Benue, Borno postpone LG elections indefinitely

The Benue and Borno State Independent Electoral Commissions have postponed the local government elections following the coronavirus pandemic.

Chairman of the Benue States Independent Electoral Commission (BSIEC), Dr Joseph Tersoo Loko announced the postponement of the poll slated for this Saturday during a media briefing.

Loko said the reason for the indefinite postponement of the election was the coronavirus pandemic.

“Human lives are very important and against this background, we shift the election for this Saturday indefinitely,” he said.

The chairman added that as soon as solution is found for the devastating ailment, the commission would carry out the elections in all the council areas in the state.

He said before the postponement of the election, the commission was fully prepared for the polls, stressing that the contractor handling sensitive materials was already conveying them to the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) before the stoppage of the polls.

Loko further explained that six political parties and 11,000 ad hoc staff were expected to participate had the election held.

Similarly, the Borno State Independent Electoral Commission has postponed, indefinitely, the local government council election in the state to prevent the spread of the coronavirus disease.

The election was scheduled for June 13, this year and, according to the timetable, the participating political parties were already bracing up for their primaries between April 8 and 15.

“The commission, taking into cognizance the fact that the next activity (party primaries) on the timetable will involve large gathering, which goes against the directive on the pandemic of coronavirus, the commission has decided to postpone all the remaining activities on the timetable indefinitely,” the Executive Chairman of the commission, Alhaji Abdu Usman, told newsmen yesterday in Maiduguri.

“This is in line with Section 26 of the Electoral Act 2010 (as amended),” he said.

Stressing that the indefinite postponement was in accordance with the presidential and state committees on the containment of the coronavirus pandemic, the executive chairman said, “The rescheduled timetable (for the election) will be released as soon as the situation is brought under control.”

He said the commission sincerely regretted the inconvenience the postponement would cause all political parties and the entire people of the state.