Adamawa Cancels Council Election

• It is unclear how a vacuum to be created by not doing the election early in December

Ekohotblog reports that Adamawa State Independent Electoral Commission (ADSIEC) has postponed its planned local government council poll.

The state electoral authority, which had previously set the election for December 4, 2021, has not announced a new date.

Alhaji Isa Shettima, Chairman of the Commission, stated in a news statement on Friday that the polls will not be held as planned ‘due to various problems.’

Shettima stated that his commission determined that, due to a series of accidents affecting the commission’s properties, the money allotted for the exercise in the 2021 budget is insufficient to organize the aforementioned election.

“Preparations by the commission to conduct the LGC election are suspended to give government time to source for supplementary funds,” the ADSIEC chairman said.

He stressed that arrangements for the election are confronted with multiple challenges, explaining that for instance, “The re-usable election materials like ballot boxes, duty vests, bags, kits among others retrieved from field after the last election were vandalised by End SARS demostrators.”

He said also that the conversion of voting points into polling units has increased the number of polling units from 2, 609 to 4,104 in the state, adding, “This change will lead to increase in both facilities and ad hoc staff.”

He added that ongoing registration exercise of new voters will have a resultant increase in ballot papers that will be required for the council election.

“These changes will require additional funds to organise and conduct the election; hence, the suspension of the exercise, to enable government source supplementary funds,” the ADSIEC boss concluded.

It is unclear how a vacuum to be created by not doing the election early in December will be tackled, as the term of incumbent chairmen and councillors across the 21 LGAs of the state will be up on December 8, 2021