Nasarawa Electoral Commission sets November 2 for local government elections

The tenure of the current 13 LG chairmen and 147 councillors will end on October 7, having served for three years.

The Nasarawa State Independent Electoral Commission (NASIEC) has fixed November 2, for the election of local government chairmen and councillors in the state.

The Chairman of the commission, Ayuba Wandai, said this at a news conference on Wednesday in Lafia. He said that the tenure of the current 13 LG chairmen and 147 councillors would end on October 7, having served for three years.

He said that the commission had earlier released a timetable for the conduct of the election on August 31, but was stalled by the case filed against it.

“The Federal High Court, Lafia, served us and the Nasarawa State House of Assembly an originating summon from one Mr Paul John and 12 others, challenging the local government laws.

“They were challenging the powers of the chairman of the commission to announce results of the 13 LGAs and 147 electoral wards and to declare the winners.

“They were also challenging the powers conferred on the commission to fix money for nomination forms and administrative charges.

“Thank God, we won the case at the court, and they have also withdrawn their appeal at the Appeal Court, Makurdi, to clear the coast for the commission,” Wandai said.

He said that now that the case at the court was over, the commission had decided to continue with the council election. He asked candidates from the various political parties to begin their campaign on Friday, October 18.

“All political parties interested in presenting candidates in the election should conduct their primaries and conclude all disputes that might arise, from Friday, October 11 to Thursday, October 27,” the chairman said.

He promised that the commission would conduct a credible poll and provide a level playing field for every political party. Earlier, the NASIEC chairman met with members of the Inter-Party Advisory Council (IPAC) in the state, where he assured them of the commission’s commitment to conduct free, fair and credible local government elections.

Ahmed Musa, the IPAC state chairman and state secretary of the Social Democratic Party (SDP), commended the resilience and determination of NASIEC to deepen democracy in Nasarawa State by reeling out activities for the conduct of local council polls.

He said that political parties in the state would abide by the extant laws and the commission’s guidelines for the election to ensure hitch-free local council polls in the state.

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