It became certain Tuesday that the main opposition political parties in Adamawa State will not be presenting candidates for the local government election coming up on Saturday, July 13.
The All Progressives Congress, APC, and Social Democratic Party, SDP, are conspicuously missing from the list of 12 parties with candidates for the election.
Both the APC and the SDP 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.