The Ekiti State Government has denied appointing Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) members into the state Independent Electoral Commission (EKSIEC).
Commissioner for Local Government, Community Development and Chieftaincy Affairs, Kolade Kolapo, said yesterday that the governor painstakingly selected non-partisan individuals into the electoral body to ensure credibility.
Speaking in Ado Ekiti at a press briefing on the activities of his ministry in the last one-year, Kolapo dismissed allegations that card-carrying politicians were on the commission.
He said an impartial and unbiased EKSIEC as well as other arrangements had been put in place to ensure a free, fair and acceptable local government election on December 19, describing the state as “a clear break from the present caretaker committee arrangement which has been in place since 2010.”
As stated by him, the ministry had in the last one year settled chieftaincy matters in some communities as well as some boundary disputes to ensure peace in the state.
Explaining that it was not acceptable to Governor Ayodele Fayose for any community to be without a ruler, Kolade said the administration had peacefully resolved ascendancy tussles in nine communities, which had been without monarchs due to interests from certain quarters.
He said, while the Fayose administration had installed monarchs in six communities, the remaining three traditional rulers would be presented with their staff of office within one week.
The commissioner, however, lamented that some activities of the ministry, particularly, in the areas of running local governments were being hampered by lack of adequate fund occasioned by reduction in revenue accruing to the state from the Federation Account.
He added that the ministry had resuscitated the Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) forum in the local governments to improve the IGR in the councils.