The House of Representatives has approved a bill seeking to accommodate Lagos State’s 37 Development Area Councils as full-fledged local government areas (LGAs).

If enacted into law, this will increase the total number of LGAs in the state from 20 to 57.

The bill which was among the 42 constitutional amendment bills passed on Wednesday was sponsored by Hon. James
Abiodun Faleke (Ikeja Federal Constituency), Hon. Babajimi Benson (Ikorodu Federal Constituency), and Hon. Enitan
Dolapo Badru (Lagos Island I Federal Constituency), alongside 19 other lawmakers.

The proposed legislation is titled “A Bill for an Act to Alter the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (as amended) to Accommodate the Thirty-Seven (37) Development Area Councils of Lagos State as Full-Fledged Local Government Areas, Increasing the Total Number of Local Government Areas in the Federation to Eight Hundred and Eleven (811), and for Related Matters (HB. 1498)”

It scaled second reading on Wednesday during plenary presided over by deputy speaker, Benjamin Kalu.

If passed into law also, it will bring the total number of local governments in Nigeria to 811 from 774
It will also allow Lagos to officially have the highest number of local governments in Nigeria, surpassing Kano and Katsina states, which currently have 44 and 34 LGAs, respectively.

The member representing Isuikwuato constituency in the Abia State House of Assembly, Lucky Nweke Johnson has resigned from his party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and joined the Labour Party (LP).

Johnson in a letter he addressed to the Speaker, Emmanuel Emeruwa, said he quit PDP because of the crises the party is having at the national and state levels.

The Isuikwuato constituency representative also defended his decision to join LP, saying it was informed by Governor Alex Otti’s “sterling performance”.

The lawmaker who said he took the decision after consulting with his constituents, requested that he be henceforth addressed as a member of the Labour Party.

Ekwutosblog recalls that in February, the member representing Isiala Ngwa South constituency, Rowland Dennis resigned from PDP and joined the LP. The development was condenmed by Abia State chapter of the PDP.

INDEPENDENT NATIONAL ELECTORAL COMMISSION

PRESS RELEASE

PETITION FOR THE RECALL OF THE SENATOR REPRESENTING KOGI CENTRAL SENATORIAL DISTRICT

The Commission held its regular weekly meeting today, Tuesday 25th March 2025. Among other issues, the meeting discussed the petition for the recall of the Senator representing Kogi Central Senatorial District.

The process of recall is enshrined in the 1999 Constitution, the Electoral Act 2022 as well as the Commission’s detailed Regulations and Guidelines for Recall 2024, available on our website. All petitions will be treated in strict compliance with the legal framework.

The petition from Kogi Central Senatorial District was accompanied by six bags of documents said to be signatures collected from over half of the 474,554 registered voters spread across 902 Polling Units in 57 Registration Areas (Wards) in the five Local Government Areas of Adavi, Ajaokuta, Ogori/Magongo, Okehi and Okene.

The Commission’s immediate observation is that the representatives of the petitioners did not provide their contact address, telephone number(s) and e-mail address(es) in the covering letter forwarding the petition through which they can be contacted as provided in Clause 1(f) of our Regulations and Guidelines. The address given is “Okene, Kogi State”, which is not a definite location for contacting the petitioners. Only the telephone number of “the lead petitioner” is provided as against the numbers of all the other representatives of the petitioners.

The Commission wishes to reiterate that the recall of a legislator is the prerogative of registered voters in a constituency who sign a petition indicating loss of confidence in the legislator representing them. Once the petition meets the requirements of submission, as contained in our regulations, the Commission shall commence the verification of the signatures in each Polling Unit in an open process restricted to registered voters that signed the petition only. The petitioners and the member whose recall is sought shall be at liberty to nominate agents to observe the verification, while interested observers and the media will also be accredited. At each Polling Unit, signatories to the petition shall be verified using the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS).

Consequently, if the petitioners fully comply with the requirements of Clause 1(f) of the Regulations and Guidelines regarding the submission of their petition, the Commission will announce the next steps in line with the extant laws, regulations and guidelines. In the absence of a definite contact address, the Commission is making efforts to use other means to notify the representatives of the petitioners of the situation.

The Commission reassures the public that it will be guided by the legal framework for recall. The public should therefore discountenance any speculations and insinuations in the social media.

Sam Olumekun mni
National Commissioner & Chairman
Information and Voter Education Committee
Tuesday 25th March 2025