The local government election in Ondo State will not happen as planned. This update came from the Ondo State Independent Electoral Commission, known as ODIEC. The head of ODIEC, Dr. Joseph Aremo, told everyone about this change during a meeting in Akure, the main city of the state.
Initially, ODIEC had planned the elections for 18 local government areas and 33 local council areas for July 13. But, a high court in June said the creation of the 33 local council areas by the previous Governor, Rotimi Akeredolu, was not legal. The court noted that the law to create these areas was signed outside the state, which is not allowed.
During the meeting on Monday, Dr. Aremo explained that the main reason for the delay is that political parties did not follow the election rules. They did not send in the necessary forms or follow the new schedule announced earlier.
He detailed that between June 26 and June 28, political parties were supposed to send the list of their agents, but they did not. At a previous meeting, ODIEC had informed party leaders that the July 13 date was final and would not change.
“The political parties didn’t send their nomination forms and didn’t follow the updated timeline from our last meeting,” said Dr. Aremo.
This means that the election will be rescheduled, and a new date will be announced later.