Kwara PDP, APC trade words over non-conduct of council poll

Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Kwara State, Tunde Mohammed, has criticised the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) in the state for its ‘lethargy’ to issues bordering on timely conduct of local council elections.

In a chat with The Guardian yesterday in Ilorin, Mohammed argued said the APC government in Kwara remained the worst since the creation of the state some 57 years ago in terms of response to conduct of elections into the council areas.

His words: “The APC government in this state is just responding to the yearnings of the people on the need for a council election six years after its assumption of office. We had never experienced this type of government before in our history as a state. This development did not even occur during the era of the military juntas.”

But the APC Chairman in Kwara, Sunday Fagbemi, described the opposition party as “a symbol of negativism,” just as he justified the non-conduct of the council poll, suggesting that the period had been maximised by the ruling party to strengthen human and natural resources across the rural and urban centres.

The Kwara State Independent Electoral Commission (KWASIEC) recently fixed the council elections for September 21.  The PDP chairman said the top echelon of the party has resolved to actively participate in the exercise except an undesirable situation arises.

Mohammed noted: “For now, we have not spotted any reason to boycott the elections. The KWASIEC is still playing the game according to rules. But where there are glaring lapses, we will surely respond to such, and equally make the public to know such vexed areas.”

Fagbemi responded: “We inherited humongous debts from the PDP. Despite that, we are making the workers happy with prompt payment of their salaries, including the gratuities of the pensioners owed by the PDP government.

“We have transformed the state, and everyone with an eye can see the developments. I think, this is the right time for the elections, because elections into the LGAs involve huge sum of money and proper planning.”

Already, the local PDP had announced commencement of sale of Nomination and Expression of Interest forms for the poll.According to the state Publicity Secretary of the party, Olusegun Adewara, the Expression of Interest Form is N20, 000, excluding the Nomination Form that goes for N80, 000.

For the councillorship, the Expression of Interest form sells for N5, 000, while the nomination form is put at N20, 000. Adewara hinted that female and physically challenged aspirants are to pay 50 per cent of the rates, adding that the measure aims to encourage gender inclusion and deepen the inclusion of various strata of the society in the PDP’s programme for the election.

The spokesman continued: “Similarly, the party has also approved Wednesday, June 26, for councillorship primary elections and Thursday, June 27 for chairmanship primary elections, respectively.

“The party adopts primary elections and/or ratifications where applicable, to determine its candidates across the state. This is in furtherance of our party’s commitment to true democracy where people’s rights to aspire to serve are strictly protected.”