The Oyo State Independent Electoral Commission (OYSIEC) has said that it is conducting election into only the 33 Local Government Areas because they are the ones recognised by the nation’s 1999 constitution (as amended).
OYSIEC Electoral Commissioner in-charge of Voter Education and Publicity, Babatunde Adeniyi, in an interview with Tribune Online, said the commission did not see in its archives the said Oyo State Law mandating the conduct of election into the Local Council Development Areas (LCDAs).
He added that the commission also worked with the fact that the nation’s constitution takes precedence over any other law or by-law.
“We are conducting election into the 33 LGs only because the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria recognises 774 local government areas and we have 33 local government areas in Oyo State, not 68 local government areas.
“And that is why this present OYSIEC decided that election be conducted only to the constitutionally recognised local government areas.
“We checked our archives for the said Oyo State Law and do not have that in OYSIEC. We do not have any information that election be conducted for other local government areas aside from the constitutionally recognised 33 local government areas.
“We don’t have, in our archives, Oyo State Law that says election should be conducted into LCDA apart from the 33 local government areas.
“Moreover, we know whenever there is a law contrary to that of the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, the constitution takes precedence and any law created should be in tandem with the Federal Republic of Nigeria,” Adeniyi said.
