Some voters line up at Sarkin Hausawa polling unit in Gwandara Town, Keffi LGA of Nasarawa, ready to cast their votes
BY RICHARD ABU, Nasarawa –
Local government elections to produce new council chairmen and councillors in Nasarawa State are to take place in the 13 Local Government Areas of the state today.
Already, plans are on by the Nasarawa State Independent Electoral Commission (NASIEC) to move all the sensitive electoral materials to all the pooling stations across the state.
Chairman of NASIEC, Mr. Ayuba Usman Wandai had assured all the indegines of the state that there is going to be a free and fair elections as the Commission under his watch is committed to conduct a credible election.
He assured all the political parties participating in the elections of a free level playing field even as he promised that the communication is not going to favour any political party or candidate irrespective of any affiliation.
Our correspondent monitoring the elections, reports that voters have started coming out in their hundreds to participate in the exercise as they said it would afford them the opportunity to elect candidates of their choice.
Mr. Yusuf Gwanje, whose ward is located at LGEA Primary School, Auta Balefi, expressed readiness to exercise his franchise.
Some of the voters, however, decried the schedule of the election on a working day, saying it will deprive many people who are cilvil servants from participating in the elections.
But the chairmanship flagbearer of the All Progressives Congress (APC) for Karu Local Government Council, Mr. Thomas Moses has dismissed the complain, noting that the Nasarawa State Government has declared public holiday to enable all the civil servants in the state participate in the election.
As at the time of filling this report, people were still trouping out in their hundreds but a chieftain of the People’s Democratic party (PDP) in Keffi LGA, Mr. Ahmed Tijani allays fear that the election may be rigged by the electoral body in favour of the ruling APC as members of the party have started intimidating and harassing members of the opposition parties.
“There is low turnout and as you can see people are going about doing their normal busineses, there was no adequate time given for other contestants to mobilize their supporters and as such, they will at the end announced candidates of their choice” he said.
Mr. Tijani, however, called on the Federal Government to take over the conduct of local government elections.