Exactly one year after the Supreme Court upheld local government autonomy in Nigeria, 7,060,195 registered voters in Lagos State are heading to the polls today, July 12, to select chairpersons, vice-chairpersons, and councillors across 20 LGAs and 37 LCDAs.
Lagos, Nigeria’s economic hub and Tinubu’s home state, accounts for over ₦1.3 trillion in internally generated revenue and boasts about 20 million residents.
This high-stakes local poll will be supervised by the Lagos State Independent Electoral Commission (LASIEC), as opposed to INEC, which handles federal and state-level elections.
Justice Bola Okikiolu-Ighile, LASIEC’s chair, affirmed that “no political party was restrained from participating in the elections.”
Fifteen out of nineteen registered parties are contesting today across 13,325 polling units in 376 wards.
Okikiolu-Ighile further clarified that LASIEC will not use BVAS machines, stating “there are some electronics that we are going to use in between. We can go manual.”
Despite historically low turnout in council polls, she expressed hope that this year will be different:
“We are ready. We have worked hard. Now, we urge Lagosians to come out and vote peacefully.”
