LG Elections: Kwara PDP Declares Readiness To Participate, Raises Concern On Independence of KWASIEC

Parties Announce Form Prices, Date of Primary Elections

Ahead of the September local government polls in Kwara State, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has expressed readiness to participate in the poll as the major opposition party.

The party expressed this at the meeting of State Independent Electoral Commission (KWASIEC) with the political parties in Ilorin, the State capital and alluded to this in a statement released by its Publicity Secretary Olusegun Olusola Adewara after the meeting.

The party urged the KWASIEC to maintain its independence and ensure a fair and transparent electoral process, adding that the electoral body “must go the extra miles to prove that the commission will not be teleguided by the ruling All Progressive Congress (APC)”.

“The integrity of our democratic processes is paramount, and any actions that compromise this integrity must be addressed with the utmost seriousness.

Also Read: KWSG Set to Regulate Operations of Scavengers

“We are by this statement calling on all our party members, stakeholders as well as Kwara electorate to uphold the principles of democracy and work together with the PDP towards free, fair, and credible local government elections in the State.

“The PDP is pleased to declare that our party is fully prepared for the upcoming elections. Consequently, we have not requested any adjustments to the election timetable previously released by KWASIEC. Our commitment to a transparent and timely electoral process remains steadfast, and we are confident in our readiness to participate under the current schedule.”

“On the price tags for the nomination forms, the party, in solid agreement with suggestions from other parties, said the fees attached to nomination forms must be affordable to all prospective aspirants for both councillorship and chairmanship elections, adding that nomination forms for councillorship should not exceed N50,000, while that of chairmanship should also not be more than N200,000.

Also Read: Kwara APC Thanks Members for Rancour free LGs Congress

The PDP, however, raised serious concerns regarding what it teemed “a suspicious alliance between the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) and KWASIEC. This was evident in the manner the APC Chairman, Mr. Sunday Fagbemi, took over the position of KWASIEC’s Chairman and responded to salient questions posed to the Commission, rather than allowing the Commission to address these questions.

“The PDP maintained that such behavior from APC chairman has led us to question the impartiality of the Commission and raises fears of potential manipulation in the forthcoming local government elections since there seems to exist sinister alliance with the ruling APC by the singular behaviour of the APC chairman”.

Also Read: Bandits ask Katsina community to pay N10m over killing of colleague, As Police arrest village head for complicity

Meanwhile, PDP has announced the commencement of the sales of Nomination and Expression of Interest forms as follows: Chairmanship; N100,000 while Councilorship is N25,000.

The party also announced Wednesday, 26th June for Councillorship primary elections and Thursday, 27th June for Chairmanship.

Similarly, the ruling APC has also announced the price of forms with Chairmanship goes for N1 million and Councilorship goes for N250,000 and made known that sales of forms close on the 25th Day of June, at 12 o’clock at noon.

The APC form is free of charge for all female and physically challenged aspirants.