Lagos Urges Buhari, N’Assembly to Include 37 Councils in Constitution

Gboyega Akinsanmi The Lagos State Government yesterday asked the presidentelect, Maj.-Gen. Muhammadu Buhari, and the eighth National Assembly to include 37 local council development areas in the 1999 Constitution.

The Commissioner for Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs, Mr. Ademorin Kuye, disclosed this at a news conference at Alausa alongside the Special Adviser on Information and Strategy, Mr. Lateef Raji and top state officials.

At the conference, the commissioner urged the new government and federal legislature “to put national interest above partisan politics. This was because what happened in the last 16 years was the act of promoting politics above national interest.

“I believe this will be corrected by the change that has come into the country. I expect the 37 LCDAs will be given prompt attention and their name will be included in the 1999 Constitution,” the commissioner said.

Kuye, however, disclosed that the Lagos State Independent Electoral Commission (LASIEC) would not hold local government elections as early as expected, noting that the voter register was not yet available for the exercise.

He said he could not give the time the election “will be conducted. You will agree with me that since the last registration when the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) gave us the permanent voters’ cards (PVCs), the entire PVCs have not been totally released. We are still expecting over 400,000 PVCs.

“We still have some outstanding left with the electoral commission. The state electoral commission cannot conduct any election without having the appropriate voter register for the state. This register is still in the custody of the INEC. It has not been released to the state,” the commissioner said.

However, Kuye assured that the moment the INEC released the voter register to the state electoral commission, the state government would begin planning for the local government elections.

He faulted the allegation that lack of performance of former council chairmen was responsible for why the All Progressives Congress (APC) lost five House of Representatives seats and eight House of Assembly seats during the just concluded election.