APC, SDP boycott Adamawa LG election

By Musa Baba Adamu

The frontline opposition parties in Adamawa state, All Progressives Congress, (APC), and Social Democratic Party, (SDP) have made good their threat not to participate in the upcoming Local Government elections as they are conspicuously missing in the list of participants released by the state electoral body.
The election comes up on the Saturday, July 13.
The two parties had earlier questioned the chances of Adamawa State Independent Electoral Commission, (ADSIEC) conducting credible council election on the given date, insisting that they would not be part of the poll
They have made good their vow, as revealed in the final list of the 12 participating parties shown to newsmen during an interaction with ADSIEC on Tuesday.
The APC and SDP came second and third, respectively, behind the ruling Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, during the last governorship election in Adamawa State.
Chairman of ADSIEC, Mohammed Umar, who called a news briefing on the council election scheduled for the weekend, said the parties that decided not to participate would not be forced against their will, but that the Commission is determined to conduct a free and fair council poll.
The ADSIEC chairman dismissed insinuations that some council chairmanship aspirants were disqualified illegally, that results of the election had already been written, and that there would be no real election.
He said his Commission has no right to disqualify anyone in the way that has been alleged and did not do so; that the Commission had not even produced result sheets, let alone write results, and that proper election will be conducted.
“We are logistically ready for the election. It will take place in all 4,104 polling units across the state and the results will be entered as they come,” he said.
The ADSIEC chairman said the 12 participating political parties have 60 chairmanship candidates screened for the 21 local government areas of the state.
The 12 political parties are Accord Party, AP; Action Alliance, AC; All Progressives Grand Alliance, APGA; African Democratic Congress, ADC; Alliance Peoples Movement, APM, Labour Party, LP; All Peoples Party, APP; New Nigeria Peoples Party, NNPP; National Rescue Movement, NRM; Peoples Democratic Party, PDP; and Peoples Redemption Party, PDP.