LG polls: ODIEC reels out time-table, parties  primaries in 3 weeks

By Adekola Afolabi
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The Chairman, Ondo State Independent Electoral Commission (ODIEC), Prof. Yomi Dinakin, has directed all political parties participating  in the scheduled April 18, 2020 Local Government elections in the state, to conduct their primaries between January 14 and February 7, 2020.

Prof. Dinakin, who spoke while releasing the time-table of activities to political parties  at the stakeholders’ meeting held at the Commission’s office in Akure, the Ondo State capital, also added that such primaries must be supervised by the Commission’s officials

The Commission also gave February 25 deadline for withdrawal/replacement of candidate(s) by political parties for the chairmanship/councillorship polls.

The meeting was attended by representatives of participating political parties including the All Progressives Congress, (APC), the Peoples Democractic Party, (PDP), the Social Democratic Party, (SDP), Mega Party, the Alliance for New Nigeria, (ANN), among others.

The ODIEC boss said the Commission is  prepared to conduct elections into the chairmanship/ councillorship positions across the 18 Local Government Areas of the state, come April 18 this year.

He urged the stakeholders to comply with the statutory time-table released, disclosing  that they still have 97 days against the 90 days provided by law as notice for the conduct of the council polls.

Prof. Dinakin added that there would be a meeting with all registered political parties  for the release of the election guidelines.

He equally noted that any political candidate who intends  to withdraw from the election and wants a refund of the money earlier paid in 2018 should apply for a refund.

It would be recalled that the Local Government Elections earlier scheduled to hold on December 1, 2018, could not hold due to some identified challenges.

Some opposition parties, particularly the Mega Party, however, called for the resignation of the ODIEC boss, saying they did not have confidence in his ability to conduct the fresh polls.

But in his quick response, Prof Dinakin  said, “resignation is a matter of choice.”