Forum petitions Tinubu, AGF over Lagos LG chairmen’s third-term agenda

The Progressive Group for Democracy (PGD) has urged President Bola Tinubu and the Attorney General of the Federation (AGF), Chief Lateef Fagbemi, to bar the Lagos Local Government chairmen who have spent two terms in office from seeking re-election in line with the Constitution. They made the demand on Tuesday in Abuja. They also urged […]

The Progressive Group for Democracy (PGD) has urged President Bola Tinubu and the Attorney General of the Federation (AGF), Chief Lateef Fagbemi, to bar the Lagos Local Government chairmen who have spent two terms in office from seeking re-election in line with the Constitution.

They made the demand on Tuesday in Abuja.

They also urged the Lagos State Independent Electoral Commission (LASIEC) to disqualify any candidate seeking an unconstitutional tenure elongation, which they said evoked the memory of former President Olusegun Obasanjo’s failed third-term bid.

The Lagos State chapter of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) had cleared the 418 local government aspirants to contest the July 12 council polls, amidst some protests.

However, protesting the development, the Leader of the stakeholders and National Coordinator of the PGD, Aladesanmi Abiodun Salawu, said that some anti-democratic forces re-emerging in Lagos are desperately seeking a third-term agenda for some of the LG chairmen.

He warned that the Fourth Alteration Bill No. 16 signed by former President Muhammadu Buhari in 2018 was clear and leaves no room for ambiguity.

“Once you’ve taken an oath of office after succeeding a deceased officeholder, then contest and win another term, you cannot seek a third term. Some individuals who assumed office following the death of elected chairpersons are now attempting to perpetuate themselves in power beyond the constitutional limit. This is a third-term agenda disguised as a legal technicality. We are not making a request – we are stating what the Constitution already mandates.

“President Tinubu must publicly reject this third-term agenda in Lagos local councils, and the Attorney General of the Federation must issue an immediate advisory on term limits for local government administrations,” Salawu said.

He noted that the Nigerian Constitution is supreme over all other laws, including the Lagos State Local Government Administration Law.

The forum said that if President Tinubu, Chief Fagbemi and Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu fail to reject the move, they will be forced to seek every legal means available to challenge the dangerous precedent.

He said, “Today, we stand at a very dangerous crossroads. The same anti-democratic forces that our heroes fought against during the June 12 struggle are re-emerging in Lagos State. It’s wearing different masks but executing the same sinister agenda of tenure elongation!

“We are witnessing a calculated attempt to normalize constitutional violations through the backdoor. These individuals who assumed office in some of the LCDAs, following the death of elected chairpersons are now attempting to perpetuate themselves in power beyond the constitutional limit.”