Voters, LASIEC officials stranded as flood takes over parts of Yaba

An early morning downpour in parts of Yaba local council development area (LCDA) of Lagos state has left electoral officials and voters in Saturday’s local government election confused.

Some residents are currently trapped in their homes as a result of flood. One of the areas affected by the flood is Oyadiran estate in Sabo, Yaba.

Although voting process was supposed to commence at 7am, officials of the Lagos State Independent Electoral Commission (LASIEC) were not seen in most of the polling units around the area as of 8:30am.

The exercise is yet to commence in different parts of the state.

In Odi-Olowo local council development area, electoral officials have not been sighted in many places, leaving voters who trooped to their polling units stranded.

At wards A, B and C, TheCable observed that residents took the opportunity to be discussing issues about the election.

It also rained in the LCDA which security agencies have marked as a flashpoint.

“People are still battling with this flood, and are less concerned about the election,” a resident who simply identified himself as Segun, told TheCable.

“If we have good drainage system here, this wouldn’t have happened.”We’ve been voting over the years, yet they won’t fix all these things, and when it’s election time they are back, begging for vote.”

In Isheri-Olofin, most of the electoral officials are still at the Egbe-Idimu council secretariat at Isheri roundabout, while voters are at their different units.

Akinwunmi Ambode, governor of Lagos, cast his vote at ward 6, unit 33 in Epe local government area.

Addressing reporters shortly after casting his ballot, the governor expressed delight that the election is happening during his tenure.

The last time a local government election held in Lagos was in 2011.