The Delta State chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC), has issued a 7-day ultimatum to the Delta State Independent Electoral Commission (DSIEC) to correct the anomaly in the notification for the conduct of local government council elections scheduled for July 13 or face legal action.
The state APC accused DSIEC of deliberately violating several provisions of the State Electoral Law 2017 for the conduct of local government elections in the state.
As the leading opposition party in the state, the APC accused the state electoral umpire of a deliberate breach of the state electoral law 2017, to tilt the odds in favour of the ruling party in the state, the PDP, in the forthcoming local government elections.
The Delta State APC also took a swipe at DSIEC over several issues it considered as aberrations in “The Pointer publication of 3rd May 2024,” noting that the newspaper is owned by the Delta State government.
The APC in a strongly-worded petition to DSIEC, alleged that the electoral umpire, in The Pointer publication of notice of guidelines to political parties, violated section 32 (1)-(3) of the State Electoral law 2017, which states that the commission shall issue such notice not earlier than 150 days and not later than 30 days to the tenure expiration of the last officeholders at the local government councils.
The party alleged that going by the “skewed and biased notification” of DSIEC, the electoral referee has no intention of conducting a free and fair election in the local government councils of the state.
It added that the electoral umpire is already biased going by the path it now toes and that whatever semblance of an election DSIEC would organise shall be a “complete sham, fraud and a charade in favour of the PDP.”