Guardian

EDO State Independent Electoral Commission (EDSIEC Wednesday fixed April 20, 2013 for council elections.

The move came 26 months after the state government dissolved local council administration on October 25, 2010.

A statement by EDSIEC’s chairman, Solomon Ogoh, said, “details of the procedure for the conduct of the forthcoming local government elections shall be published in the timetable to be issued by the commission soon.”

Political activities at the third tier have been in top gear since October 29, 2012 when the House of Assembly dissolved the interim caretaker committees that had been overseeing the affairs of the councils since 2010.

A high court ruling in June last year dissolved the commission earlier set up by Governor Adams Oshiomhole, Consequently he, late last year, inaugurated a new commission headed by Ogoh to conduct the election before the end of the first quarter of the New Year.

Oshiomhole said that to ensure the impartiality of the chairman and members of the board, he invited the Chief Judge and judiciary in the state to nominate members who, in their opinion, were competent and independent.

Meanwhile, Imo State government has in Owerri, released a timetable for the April 27 council polls.

But the main opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), through its state Chairman, Chief Eze Duruiheoma, had told journalists that it would not participate in the elections since the matter of tenure of the council chiefs was still in court.

But Imo State Independent Electoral Commission (ISIEC) chairman, Chief Teddy Obi Akwari, said on Tuesday that party primaries would commence from January to March conducted in old and newly created wards.

Akwari has scheduled a meeting with all the chairmen and secretaries of the various parties in his office in Owerri tomorrow.