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The Plateau State Independent Electoral Commission (PLASIEC) has promised the people of Plateau free, fair and credible local government elections.
Peter Dalyop, the commission’s Chairman, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Tuesday in Jos that elections into the 17 local governments in the state would hold very soon.
The commission chairman who however refused to give a date for the elections said arrangements were in top gear to produce a time-table.
“The commission is working round the clock to deliver credible, free and fair local government elections in the state.
“But the date for the polls would be arrived at after on-going consultations with the various stakeholders which are the state government, the legislature and the political parties,’’ he said.
Dalyop said the polls had earlier been scheduled to hold last year but were deferred “due to certain events in the state which were beyond PLASIEC.’’
He said the delay had made it impossible for elections to hold in the local governments until the tenure of the immediate past administrations elapsed and caretaker committees were inaugurated.
“Since our inauguration, we have been preparing for elections. We have been having consultations with relevant stakeholders, which include all the political parties in the state.
“I want to say that this commission has been working for quite some time. As you are aware, the commission was reconstituted last year.
“Our immediate mandate then really was for us to have conducted the elections before the expiration of the tenure of the immediate past administration at the local governments.
“Since then we have been working round the clock. As of now, what we can tell the people is that PLASIEC is ready to deliver credible, fair and free elections,’’ the commission chairman said.
He said the commission was already discussing with the state government because it was to fund the elections, as well as the security agencies and other relevant persons and bodies.
“We have also briefed the Plateau State House of Assembly on our preparations for the polls and, by the grace of God, the time-table will be out soon.
“We are already working on the time-table and we will soon fix a date. It will not be long, I assure.
“As soon as those consultations finish, we shall roll out the time-table, I assure you. God willing, it is not going to be long from now,’’ Dalyop said.?
NAN reports that the tenure of the elected local government chairmen in the state elapsed in December 2011 and they were replaced with appointed officials by the state government.(NAN)