The Borno State chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has announced it will boycott Saturday’s local government elections, citing lack of confidence in the Borno State Independent Electoral Commission (BOSIEC) and alleging that the process has already been compromised.
In a statement issued on Friday, December 12, the party’s Publicity Secretary, Amos Adziba, said the decision followed extensive deliberations at the State Executive Committee (SEC) meeting held in Maiduguri.
According to Adziba, the PDP leadership agreed unanimously that participating in the December 13 poll would be pointless, given what it described as BOSIEC’s failure to create a level playing field for all political parties.
“The BOSIEC did not give the opposition parties substantial reasons to build confidence in the credibility and fairness of the election,” he said.
Adziba also criticised what the party called the electoral body’s “insensitivity” to current economic realities, accusing it of charging exorbitant fees for expression of interest and nomination forms.
“The state electoral body is unmindful of the harsh prevailing economic challenges in the country by demanding high purchase of expression of interest and nomination forms,” he stated.
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The PDP further faulted the state government for not amending the electoral law to ensure that councillorship results are announced at the ward level and chairmanship results at the local government headquarters.
“Since the state government has not amended the bill, it means it will be business as usual for the APC to ambush other political parties with electoral frauds,” Adziba warned.
Meanwhile, the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) has confirmed its full participation in the elections.
The party’s state chairman, Bello Ayuba, said preparations had been completed and that all members and supporters were ready.
“We have written to the Borno State Independent Electoral Commission that our party is ready to take part in the forthcoming local government elections,” Ayuba said.
“We have communicated formally to all wards and our supporters that we will be participating in the elections,” he added .
The scheduled election is the first local government poll to be conducted in Borno State since the return of relative peace to many communities previously affected by insurgency.