Politics
THE Imo State Independent Electoral Commission (ISIEC) has insisted that Saturday’s Local Government Elections will hold, in spite of considerable delays.
The Chairman of ISIEC, Mr Charles Ejiogu, said this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) at the commission’s headquarters, Owerri, while supervising the distribution of electoral materials to the 27 LGAs.
Ejiogu, who regretted the delay in the commencement of the exercise, said that the commission had overcome obvious logistics challenges, insisting that the elections would go on as scheduled.
He said that 54 vehicles were arranged to convey election materials, being two to each of the LGAs.
“You can see that they are already being loaded with materials and will soon begin to depart for the LGAs.
“Despite logistics challenges, which we have successfully overcome, the elections remain sacrosanct and must hold today (Saturday),“ the ISIEC boss said.
The Programme Director, Better Community Life Initiative, Mr Chibundu Uchegbu, had earlier expressed concern over the late distribution of election materials by ISIEC.
“This is 9:15a.m., voting should have commenced in all the polling units in all the LGAs by now.
“Election materials are still at the ISIEC headquarters, not the LGAs.
“This shows the poor preparation made by the commission,” Uchegbu told NAN in an interview.
He further expressed worry that the late distribution of materials might discourage voters at the polling units, leading voter apathy abd withdrawal.
“This means that anyone who emerges through this process is not going to be democratically elected by the people,” he said. (NAN)
A.I
Sept. 21, 2024
Tags: Imo State Independent Electoral Commission ISIEC Mr Charles Ejiogu
