September 10, (THEWILL) – The Ogun State Independent Electoral Commission (OGSIEC), on Monday, said votes of electorates in the forthcoming local government elections slated for November 16 would be counted at polling units in the presence of party agents to ensure free, fair and credible council polls in the state.
This was just as the commission announced the extension of political parties’ primaries in the state by a week.
OGSIEC Chairman, Mr. Babatunde Osibodu, disclosed this during the stakeholders meeting for the 2024 local government elections held at the commission’s office in Abeokuta, the state capital.
Osibodu said if votes were counted at the polling booths, party agents and electorates would see transparency in the way the commission handled the elections and wouldn’t accuse it of being biased or rigging the election to favour a political party.
“The votes will be counted at polling units that is why we expect agents to be there,” he noted
The Chairman, while speaking on the primaries extension, said it became necessary to give political parties more time to conduct their primaries in order to bring out candidates of their best choices to contest the council elections
“The time for primaries has been extended by one week to Monday, 16 of September,” he stressed.
He, however, said the commission was not planning to extend the November 16 date of the LG elections, noting that all security apparatuses had been put in place to ensure violent-free polls.
