Find out why 18 chairmen got automatic tickets to contest in the LG election

The National Leader of the All Progressives Congress, Bola Tinubu, on Saturday cleared the air about questions raised as it concerns giving automatic tickets to 18 incumbent council chairmen.

Tinubu noted that though the chairmen were given automatic tickets by the party, nobody was disqualified from running for the election.

“Conflict and conflict resolution are the hallmark of democracy. You have to find a way to resolve all conflicts, and we have done so. We are very transparent about the automatic tickets we gave to 18 chairmen.

“We didn’t say don’t contest, we didn’t say don’t run, we didn’t say don’t vote, we didn’t say you are disqualified or that you don’t have right. Nobody abrogated anybody’s right,” the APC chieftain said after casting his vote in Ikeja at Ward F, polling unit 026, during the council poll in the state which witnessed a huge voter apathy.

Tinubu, however, urged aggrieved party members to be patient.

He said, “We need to be patient. There is no way you won’t face the turbulence of democracy. As we have 57 local government and local council development areas, the problem is that, to every slot, you have an average of 13 aspirants. That is the popularity of our party.

“We can only have one chairman (per local government). We can only have one vice-chairman. We can only have one ward councillor but we had 18 people in a ward fighting for the seat of a councillor.”

The former governor of Lagos State added that the complaints and protests that greeted the party’s decision to give automatic tickets to the incumbent chairmen would not adversely affect the party’s performance in the poll.

Tinubu said, “Development is going on across the grassroots.”

 Also, the Lagos State Commissioner for Justice and Attorney General, Mr. Adeniji Kazeem, who voted on the Lagos Island, said  the state government put in the best for the election, regretting that the rain affected the turnout.

He said, “My major take away in this election is that it has been peaceful. Unfortunately, the elements have affected people from coming out; we believe they will still come out to vote before the end of the election. But generally, it has been peaceful. It is lack of violence that encourages people to come out to vote.”

He said the local government election was critical because it was the closest to the people, adding that it was unfortunate some residents did not understand that.

Also, Tinubu’s wife and senator representing Lagos Central, Remi Tinubu, who cast her vote in Ward E, Unit 034, Bourdillion, Lagos, said the election was important.

“It is not for you, but for your generation yet unborn so that things can be put in place.

“We have set the standard in Lagos; every elected candidate does not have any choice but to work,” she said.

Source: ( Punch Newspaper )