggestions made by political parties, describing it as unfortunate that the electoral body had increased the fees beyond the recommendations provided.

According to her, the parties are dissatisfied with this development, adding: “We want it free, or let it leave it as it was in the last election.”

“The LASIEC chairman asked us to advise on the prices, and we gave her that last election, I think we paid N100,000 for the chairman, N75,000 for the device, and N50,000 for the councillor. So, we advised her that she should bring it down by 50 percent or if she thinks it’s not possible, she should just leave it at the price we paid in the last election.

“But it’s unfortunate this morning, when I saw it, that she has increased everything. The parties are not happy with this development.

“The new price she announced was chairmanship for N150,000, vice chairmanship for N75,000, while councillorship is for N50,000, against what we want. We want it free, or let it leave it as it was in the last election.”

The Chairman of the Lagos State chapter of PDP, Philip Aivoji, emphasised the need for opposition parties in the state to unite in order to unseat the ruling government, which he described as underperforming.

Aivoji accused LASIEC of lacking transparency in the conduct of the forthcoming local government elections, highlighting issues of voter disenfranchisement and the ruling party’s failure to address the needs of the people or engage with grassroots communities.

“We discussed generally about democracy, how the parties can be strengthened in opposition and how we can come together to do what is right, to change the government, which is not performing, and to let people know our programme and what we do.

“We went into some stage of strategy, but it’s not a forum to discuss that. So we encourage everyone of us to be led by the IPAC chairman to organise the opposition, especially when the local government election is coming up. How are we going to handle the electoral commission, because they are not being straightforward in what they do?

“The problem we have in Lagos State about voters disenfranchisement, the problem of not doing what is right, the problem of not taking care of the needs of the people and the problem of not working with the grassroots,” the PDP chieftain said.