Voting officially ended on Saturday in the chairmanship, vice-chairmanship, and councillorship elections held across Lagos State.
The Lagos State Independent Electoral Commission (LASIEC) had scheduled the voting exercise to run from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., across the state’s 20 local government areas and 37 local council development areas.
Following the close of polls, LASIEC officials immediately began sorting and counting ballot papers in the presence of party agents, election observers, and voters who stayed back to monitor the process.
At Polling Unit 17, located in Alhaji Masha, Small London area of Surulere LGA, sorting and counting commenced at 3:04 p.m. Out of 1,166 registered voters, only 550 cast their ballots at the unit.
According to LASIEC procedures, results from each polling unit will be transmitted to the ward collation centres, and then to local government offices, before final collation at the commission’s headquarters in Yaba.
While 15 political parties participated in the elections, the exercise was largely characterised by low voter turnout.
Femi Gbajabiamila, Chief of Staff to President Bola Tinubu, who voted at Fowler Memorial School in Surulere, expressed concern over the sparse participation.
“There is a general low turnout from what I’ve seen. Perhaps it’s because people don’t fully understand the importance of local government elections, which are even more crucial than others,” he said.
He called for more public sensitisation to encourage stronger grassroots participation in future elections.
“We need to educate our people on the importance of grassroots government. But so far, the process has been peaceful, quiet, and free of incidents — which is what we want in any election.”
