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The Chairman of the Ekiti State Independent Electoral Commission (EKSIEC), Justice Jide Aladejana, on Wednesday announced that Local Government elections in the 16 Council Areas of the state will now hold on December 7, as against December 14 earlier announced.
Disclosing this at a news conference in Ado Ekiti on Wednesday, Justice Aladejana appealed to the opposition parties in the state not to boycott the exercise, insisting that the commission would conduct a free, fair and transparent election.
The tenure of the incumbent 177 Councillors and 16 chairmen who assumed office on December 19, 2017 will lapse on December 19, 2019.
Aladejana disclosed that the SIEC would use voter registers and guidelines of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to conduct the elections.
His words: “We are assuring our people that your votes will count, so all parties must sponsor candidates for the elections.
“Do not have this wrong perception that the local government elections will automatically be rigged in favour of the ruling party,” he said.
According to the SIEC boss, the Chairmanship form would cost N50, 000 while that of Councillor would cost N20, 000 for the purpose of the elections.
He said “electioneering can start on Saturday, September 14 and it has to be devoid of violence and hate speech,” adding: “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 Councillors’ 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 ensure 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.