Twelve political parties in Akwa Ibom have been cleared for the forthcoming local government election in the state.
Announcing this at a press conference on Monday, Elder Aniedi Ikoiwak, the Chairman of Akwa Ibom State Electoral Commission (AKISIEC) said though 19 political parties exist in the state, 12 had submitted their list of candidates.
“After publication of the list of cleared candidates, any person has a right to stop the commission from fielding the candidates for the election,” he noted.
On preparations for the election, he announced that 14,000 security personnel are expected to man 4,353 polling units, 369 electoral wards and 31 local government areas in the state.
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The AKISIEC boss further said though 19,000 ad hoc staff applied for the job based on advertisement, the commission would make employ the services of between 12,500 and 13,000 ad- hoc staff for the conduct of the election .
Ikoiwak stated that the commission would commence training of the ad-hoc staff from September 13, 2024.
According to him, the commission has procured election and other materials, but that sensitive materials would be dispatch to various local government headquarters on October 4.
On the funding for the election, the AKISIEC boss blamed the framers of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria for not protecting the interest state electoral commissions in terms of funding and other provisions.
Reacting to the protection of small and opposition political parties, Ikoiwak said the commission would not bend any rule to impress or fail to announce or be influenced to favour nay party during the announcement of results.
”We will announce the winners of the election. It is not our duty to vote for any candidate, but to announce as submitted by the people in the field,” he added.
The state Chairman of Nigeria Union of Journalists, Comrade Amos Etuk thanked the chairman for the partnership with the press, and pledged to use their various media platforms to set agenda for a more credible and acceptable election.
Amos said the Supreme Court verdict conferring financial autonomy to local government councils in the country, there is growing interests among various stakeholders on those to man local government governance for the overall rural development.
He pledged to partner the commission in an effort to conduct acceptable, credible and fair election to restoring public confidence in the electoral body.
