The Adamawa State Independent Electoral Commission (ADSIEC) confirmed on Tuesday, July 9, that 12 political parties will be presenting candidates for the upcoming local government election in the state.
Notably absent from the list were the leading opposition All Progressives Congress (APC) and another major party, the Social Democratic Party (SDP).
The two parties, which were the closest competitors to the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the last governorship election, had previously expressed a lack of confidence in the council election scheduled by ADSIEC for this Saturday, July 13.
The 12 political parties whose candidates have been screened for the election include Accord Party (AP), Action Alliance (AA), All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), African Democratic Congress (ADC), and Alliance Peoples Movement (APM).
The others are Labour Party, LP; All Peoples Party, APP; New Nigeria Peoples Party, NNPP; National Rescue Movement, NRM; Peoples Democratic Party, PDP; and Peoples Redemption Party, PDP.
The Chairman of ADSIEC, Mohammed Umar, who called a news briefing on Tuesday, said the parties that decided not to participate in the election could not be forced against their will.
He stressed however that his commission will conduct a free and fair council poll.
He dismissed insinuations that some council chairmen aspirants were disqualified illegally, that results of the election had already been written, and that there will be no real election.
He said his commission has no right to disqualify anyone in the way that has been alleged and did not do so; that the commission had not even produced result sheets, let alone write results, and that proper election will be conducted.
“We are logistically ready for the election. It will take place in all 4104 polling units across the state and the results will be entered as they come,” he said.
The ADSIEC chairman said the 12 participating political parties have 60 chairmanship candidates screened for the 21 local government areas of the state.
– Nation