Nasarawa State Government has finally made up its mind to conduct Local Government Councils elections to produce persons that will oversee the affairs of those areas.
The move taken by the Abdullahi Sule led government is in the right direction due to the importance attached to Local Government administration in any democratic set-up.
The last time the Local Government Councils election was conducted in the State was in 2018, during the tenure of Governor Tanko Almakura, now a Senator in the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
The tenure of those elected in 2018 came to an end in May this year, paving way for the State government to hand over the mantle of leadership at that level to Directors of Personnel Management(DPMs), pending the conduct of another election that would produce Democratically elected Officials to occupy the seats.
The State Independent Electoral Commission (NASIEC), headed by Barrister Ayuba Wandai, a fortnight ago announced the Commission’s readiness to conduct Councils elections in the area.
According to him, the State government has released the sum of N669 Million required for the exercise, adding that the election would have been conducted before now but due to lack of money on the part of the government hence the exercise was delayed till now.
The electoral empire in its wisdom has scheduled October 6, 2021, for the conduct of Local Government Councils elections in the State. Since the announcement of the October date for the election, the electoral body has met with representatives of registered Parties in the State as well as embarked on programmes that would add value to the success of the proposed election.
The full timetable for the election has also been released by the electoral body, indicating that come rain, come sun Nasarawa State will hold her Local Government elections in October this year.
The arrangements by the State Government and NASIEC have doused the speculation in some quarters that the current leadership of the State was not ready to conduct Councils elections, instead will appoint interim Management Committees.
The proposed election will be a litmus test for both the Governor and the NASIEC Chairman because both of them are new in the business.
This is the first time such an election would be conducted during their leaderships.
Therefore, the success of it would be a plus to them.
The stage is now set for Aspirants who are gunning for the position of Chairmanship and those for Councillorship to test their acceptability by the electorates, as the election will be conducted in all the 147 electoral Wards across the 13 recognised Local Government Councils in the State.
Thou the electoral empire based on her arrangements has indicated its desire to have a free, fair and all acceptable election that is devoid of rancour, come October 6, 2021, the fact still remains that such was the intention of those that conducted previous exercises but ended up witnessed hitches here and there.
However, with the calibre of persons in the State electoral empire, to be guided by the recently released NASIEC regulations 2021, coupled with the determination of the State Governor, Abdullahi Sule to ensure a peaceful election, it is believed that the proposed exercise would be a success.
However, it is pertinent to state that in previous elections there were pockets of complaints in some areas, such as late arrival of election Material and election staff, leading to late commencement of the exercise, security problem as well as ballot box snatching.
It is hoped that this time around, the electoral body will correct those problems and do everything possible to ensure that none of these obstacles will repeat itself.
To achieve the feat, Staff of the Commission must work strictly by the rules and regulations of the exercise.
They must not be partial in their activities, instead, embrace all Political Parties and treat all Aspirants with dignity and equal.
On the other hand, Political Parties in the area have to educate their followers on the need to be Law abiding before, during and after the election.
Similarly, every contestant must obey the Law of the land and embark on a campaign of issues and not on blackmail and character assassination.
The electorates on their part must be orderly during and after the voting and avoid the temptation of ballot box snatching or destruction.
Traditional rulers, religious leaders, security agencies and other stakeholders in the Nasarawa project need to contribute their quota faithfully so that the State would witness a peaceful election on the stipulated date.