More controversies have continued to trail conduct of local government election in Ondo State after several postponements.
This is even as the Ondo State Independent Electoral Commission, ODIEC today 8th July, 2024 announced the postponement of the local government election indefinitely.
ODIEC Chairman, Dr Joseph Aremo disclosed this at a meeting with stakeholders held at the commission’s headquarters in Akure.
Aremo attributed the postponement on the non compliance of political parties with the electoral act, rules and regulations of conducting the election.
ODIEC Chairman while lamenting that no political party submitted any candidate’s name, said the commission would review it’s activities and a new date will be communicated in due course.
Reacting to the controversial decision, the State Chairman, Inter Party Advisory Council, IPAC, Prince Olaoluwa Adesanya admitted that registered political parties deliberately boycotted the electoral process.
The political parties insisted that they would not participate in the conduct of the election until they are sure of readiness of the state government to conduct the council poll.
He said the party would want to have a meeting with the governor on the matter.
“They now know our reasons. We want to see Mr. Govenor. It is not that we don’t have trust in ODIEC. We know that they can perform credible election, but we want to see Mr Governor,” he maintained
In its own reaction, the state chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party said the ODIEC postponed the poll because the All Progressives Congress was no longer popular in the state.
The state Publicity Secretary of the party, Mr Kennedy Peretei, said, ” We knew all along that ODIEC will not conduct the LG election because the APC is not on the ground.”
To further confirm the controversy trailing the proposed exercise, the ODIEC Chairman, angrily described the action of the IPAC as sabotaging efforts of the commission in the conduct of the local government election slated for this year.
The development would be the second time that the ODIEC would be postponing the local government poll in the state.
The commission earlier fixed February for the election but shifted the date to July.
