22nd September, 2010
In continuation of its working tour of local governments/local council development areas in respect of delineation of wards and creation of additional polling units towards the 2011 general elections, the Lagos State Independent Electoral Commission, LASIEC recently paid a working visit to Surulere LGA where it held a stakeholders’ meeting with representatives of the three councils in the area which include Itire-Ikate and Coker-Aguda LCDAs.
Delivering a keynote address at the forum, the chairman of LASIEC, Hon. Justice Afolabi Olayinka stated that the purpose of the exercise is to address the requests from various communities in Lagos State for delineation of wards and creation of addition polling units, mainly because new communities have been springing up in Lagos State as a result of the rapid urbanisation and they are being denied effective and adequate representation. In addition, some wards are not contiguous, which follows that new wards may be created out of the existing LGA/LCDA, while also some councils may need more polling units.
Justice Olayinka added that the commission earmarked four days for each LGA/LCDA, while some may require more days but in all, there would be presentation of requests, visits to problematic areas, community meeting with stakeholders and harmonisation of all presentations and findings.
Representatives of communities in the three council areas presented their requests and demanded for more wards and additional polling units in all the council areas.
In their address, the council chairmen Dr. Razak Folami, Surulere LG; Hon. Hakeem Bamgbola, Itire-Ikate and Hon. Aliu Kazeem, Coker-Aguda LCDAs, all commended the commission for its effort and urged the communities to cooperate with the commission, because it is also an avenue to disseminate information and prepare members of the public towards the 2011 election.