The exercise lasted six hours, beginning at 9am and wrapping up by 3pm, as directed by the Lagos State Independent Electoral Commission (LASIEC).

Sorting of votes has started in the chairmanship, vice-chairmanship, and councillorship elections held across Lagos State on Saturday. 

The exercise lasted six hours, beginning at 9am and wrapping up by 3pm, as directed by the Lagos State Independent Electoral Commission (LASIEC).

At Polling Unit 17 in Alhaji Masha, Small London, Surulere LGA, sorting and counting of ballot papers started at 3:04 pm, with election observers, party agents, and some voters present to monitor the process.

Of the 1166 registered voters at the unit, 550 turned out to vote. Once sorted, the votes will be moved from the polling units to ward centres and then to LASIEC local government offices for collation at the commission’s head office in Yaba. Fifteen political parties participated statewide, but turnout was generally low.

Femi Gbajabiamila, the Chief of Staff to President Bola Tinubu, who voted nearby at Fowler Memorial School in Surulere, called for more awareness at the grassroots. 

He said, “There is a general low turnout from what I’ve seen. Perhaps because people don’t understand fully the importance of local government elections, which is even more important than any other election.
“We need to sensitise our people. We need to educate them about the importance of grassroots government."

SaharaReporters earlier reported that several residents of Lagos State lamented the shoddy conduct of the Lagos State Independent Electoral Commission (LASIEC) personnel in the ongoing local government elections across the state.

According to multiple accounts from the field obtained by SaharaReporters, many locations in Lagos either lacked LASIEC officials or suffered from the absence of electoral materials.

For instance, as of the time of that report, it was gathered that Mende in Maryland was still waiting for LASIEC officials, while no election was ongoing at Ajeromi Ifelodun.

The Lagos State local government election is ongoing across the state to usher in new leaders at the local government level.