17 POLITICAL PARTIES TO PARTICIPATE IN BAYELSA LOCAL GOVERNMENT COUNCIL ELECTIONS 05-04-24
By Sadiq Aminu The people of Bayelsa State are heading to the polls this Saturday to elect chairmen for the eight local government area councils and councilors into the one hundred and five wards in the state.
The Bayelsa State independent Electoral Commission (BYSIEC) has given assurances of its readiness to conduct a hitch-free election.
Seventeen political parties have fielded candidates for the polls.
After a series of postponements, elections into the eight local government councils in Bayelsa State will finally take place.
With the last polls taking place in 2019, eligible voters have the opportunity to exercise their franchise to elect new local government chairmen in the 8 LGAs and Councilors across the 109 wards in the State.
In preparation for the election, the Bayelsa State independent Electoral Commission on Friday led officials of political parties, agents and the Media to inspect sensitive and non sensitive materials at the Central Bank office in Yenagoa.
BYSIEC Chairman, Dr. Peter Singabele reiterated the readiness of the Commission to organize a hitch free election.
An official of the Inter Party Advisory Committee, IPAC, Peace Oruma expressed satisfaction with the arrangements made so far.
Some party agents also said they were impressed with the efforts put in place by BYSIEC.
Governor Douye Diri in a memo signed by the Head of the Bayelsa State Civil Service Mrs. Biobelemoye Charles-Onyema had declared Friday as a work-free day to enable civil servants travel to participate in the elections.
Meanwhile, the major opposition Party, the All Progressives Congress is not taking part in the polls.
Similarly, the Bayelsa State Labour Party, Governorship Candidate in the 2023 Governorship election, Engineer Udengs Eradiri, described the local government electoral process in the state as undemocratic.
Eradiri while briefing newsmen called for amendment of sections of the constitution establishing local government councils to remove aspects promoting undue influence of councils by governors.
He particularly asked the National Assembly to amend the law establishing local government administration to allow the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, conduct elections for vacant positions into local government councils.