The Ogun State Independent Electoral Commission (OGSIEC) has given reasons why it would not conduct
elections into the 37 Local Council Development Areas created by former Governor, Ibikunle Amosun.
OGSIEC said the constitution does not recognise the LCDAs, saying it is focusing on the existing 20 LGAs.
Amosun, during his second term in office, created the 37 LCDAs and was passed into law by the Ogun State House of Assembly.
At the time, Amosun said the local council areas would “open up remote and far-flung parts of the
Gateway State, bring government closer to the people and engender rapid socio-economic development.”
In 2016, elections were conducted in the 20 LGAs and the 37 LCDAs by OGSIEC.
Our correspondent reports that the three-year tenure of the council chairmen expired in 2019, a few months after the incumbent Governor, Dapo Abiodun came on board.
In January 2020, Abiodun appointed transition committees into the 20 LGAs, ignoring the 37 new LCDAs created by his predecessor.
Speaking on a radio programme in Abeokuta, the OGSIEC Chairman, Babatunde Osibodu, said what the commission has is the 20 LGAs.
According to Osibodu, there is a process the LCDAs must go through before they can become part of the ‘fabric’.
Asked if it would recognise the LCDAs in the July 24 local government election, he retorted:
“We are not (conducting elections into LCDAs). The constitution only recognises local government areas, which are 20. For LCDAS, there is a process you need to go through in order for them to really become
part of the fabric, and right now, we have not met such a thing on ground. What we have as at today, and we are going with, is the 20 local governments.”
Osibodu added that the commission is at liberty to either run elections in the LCDAs or not to.
