The Lagos State House of Assembly has called on Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu to direct the Lagos State Independent Electoral Commission (LASIEC) to conduct bye-elections in three wards where councillors died in 2025.
The resolution was reached during plenary following a motion raised under personal explanation by the lawmaker representing Mushin I, Mr Nurudeen Akinsanya.
Mr Akinsanya informed the House that the deaths of three councillors in Mushin, Somolu and Ibeju-Lekki Local Council areas had created legislative gaps at the grassroots level, leaving affected wards without elected representation.
He noted that the prolonged absence of councillors had denied residents effective participation in local governance, stressing that the constitution provides for the conduct of bye-elections to fill such vacancies.
Supporting the motion, the lawmaker representing Mushin II, Mr Yinka Esho, alongside his Alimosho II counterpart, Mr Kehinde Joseph, urged the House to formally call on the governor to ensure LASIEC conducts bye-elections to fill the vacant seats.
Following deliberations, the Speaker of the House, Chief Mudashiru Obasa, directed the Clerk of the House, Barrister Olalekan Onafeso, to write to Governor Sanwo-Olu conveying the resolution of the Assembly.
The vacant seats resulted from the deaths of three councillors shortly after they were sworn into office last year.
In Ibeju-Lekki Local Government, the councillor representing Ward C1, Mrs Oluwakemi Rufai, died on August 12, 2025. The councillor representing Ward F in Somolu Local Government, Mrs Basirat Oluwakemi Mayabikan, passed away on September 21, 2025.
Similarly, the councillor representing Ward C3 in Odi-Olowo Local Council Development Area, Mrs Zainab Shotayo Kosoko, died on August 19, 2025, at the age of 30.
Written by Olusegun Haastrup