By Our Correspondent
Human rights activist and lawyer, Barr Oghenejabo Ikimi has called on the Delta State Governor, Senator (Dr) Ifeanyi Okowa not to interfere in the State Local Government elections billed for March 2021.
Ikimi made this call in a statement made available to Journalists in Warri, Delta State.
He said the Delta State Independent Electoral Commission (DSIEC) does not possess the capacity and the temerity to conduct a free, fair and credible elections in the 25 Local Government Council Areas in the State come March, 2021.
Ikimi alleged that the “Electoral body is a puppet of the State Governor, calling for the scrapping of all States Independent Electoral Commission Nationwide.
The human rights activist said the recent laughable lopsided creation of State Wards by DSIEC under the tacit supervision of the State Governor have been greeted with unrest in some Council Areas in Delta State.
He said that he believed that the above challenges and unrest being created by DSIEC and the Delta State Government ahead of the forthcoming Local Government Polls in the State can only be surmounted by the State Government through equity, justice, good conscience and good governance.
Part of the statement reads: “I am not oblivious of the fact that since its inception, the Delta State Independent Electoral Commission (DSIEC) like her counterparts in other States of the Federation, grassroot democracy in all our Council Areas have been totally vanquished owing to the total absence of a resemblance of a credible election in the said Council Areas.
“I make bold to say that in virtually all the Council Areas of the State, election materials and electoral officials are not seen on duty on Election Day, but at the end results are allocated and announced by DSIEC officials in favour of candidates of the ruling party in the State contrary to our electoral laws.
“The above have been the tradition of DSIEC since its inception as there are obvious pointers to the fact that the March, 2021 would not be an exception, hence I am at a loss as to why the toothless Delta State House of Assembly voted a whopping sum of N1.140 billion naira for the conduct of the above shambolic exercise billed for March, 2021 when the State is owing her retired workers a backlog of pension since 2015 running into billions of naira.
