Screening of Councillorship Candidates for the forthcoming 2021 Local Government Elections in Ogun State has commenced today at Ogun State Independent Electoral Commission (OGSIEC) office, Abeokuta.
The screening exercise held at the commission headquarters had candidates from Ogun Central Senatorial District being screened on day one.
Speaking during the exercise, OGSIEC Chairman, Mr. Babatunde Osibodu maintained that the exercise was a major requirement as contained in the Ogun State Electoral Law 2007, in order to ensure that those the political parties are presenting for election at the grassroots are people of unquestionable characters.
“The electoral law 2007 provides that for Local Government Elections, OGSIEC should screen all candidates and when they have been screened and accepted, then they can be given nomination forms, so the exercise is as provided for by Law.
“And the essence basically is to look at all the credentials presented by them. For example, the law says a councillor must be at least 25 years old, if we discover that a candidate is below that, we will not screen that person.
“Also if a candidate is discovered to have been found guilty of committing drug offences or treason against Nigeria, or have been declared a lunatic, we are sorry, such will not be cleared based on the yardstick.
“Such candidate will then be returned to his or her party for substitution. It is simply so for us to have people of caliber and integrity. In total, twelve parties are participating in the primaries,” Osibodu said.
The chairman charged them to act responsibly, eschew violence, ensure that they do what is required by law, assuring that incidences of vote buying, violence, rigging among others would be curtailed.
Speaking shortly after the screening, the trio of Adekunle Olufemi, Action Alliance (AA), Ward 3, Odeda Local Government; Princess Morufat Azeez, People’s Democratic party (PDP) from Ward 2, Ofada, Obafemi Owode Local Government and Adepelu Rotimi of the Young Progressive Party (YPP), Ward 4, Abeokuta South Local Government, expressed satisfaction with the screening, submitting that there was no incidence of bias or favoritism.
The screening continues tomorrow, Thursday, June 10, 2021 with councillorship candidates from Ogun East Senatorial District, while that of Ogun West Senatorial District is expected to hold on Friday, June 11th, 2021.
