Kogi LG poll: Businessman joins Yagba West chairmanship race

Friday, March 13, 2020 10:46 am

David Lalenge

Richard Elesho/ Lokoja

As the race for the Local Government elections in Kogi State has started in earnest, a Lagos based businessman, David Lanlege has indicated interest in contesting for the chairmanship of Yagba West Local Government Area.

He made the declaration in a he personally signed and made available to journalists in Lokoja Thursday.

It will be recalled that about a month ago, the State Governor Alh. Yahaya Bello nominated members of the Kogi State Independent Electoral Commission, KSIEC.

They have since been screened by the House of Assembly, but are yet to be inaugurated. Similarly, early this month the Governor dissolved the 21 Administrators who have been in control of the Local Government Areas in the last four years, effectively setting the tone for the council polls.

Lanlege, a native of Ogbe said his mission is to change the narratives of poverty and under-development which people of the area have been enduring for ages. “That our people are farmers shouldn’t condemn them to poverty. They are hardworking and I believe the right policies will elevate their standard of living.”

The real estate developer is contesting on the platform of the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC and has wide contacts at the grassroots. Tracing the history of council polls in the area, he claimed the chairmanship is rotated between two main political blocks namely Town Council and Area Council. He said the last chairman is from the Town Council. He noted that Ogbe is the only ward in the area council which has never produced the council chairman either elected or appointed.

This is not the first time Lanlege is contesting for public office. In 2007, he unsuccessfully sought to represent the Local Government in the House of Assembly.

Again his bid for the chairmanship in 2014 was unsuccessful. He said he was rigged out on those occasions by anti-democratic forces.