Proposed LG elections in Ekiti under threat

[emezico]

The envisaged local government election in Ekiti State is now under threat as the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the state has announced plans to go to court over the composition of the State Independent Electoral Commission.

The PDP also said it would challenge the Local Government Administration (Amendment) Law recently assented to by the state governor, Dr Kayode Fayemi, which reduces the tenure of local government chairmen to two years as well as the empowerment of the governor to appoint personal aides of the chairman.

The state PDP chairman, Chief Bola Olu-Ojo, who stated this while addressing newsmen in Ado-Ekiti at the weekend, alleged that the newly constituted Ekiti electoral commission was made up of card-carrying members of the governing Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) in the state.

Chief Olu-Ojo said his party had been putting finishing touches on the suit the party intended to file against the state governor for signing into law the Local Government Administration (Amendment) Law of Ekiti State and the state's electoral law.

"Under the new local government amendment law, the governor is empowered to appoint all the aides of local government chairmen and the secretaries of council areas in the state," the Ekiti PDP boss said and described the power given to the governor under the law as illegal.

According to him, the PDP would "not leave the matter lying low."

Tribune