5th February, 2018
The Plateau State Independent Electoral Commission (PLASIEC) on Monday announced the indefinite postponement of elections into Local Government Councils earlier slated to hold Feb. 17, citing security concerns.
Its Chairman, Mr Fabian Ntung, who announced the decision while briefing newsmen in Jos, said that it was “based on a communication from the Plateau State Security Council”.
“PLASIEC has received a message from the security council which indicates that the security situation is not conducive for the conduct of the forthcoming Local Government Council elections.
“Accordingly, the security council has advised that the election be postponed pending when the security situation will improve.
“In line with the foregoing advice, the commission wishes to inform the general public, especially stakeholders in the political process, that the elections are hereby postponed until further notice,’’ he announced.
Ntung said that the commission had fully prepared and mobilised for the exercise but had to bow to the advice by the security council.
“Sensitive and non- sensitive materials were already set while recruitment and training of electoral officials had commenced, but we have no choice than to wait till the security situation improved,” he said.
He assured Plateau residents that the commission would conduct the election “as soon as the security atmosphere is conducive for the exercise”.
Ntung said that eight political parties had fielded candidates who had already been cleared to contest the botched elections.
Giving the breakdown, Ntung said that 38 candidates were cleared to contest the 17 chairmanship seats while 687 got the nod to contest councillorship seats.