Nigerian House of Reps aspirant refuses to resign position as city council member in US
A Nigerian man, Vitalis Lanshima has been embroiled in controversy for seeking political office in Nigeria while still an active city council member in Kentucky, United States.
Lanshima is currently a city council member in Louisville, but is also contesting for a seat at the Federal House of Representatives in Nigeria. Newsroom‘s findings reveal he is contesting on the platform of the APC.
Lanshima was selected as council member following the ouster of another member who was battling sexual misconduct allegations. He was not elected.
Reports say his tenure as council member will come to an end in November, when the candidate whom he later lost the Democrats’ primary election to, will be sworn in.
His colleagues at the city council are already calling for an investigation into whether his House of Reps bid violates Kentucky state law and makes him ineligible to continue serving as a city official.
Lanshima, who has earned almost $40,000 (over N14 million) despite missing council meetings due to his political ambition in Nigeria, has labelled those calling for his resignation from the council, particularly his colleagues, “sore losers or sore winners”.
Lanshima, Fox reports, also said the criticism directed at him for attempting to hold two official positions in two different countries was “manufactured crisis”.
He is quoted as saying his critics should “please stop being obsessed” with him.
“There are many things for us to worry about in Louisville. … We do not have to be obsessed with me,” Lanshima told reporters during a news conference.
The Kentucky statute states that a member of a local government council like Louisville Metro Council must “be resident within the territory of the consolidated local government and the district that he or she seeks to represent for at least one (1) year immediately prior to the person’s election”.
Louisville Courier Journal reports that Lanshima, on Wednesday, claimed that unlike in Kentucky, residency was not a requirement to run for office in Nigeria.
He claims not to have a house in Nigeria, although he planned to relocate to the country after his Louisville Metro Council term expires.
Lanshima had, according to INEC’s records, registered to vote in Nigeria on July 3, 2018 while “vacationing”. He says on a Facebook page, ‘Forward Nigeria – Vote Vitalis’, that he hopes to “lead the change in Jos North – Bassa Constituency”.
Nigeria’s general election does not hold until February 2019.
