OGSIEC screens 903 councillorship candidates for LG polls

The Ogun State Independent Electoral Commission (OGSIEC) has screened 903 councillorship candidates, ahead of the October 8 local government election.

This was disclosed by the Commissioner 111 of the electoral body, Mr Mutiu Agboke, while speaking with the Nigerian Tribune in Abeokuta.

He said the candidates were thoroughly screened according to guidelines as stipulated by the commission.

He said that 17 political parties participated in the exercise that lasted for five days, saying that the commission might likely not disqualify any candidate.

Agboke, who is the chairman of the screening committee, explained that candidates which failed to fill their forms correctly were given enough time to regularise them within a stipulated time.

He added that 269 candidates without evidence of tax payment in the last three years were also given time to address the matter.

Agboke said “What the commissions did, as we have on our timetable, was to commence the screening of councillorship candidates which we did without any hitch. Virtually all the candidates of 17 political parties participated actively in the screening.

“So far, we have 903 candidates that appeared with a view to contesting the election, and we still have others whose names are still pending, because of one irregularity or the other.

“On the day of the screening, we discovered that there are lots of irregularities in terms of information they supplied in data form, credentials, non willingness of the candidate to perform their civic duties.

“Our intention was not to disqualify any candidate or to put stumbling block on the path of anybody. Our intention is to ensure that large number of individuals participate in the exercise and what we have done is to allow people who did not fill the form properly correct them.”