THE Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) says 574 candidates from 43 political parties would feature in March 9, Governorship and House of Assembly elections in Abia.

Mr Joseph Iloh, INEC Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) in the state, said this during an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), on the sideline of the commission’s stakeholders meeting on Wednesday, in Umuahia.

Iloh, said 39 of the candidates are for governorship election while the rest 535 candidates are for House of Assembly poll.

According to him, 39 senatorial and 93 House of Representatives candidates contested in the Feb.16 Presidential/National Assembly elections in the state.

He said Saturday’s elections would be conducted concurrently, adding that the commission is fully prepared for a very good election on Saturday.

“We have patched all the sensitive and non-sensitive materials.

“Tomorrow (Thursday), they are going to the Local Government Area (LGA) offices and Saturday, they will be at the right centres,” he said.

Iloh said the results would be collated at collation points for all the registration areas, after which they would be moved to the LGAs collation centres.

“We do this because when we collate results at the collation centres the population of persons who are interested will lessen.

“Few persons will now be accommodated at the LGA offices of INEC, from there, they move over to Umuahia, the state capital, where we collate the results and make pronouncement,” he said.

Representatives of political parties, Inter-party Advisory Council (IPAC) and security agencies at the meeting made useful submissions towards credible and peaceful elections on Saturday.

The REC however, advised politicians to sheathe their sword and plan for a peaceful election (NAN)

– Mar. 6, 2019 @ 18:55 GMT |