File: Voters queue for accreditation in a Nigerian election

Politicians across different political parties on Tuesday besieged the Yaba head office of the Lagos State Independent Electoral Commission (LASIEC) to view the list of validated and invalidated candidates released by the commission ahead of the July 22 council polls.

The News Agency of Nigeria(NAN) reports that no fewer than 100 politicians, some of them candidates ,were seen at the office keenly viewing the displayed list.

NAN correspondent who was at the commission’s office sighted the names of no fewer than 1,300 chairmanship and councillorship candidates of various parties on the list.

Out of the total on the list, no fewer than 20 candidates of different parties had their candidacy invalidated for not meeting eligibility criteria.

Some others have the validation of their candidacy pending as they were asked to present either their tax clearance, their Curriculum Vitae or both for clearance.

The Chairman of LASIEC, Retired Justice Ayotunde Phillips, had told newsmen on June 30 that parties could still present substitutes for the invalidated, who would make the final list after meeting eligibility criteria.

NAN reports that the names of all the candidates for Odi-Olowo Local Council Development Area(LCDA) were conspicuously missing on the list.

An Ikeja High Court had on Friday nullified the All Progressives Congress (APC) primary in the area and ordered a fresh one.

Also, all the candidates of the National Conscience Party(NCP) were missing on the list.

The chairman of NCP in the state, Mr Fatai Ibu-Owo had told NAN that the party’s candidates were shut out of the process, and were not given forms as they were challenging the payment of administrative fees imposed by LASIEC.

He had told NAN that the party was in court with LASIEC to court over the fees, but the case had yet to be heard.

Perusing through the list, NAN correspondent reports that the name of Mr Aina Michael,(Aka Aina Gold) a Nollywood actor in the Yoruba genre, was validated as Alliance for Democracy (AD)Chairmanship candidate in Agbado Oke-Odo LCDA.

Mr Augustine Arogundade was validated as Chairmanship candidate of the APC in the area.

Also, Mr Kamal Bashua was validated as APC candidate in Lagos Island East LCDA while Yisa Oladimeji (PDP) and Tijani Olusi (APC) were validated for Lagos Island LGA.

Asked to comment on the list and other issues arising from it, the commission’s Director of Publicity, Mr Oladapo Olatunde, said a statement would be issued to cover all the questions.

He said the commission was an impartial umpire in the process and would treat all parties equally.

NAN reports that LASIEC has fixed the council poll for July 22, and run-off for July 29.

The poll is to elect chairmen and councillors in the 20 Local Government Areas and 37 LCDAs in the state.(NAN)