Ahead of July 13th Local Government election, the Adamawa State Independent Electorial Commission (ADSIEC), has denied media reports and speculations in the state that the electoral body had disqualified some candidates from participating in the election.
This clarification came amid allegations of certificate forgery, levelled against the Peoples Democratic Party’s (PDP) chairmanship candidate of Guyuk local government, who was alleged to have forged documents submitted to relevant authorities for the election.
Speaking in an interview with journalists in Yola, the ADSIEC chairman, Mohammed Umar, said all the candidates presented by the political parties were screened and cleared to participate in the election, as the commission had no power to disqualify any candidate except a court of law.
He further explained that, 12 out of 19 political parties would participate in the election, including 60 contestants for both the chairmanship and councillorship seats representing various political parties.
The ADSIEC boss reiterated the commitment of the commission towards the conduct of free, fair and credible election, stressing that election would take place in all the 4104 polling units across the state with three adhoc staff in each polling unit.
According to him, they were logistically ready for the election, and have already deployed non-sensitive materials to all the local governments, while the sensitive materials would be distributed on Thursday to far local governments and concluded on Friday with nearby local governments in the state.
He added that the commission had been holding meetings and strategizing with security agencies in the state to ensure hitch-free exercise, noting that everything was under control and there was no cause for alarm.