Benue electoral chief pledges free, fair council polls

CHAIRMAN of the Benue State Independent Electoral Commission (BSIEC), Prof. Philip Ahire, has assured members of the Benue electorate that free and fair elections at the third tier of government under him are possible.

Ahire, who gave assurance during an interview with journalists in his office on Tuesday against the backdrop of the November 24 polls in the 23 local council areas of the state, maintained that the sovereignty of the electorate is crucial for development to be achieved but regretted that even as that was desirable, it is the political parties both at the national and state levels that find it difficult to imbibe the culture of internal democracy.

He explained that after the parties’ primaries, which were held recently across the state, the commission was inundated with petitions by candidates who felt short-changed by their various political parties.

“In the just concluded local government primaries, many petitions came to us from candidates complaining of been short-changed but I advised them that the choice of candidates is the entire responsibility of the parties and not us as prescribed by the law. So the petitions were deemed misplaced,” Ahire stated.

Meanwhile, a female chairmanship aspirant under the platform of Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) in the state, Mrs. Helen Ikpambese, has stated that her ambition to contest for the chairmanship position in Kwande Local Council Area is a divine call to unite and salvage the indigenes of the area so as to bring development.

She pledged to devise possible ways of increasing the revenue base of the local council, create wealth and fully integrate the youth to eradicate restiveness that has become the order of the day in the council, noting that many youths are into social vices due to idleness.

A staunch member of the Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP) in Gboko Local Council Area of the state, Mrs. Ikpambese had served the party as a supervisory councilor for finance as well as the women leader in the local council before she decided to pitch tent with the ACN, which she said is better positioned to offer democracy dividends to her people.