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All is set for Saturday’s local government election in Oyo state which comes 11 years after the last one during the tenure of former governor Rashidi Ladoja.
Eight political parties will be taking part in the election.
They are:
- All Progressives Congress (APC)
- Progressive People Alliance (PPA)
- Unity Democratic Party (UDP)
- African Peoples Alliance (APA)
- People for Democratic Change (PDC)
- Young Political Party(YPP)
- Action Democratic Party (ADP)
- Justice Must Prevail Party (JMPP)
The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) is boycotting the polls. The party said it would be validating illegality by participating in an election into the 35 Local Councik Development Areas (LCDAs).
The Alliance for Democracy (AD) on its own part, said it doubts the sincerity of the APC government in conducting a free and fair election.
The seven other opposition parties taking part confirmed their participation in a statement issued on Thursday by the Conference of Nigerian Political Parties (CNPP).
The parties, according to the statement signed by the Publicity Secretary of the Oyo State chapter of the CNPP, Dr. Smart Afolayan, said they decided to participate in the election after the Oyo State Independent Electoral Commission (OYSIEC) dropped the charge of N150,000 and N100,000 for chairmanship and councillorship nomination forms respectively.
They urged residents of the state to come out and cast their votes for their prefered candidates on Saturday.
The statement added: “As we have no other state we can call our own, we are thus saddled with the responsibility of maintaining peace and ensuring that the election is peaceful and devoid of rancor and disruption from any quarters.
“We call on all security agencies to ensure a peaceful atmosphere that will facilitate a free and fair local government election in the state devoid of rancour and blood letting.”