The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Lagos State has hailed the judgement of a Lagos High court which compelled the All Progressive Congress, APC-led state government to conduct elections into the council areas of the state.
The party has however berated the plans of the state government to appeal the judgment noting that, the planned move has further exposed the Ambode-led government as violators of the Rule of Law, wasteful and indeed jittery of elections at the grassroots.
PDP has thus called on Lagosians to shun dealings with the councils as presently constituted, in order to demand compliance to the said judgment.
A Lagos High court presided over by Justice Lawal, had recently declared the caretaker committees of councils in Lagos State as unconstitutional and has directed that elections be conducted into the councils within 30 days. The Lagos state government has, however, indicated plans to appeal the said judgment.
Lagos PDP in a statement signed by its Publicity Secretary, Barrister Taofik Gani hailed this judgment and said it indeed signals that there are still credible and brave judges in the state.
The party said: “This council polls’ impasse was created by the former governor Fashola, a lawyer who ought to appreciate Section 7 of the 1999 Constitution by conducting the polls in October 2014 when the tenure of the councils expired. By that section, only democratically elected local councils are recognised by the constitution.
“Governor Ambode is also not willing to conduct the polls. He should have done it within his first 100 days. He has deliberately neglected the polls because the APC is not popular at the grass roots for such elections. Thereby denying the people, government of their choice. Now the court has compelled them. Governor Ambode should not embark on prodigal governance by appealing the judgment. The judgment is clear and reflection of the rule of law. To spend over N200M to appeal the judgment would be unfair to Lagos taxpayers. We thus expect that the State House of Assembly should consequently exercise its oversight function to empower the LASIEC to conduct the polls as directed by the court.”