The Lagos State Independent Electoral Commission (LASIEC) has rejected claims that it has disqualified or impeded the verification process for candidates representing opposition political parties, particularly the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), in the lead-up to the July 12 local government elections.
Both the PDP and the African Action Congress (AAC) on Tuesday accused the electoral commission of deliberately frustrating their candidates’ participation in the electoral process and alleged attempts by LASIEC to exclude them from the contest.
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Responding to the allegations, LASIEC Chairman, Justice Bola Okikiolu-Ighile (retd.), dismissed the accusations as unfounded.
“These allegations are false and a misrepresentation of facts,” she said.
The commission stated that it became aware of a press release credited to a PDP South-West ex-officio member, which accused LASIEC of unfairly excluding the party’s candidates.
According to the statement made available to journalists “LASIEC has refused to clear most of the PDP’s chairmanship and councillorship candidates despite the party submitting all required nomination documents within the official timeframe.“
“LASIEC now claims that some of our documents are missing from their office and systems — a claim we strongly contest.”
The statement described the development as a misuse of institutional authority, raising fears that it could deny PDP candidates a chance to participate and limit voters’ options in the local government elections.
Similarly, the AAC raised concerns over what it described as a coordinated effort by LASIEC to sideline opposition candidates through bureaucratic bottlenecks and unclear verification requirements.
In a statement signed by its Lagos State Chairman, Ayoyinka Oni, the AAC accused the electoral commission of exhibiting bias and operational inefficiency, casting doubt on the integrity of the entire process.
Oni criticised the introduction of new verification requirements on the day of the exercise without prior notification. He explained that although the party had submitted all documents as instructed, its candidates were told to appear for verification on Thursday, June 26, only to be confronted with unexpected demands.
“LASIEC, without any prior instruction in the letter, suddenly pasted guidelines on Thursday morning when candidates arrived, which included asking them to bring a photocopy of the sponsor’s voter’s card. They refused to apologise for this omission on their part, which most party chairmen stated was not even necessary,” Oni said.
He added that on the night of Monday, June 30, many opposition candidates, including those from AAC, were still waiting at LASIEC’s office without being verified.
He said, “Candidates left the LASIEC office late at night, only to arrive again today and face another baseless challenge.
“By 8 pm on Monday night, candidates from our political party and other parties were still at the LASIEC office with no verification done.
“If LASIEC can’t conduct a simple verification and validation exercise, how can they conduct free, fair, and credible elections?” he queried.“
“Justice Bola Okikiolu Ighile should stop joking with us. This has become a joke taken too far.”
A correspondent who was present at LASIEC’s headquarters on June 26 confirmed that the commission began its candidate verification process on that day, with the expectation that it would conclude by Monday, June 30.
However, in a statement issued on Tuesday, LASIEC clarified that some candidates were unable to provide all necessary documents during the initial screening and were asked to return on another day.
“For clarity purposes, validation exercise for candidates presented by registered political parties commenced on Thursday, June, June 26, 2025, in line with the Election Time Table and Guidelines released by the commission on April 12, 2025,” the LASIEC chair stated.
She added, “We realised that some of the candidates of the affected political parties by error of omission failed to tender all the required documents and were advised to take advantage of the open window scheduled for Tuesday, and Wednesday, July 1 and 2, 2025, upon the conclusion of the validation exercise on Monday, June 30, 2025.
“However, these affected candidates came around on Monday while the exercise was ongoing for candidates of other political parties. They became impatient and, to our dismay, quickly mobilised into a huge over-zealous crowd which began to chant slogans, leading to the disruption of the peace and harmony of the commission.“
Furthermore, the protesters were subsequently addressed and informed that they could avail themselves of the open window opportunity. Pertinent to state that the disruption of the validation exercise by the protesting crowd resulted in the postponement of the exercise till the next day, Tuesday, July 1, 2025, for other political parties.”
LASIEC reiterated its readiness to conduct a fair and credible election on July 12.
“We assure Lagos residents and other stakeholders that the electoral body remains dedicated to an enduring, democratic electioneering process.”
 has rejected claims that it has disqualified or impeded the verification process for candidates representing opposition political parties, particularly the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), in the lead-up to the July 12 local government elections.){kind=link}