13 POLITICAL PARTIES PARTICIPATE IN EBONYI LG ELECTION

Reporter : AMECHI ODO

Ebonyi State Independent Electoral Commission, (EBSIEC) says local government elections are taking place on Saturday  (29/8/2020) in one hundred and seventy one wards in the state. Thirteen political parties are participating in the election.

The Local Government election would have taken place on the August 6, 2020 but was shifted to August 29 after a court order restrained EBSIEC from going ahead with the poll. The Chairman of the Commission, Chief Jossy Eze, explained that thirteen political parties with their acronyms as AA, AAC, ADC, ADP, APGA APP, BP, LP, LLPP, PDP, PRP and ZLP would participate in the Election.

He noted that sensitive and non-sensitive materials needed for the election would be deployed early to enable eligible voters to cast their votes with strict compliance with COVID-19 protocol. On efforts to ensure adequate security during the exercise, the Police Public Relations Officer in the State, Mrs. Loveth Oda, noted that the state Command had restricted vehicular movement from 8 0’clock in the morning to 3 0’clock in the afternoon in all parts of the state.

She said security agents had been deployed across the state while participating political parties had signed a peace accord to ensure violence free poll. Similarly, the Public Relations Officer, Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps, Ebonyi State Command, Mr. Paul Odinmba, told Radio Nigeria that personnel of the Corps had been deployed to complement efforts of the police during the election.

Some residents of the state, including Mr. Anthony Okpata, expressed readiness to exercise their franchise but called on EBSIEC to ensure that their votes counted. The local government election is for the positions of the chairmen and councillors.

Radio Nigeria gathered that this is the second time Local Government Election is being conducted by the Governor David Umahi led administration since he assumed office in 2015.