BY CHAMBERLAIN ODEY, JOS – Doubts by some political parties and critical stakeholders in Plateau State have continued to trail preparations by the Plateau State Independent Electoral Commission (PLASIEC) to conduct local government councils’ elections slated for February 2018.

Plateau State Chairman of Action Democratic Party (ADP), Chief Andrew Nanyak said stakeholders are worries over what appears as insincerity and shoddiness by the Commission since September when it officially released the Council polls’ timetable.

In a chat with Forefront in Jos, Chief Nanyak said although PLASIEC met with political parties as stakeholders in the process, what it presented was quite discouraging and questionable, and summarily portrayed the Commission as dishonest or not serious with the notice of elections for next February.

Nanyak expressed dismay that document given to the parties to photocopy was   “merely a bill”, signed by the Speaker, Plateau State House of Assembly (PLHA) and the clerk, not the actual law approving conduct of the Councils’ polls as accented to by the State Governor, Simon Lalong.

According to him, just giving political parties a copy of the bill at this time is very worrisome and smacks of PLASIEC’s collaboration with the governing All Progressives Congress (APC) in the State to orchestrate political mischief, especially against the backdrop of claims that the bill was passed into law and signed by the Governor before PLASIEC flagged off its plans and eventually released the elections’ time table.

The ADP chieftain took the Commission to task on its clearance fees for the chairmanship and councillorship candidates, describing such as ‘rather too high’ and a likely ploy to frustrate opposition parties from presenting candidates with credible credentials to thrash the APC and take over control of grassroots politics in the State.

With 17 chairmanship slots and 325 councilors’ seats on line, Nanyak said PLASIEC’s levy of three hundred and fifty thousand Naira per chairmanship candidate, and one hundred and seventy thousand for a councillor is too high, and unacceptable, especially in an economy that has been mismanaged and rendered unproductive by the APC.

There are also grim concerns by the public over reports that the PLASIEC is yet to access its budget for the polls, and it is feared that this has a huge potential to undermine the Commission’s preparations and resolve to conduct a successful, hitch-free and generally acceptable elections.

Insiders told Forefront that lack of funds is already taking its toll on the Commission’s operations as it was unable to hold a press conference meant to announce its programmes for the elections. Also affected is the Commission’s plan to embark on a scheduled voter education and public awareness campaigns as foundation for credible and transparent polls.

Similarly, there is apprehension that PLASIEC is yet to produce even non-sensitive electoral materials, a development capable of harming mass mobilization and participation of citizens in the elections.

Furthermore, there are insinuations that the Commission is acting a script authored by Governor Lalong, said to be worried by security report claiming popular rejection of APC by Plateau people and likely huge losses during the proposed councils polls.

However, Chairman of PLASIEC, Fabian Ntun Ari, has debunked all the claims, asserting that preparations are on course, with the Commission totally committed to deliver on its statutory mandate.

He told a local FM Radio that all is well, and that the Commission will soon commence staff training and orientation for the conduct of the polls next February as scheduled.

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Parties Doubt PLASIEC’s Readiness For LG Polls