…admonishes residents to eschew Votes Buying.
The Oyo State Independent Electoral Commission (OYSIEC), has disclosed that the final list of Chairmanship and Councillorship Candidates in the next local government councils election in the state will be released on 1st February, 2024.
The Chairman of the commission, Aare Isiaka Abiola Olagunju, SAN, disclosed this on Saturday while featuring a bilingual live radio program in Ibadan.
Olagunju explained that the release of candidate lists will afford the political parties the opportunities to cross -check and ascertain names of their candidates.
Aare Olagunju, who expressed optimism that there will be an improvement in voter’s turn-out in the next election considering the synergy among the 19 participating registered political parties in the state and the commission, admonished residents to eschew votes buying as law regards both the giver and collector as culprits.
Speaking further on preparations ahead of the poll, Olagunju, hinted that recruitment of the ad-hoc staff would be done online.
He noted that the decision to adopt electronic form for the recruitment was to eliminate stress considering numbers of people to be engaged and also promote transparency.
He enjoined interested applicants to supply valid data and required information by the time the recruitment portal is made public, to prevent unforeseen circumstances.
Aare Olagunju assured that physically challenged people and aged would be promptly attended to on election day, as done in 2021.
He explained that the commission will make use of the voter’s register used by the Independent National Electoral Commission in the last presidential and governorship elections in Oyo state.
He said : “The final list of candidates will be out by the first week in February, 2024.
“The Commission is done with the recruitment portal for the ad-hoc staff, the link, and criteria would be made public in the advertisement for interested and qualified individuals to apply in due course.
“ There is also provision for physically challenged people who are qualified and willing to work with the commission as ad-hoc staff, we have a column for applicants to indicate their status.
“It is important for applicant to use a personal account and not that of another person, this is one of the challenges we had in 2021 in the payment of their allowances.
“ We have set up a committee to monitor campaigns of political parties to ensure their campaigns are free of harassment and defamation.
“What we want is all-inclusive participation, the election will be conducted within the ambit of the law, and we will not let the people down,” Olagunju added.
