24 hours to Ondo LG poll…34 in race for 18 chairmanship seats

…273 contesting for councillor in 203 wards
*APC, 12 other parties participating, PDP in last-minute boycott
By Jubril Bada
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As election into the 18 local government areas of Ondo State takes place tomorrow, no fewer than 34 chairmanship candidates are vying in the 18 local government areas, while 273 councillorship candidates are also competing for respective 203 ward seats.
Commissioner in charge of Budget, Operations, and Legal Matters of the Ondo State Independent Electoral Commission (ODIEC), Mr. Dele Akinyelure, made this known to Weekend Hope on Thursday.
Thirteen political parties will appear on the ballot papers for the Ondo local government elections. These include the Action Alliance (AA); African Democratic Party (ADP); Action People’s Party (APP); All Progressives Congress (APC) and the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA).
Others are the Boot Party (BP), Labour Party (LP), New Nigeria People’s Party (NNPP), National Rescue Movement (NRM), Social Democratic Party (SDP), Youth Party (YP), and Zenith Labour Party (ZLP).
The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), at the last-minute, withdrew from the race, alleging lack of confidence in the electoral process.
The following political parties have fielded candidates for the chairmanship seats in some of the councils with the ruling APC presenting contestants for all: AA: 1; APP: 2; APC: 18; APGA:1; BP: 1; LP: 4; NNPP: 1; SDP: 2,; YP: 1, and ZLP: 3.
Some parties also fielded councillorship seats thus: ADP: 1, APP: 11, APC: 203, APGA: 1, BP: 2, LP: 14, NRM: 1;PDP: 119 (before withdrawal); SDP: 20, YP: 10, ZLP: 10.
Weekend Hope gathered that only the APC has fielded candidates for all 18 chairmanship and 203 councillorship seats in the state.
With the PDP’s withdrawal, the chances of the ruling APC winning the majority of seats are significantly higher, as the party will capitalise on PDP’s departure, 72 hours before the elections.
The PDP strongholds in Ese-Odo and other local governments within the South Senatorial District will likely become a walkover for the APC.
Though the political parties began their campaigns late, they have ramped up efforts with house-to-house mobilisation and ward-level campaigns, urging members to engage voters directly and promote their manifestos.
The SDP, LP, ZLP, APP, and others are intensifying efforts to challenge the APC’s dominance as the leading party.
Meanwhile, the PDP in Ondo State has announced its withdrawal from the local government elections, citing “lack of confidence in the process organised by the Ondo State Independent Electoral Commission (ODIEC)” in a terse statement.
In the statement issued by the party and signed by Leye Igbabo, the Director of Media and Publicity, the decision was said to be the result of extensive consultations among party leaders, stakeholders, and the National Secretariat.
According to the PDP, it had initially fielded 15 chairmanship candidates across 15 local government areas and 131 councillorship candidates.
However, it averred concerns over ODIEC’s credibility, transparency, and impartiality led to the party’s decision to withdraw, averring he commission failed integrity test.
The Chairman of the Ondo State Independent Electoral Commission (ODIEC), Dr Joseph Aremo, confirmed the withdrawal of the party from tomorrow’s local government elections.
Aremo gave the confirmation while guiding election stakeholders round sensitive materials at the Commission’s headquarters in Akure, yesterday.
He said that the letter of withdrawal from the PDP was received by the Commission on Wednesday.
The ODIEC chairman said that the Commission would proceed with the elections as scheduled despite PDP’s withdrawal.
“If we don’t have a party participating, we can’t conduct an election. It was yesterday (Wednesday) that I got a letter saying that they are withdrawing from the process.
“If a party out of 13 is withdrawing, are we going to jeopardise the interests of other people? We have enough parties.
“But that does not mean that if we have even five parties withdrawing today, we will stop the process.
“The process has been ongoing for some time and if a party decides to withdraw, we cannot halt the election process entirely,” he countered.
Reiterating the Commission’s commitment to a smooth electoral process, the chairman affirmed that ODIEC had been working tirelessly to ensure grassroots democracy remain non-negotiable.
He also emphasised the collaboration with security agencies to ensure that the elections are free, fair, peaceful, credible and transparent.
Meanwhile, the Commission has commenced the distribution of sensitive materials, including result sheets, ballot papers, and others, in preparation for tomorrow’s election.