Ex-Lagos deputy governor alleges rigging, demands cancellation of LGA polls

Kofoworola Bucknor-Akerele, a former Lagos state deputy governor, has alleged attempts to rig the state’s LGA elections.

The Lagos State Independent Electoral Commission (LASIEC) commenced the elections on Saturday. The commission had released the validated list of candidates on Thursday.

Speaking in an interview with Nigeria Info, she claimed there were deliberate attempts to disenfranchise voters, including herself, by manipulating polling unit arrangements and omitting names from the voter list.

Bucknor-Akerele, who served as deputy to Bola Tinubu from 1999 to 2003, said the manner in which polling units were relocated without notice suggested a premeditated plan to rig the election in favour of a particular party.

She noted that the alleged disruption of polling units and disorganisation by the electoral body was disenfranchising voters across the state, particularly those not aligned with the ruling party.

“My observation is that obviously there are plans to rig this election because people have not been able to vote in their units,” she said.

“When you get to your unit, they say they’ve given them a list of names. I have been to my own unit, my name is not there.

“There are units supposed to be in front of Eko Hotel, they have brought them here to Ajose Adeogun. So it shows, and many people are not able to vote because they have, in fact, completely disrupted all the polling units.

“I am calling for the cancellation of this election because there’s a clear effort to rig the election in favour of one party, because otherwise, why is it that people are not able to vote in their units?

“Why is it that units have been disrupted and placed in the wrong place?”

LASIEC had earlier announced that elections would be held across all LGAs and local council development areas (LCDAs), with chairmanship and councillorship positions up for contest.

But the build-up to the election was characterised by concerns about transparency, with the commission releasing its final list of candidates barely two days before voting began.