The Chairman
of LASIEC, retired Justice Ayotunde 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.
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.
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.”
Source: - Gbenga
Akinfenwa | The Guardian | July, 2017
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