Political stakeholders in Taraba have appealed to the State Independent Electoral Commission (SIEC) not to charge high nomination fees for the May 16, 2020 local council elections.
The stakeholders made the appeal Thursday during a meeting with the executive chairman of the commission, Dr Philip Duwe and other commissioners in Jalingo.
They said charging moderate and affordable nomination fees would encourage massive participation in the process.
Taraba chairman of the Social Democratic Party (SDP), Mr Peter Achagwa, noted that charging high nomination fees for chairmanship and councillorship positions would shut out smaller political parties from the process.
He said if the commission charges moderate fees, it would enable all willing political parties to field candidates in all the positions.
Achagwa stated that it would be better to have more people participate in the process than to charge high fees that many people could not afford.
Similarly, Alhaji Saadu Musa, the Taraba chairman, Inter party Advisory Council (IPAC), said the body would want massive participation in the electoral process, hence the need for the commission to charge moderate fees to enable every willing member to contest.
Musa also called for calm among members of IPAC in the state over the de registration of some political parties by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
He urged them to close ranks and work together for the success of the elections pending the determination of the court cases over deregistration by INEC.
Earlier, the executive chairman of SIEC, Duwe had told the stakeholders that the commission expected them to be united and work together for the success of the election at the local councils.
Duwe noted that the commission was almost at a crossroads over the de registration of some parties by INEC.
He added that the commission would apply wisdom by putting all the party logos on the ballot if the pending court case was not decided before the time of printing.
The chairman, who said the timetable had already been released to the political parties, assured the stakeholders that the commission would continue to carry them along throughout the period of the exercise.
“You will recall that this is our third meeting in series of attempts to get the process right and we will not relent until we succeed,” he said.
Duwe had on February 10, 2020 announced the commencement of the processes leading to the conduct of LG polls by May 16. (NAN)