Council Polls: Kogi SIEC Chairman denies alleged partisanship

Ahead of the October 19th Local Government election in Kogi State, the Chairman of the State Independent Electoral Commission, KOSIEC), Mamman Nda Eri has debunked the allegations making the rounds that over 50 percent of the Commissioners are card-carrying members of the ruling All Progressive Congress, APC.

Eri made the clarification on Thursday when members of the federated chapel, Nigerian Union of Journalists, NUJ, paid him a courtesy visit in his office in Lokoja.

The Kogi SIEC Chairman described the allegations raised by the Conference of Nigeria Political Parties, CNPP, as false, baseless and lacking any iota of truth.

“The report is false and unfounded. None of the SIEC Commissioner’s are members of the APC. We remain committed to conducting a free, fair and credible Local Government election come 19th October 2024 in Kogi State, he insisted.

” When I was appointed, I warned my people that if they are wearing the clothes of any political parties, they should go and drop them. I told them we are referees and we must be unbiased in the discharge of our duties. Kogites should disregard the information as it is not true.

Speaking on the allegations that the Commission has concluded plans to screen or disqualify political party candidates ahead of the council election, Eri said, “The Kogi State Independent Electoral Commission has no power to screen or disqualify any candidate vying for political positions. The only thing we do is verification and documentation. Even with the verification, we have no power to disqualify, we can only advise the party”.

Eri acknowledged that party candidates are to pay for forms for the local government election slated for October in the state.

Explaining further, he said, “It is true party candidates are to pay for forms in respect of the forthcoming election. For SIEC, there is an avenue that we have explored. Last time that we had an election, we overlooked it although it was published in our election guidelines that in the case of a Councillorship election, candidates make deposits of N100,000 to the Commission and for the position of Chairmanship, Candidates are to deposit N250,000 to the Commission.

“It is not just peculiar to Kogi State alone. Go and confirm. Kogi State is one of the few States where aspiring candidates pay for forms. In Zamfara State, their Chairmanship form goes for N3,000,000. That of Councillorship goes for N1,000,000.

“Why we did it for free of charge in the last Local Government election election was because of the Covid-19. We felt that everybody is coming out of that stress so we should not stress anybody. At that time, it was N50,000 for Councillorship and N100,000 for Chairmanship. Almost all political parties came to pick forms and at the end of the day, we had to go and print more because it was free.

” At the end of the day, about 50 percent of the forms we gave out were not returned to us. The Inter Party Advisory Council (IPAC) raised the issue at the stakeholders meeting held recently in which we have been able to clear the air for their understanding”.

“For the avoidance of doubt. Only the candidate that emerged from the Primary and presented by the political party is allowed to pay for the form and not all the aspirants during the party primaries. All we are expected to do is to do a verification and documentation of the information provided”.

Responding, the Chairman of the Federated Chapel of the Nigeria Union of Journalists, Kogi State, Mike Abu expressed optimism that the commission will conduct a free, fair and credible election that will meet global standards.

“This commission has done it before and we are confident that they will do it again. The People of Kogi State are looking forward to acceptable polls that will reflect their wishes,” he added.

Abu called on political parties to collaborate with the commission for a hitch-free exercise in Kogi State.

It could be recalled that the Conference of Nigeria Political Parties, CNPP, in Kogi State Mohammed Kabir Abdullahi rejected the planned sale of forms by SIEC, accusing the electoral body of partisanship and planning to disqualify some political parties candidates vying for various positions in the state.