Priscilla Ofunre, Ado-Ekiti
The Chairman of the Ekiti State Independent Electoral Commission (EKSIEC), Justice Jide Aladejana, has disclosed that the state would conduct the local government elections on December 7, 2019.
The 177 Councilors, 16 local government chairmen and other appointed officials having assumed office December 19, 2017 will also have their tenure end on December 19, 2019.
Speaking with journalists, in Ado-Ekiti, on Wednesday, Aladejana assured that the polls would be transparent and devoid of rigging, appealing to the opposition not to boycott the polls as it has been their usual practice.
The SIEC boss disclosed that the body would use voter registers of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and its guidelines for the conduct of the elections, saying the voting will be by manual means.
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He said the commission would collaborate with the security agencies and that they have been given assurances that there won’t be intimidation, rigging and suppression of the opposition on the election day .
“We are assuring our people that your votes will count, so all parties must sponsor candidates for the elections
“Don’t have this wrong perception that the local government elections will automatically be rigged in favour of the ruling party”, he said.
The SIEC boss said the Chairmanship form will cost a sum of N50,000 while that of Councilorship will be sold to candidates at the rate of N20,000 for the purpose of the elections .
On the mode of electioneering campaign, Aladejana said, “Electioneering campaign can start on Saturday, September 14 and it has to be devoid of thuggery and hate speech. Let there be constructive engagements and we will monitor the parties in this regard.
“It is expected that all the parties will conduct their primaries for Councilorship elections on 21st of September and that of Chairmanship will be done on September 28.
“We will give the parties level playing ground. We will be transparent in all our dealings and conduct adequate public participation.
“The most important thing to us is that, we want parties to sponsor people of proven integrity for these elections, because when you have good people at the third tier of government, they will protect the welfare of the people.
“We are assuring our political parties that these elections are going to be model in our country”, he said.
