The Sokoto State Independent Electoral Commission has fixed January 9, 2016 for the conduct of local government election in the state.
The Chairman of the commission, Alhaji Usman Abubakar, said at a news conference on Monday in Sokoto that the notice for the election had been forwarded to the 29 political parties with physical presence in the state.
Abubakar said: “The commission will release the guidelines for the election and its timetable on October 15, while it would meet the parties on the polls on October 22.
“Notification of date of primaries by the political parties to the commission will be done between October 27 and October 31.
“Conduct of primaries and submission of party candidates is scheduled for between November 1 to November 16.”
Abubakar disclosed that the commission would close acceptance of nominations on November 23, while the screening of candidates would hold from November 24 to December 10.
The chairman said the display of names of candidates would be done on December 14, while the political parties would have betweenDecember 15 and 22 to substitute candidates.
He said: “The submission of the party agents will be done between December 23 to December 25, while campaigns will end on January 8.
“The election will be conducted on January 9 and the commission may likely use card readers for the forthcoming polls.
“We had since arranged with the Independent National Electoral Commission in this direction, although this is under probability as the training on its use was yet to be conducted for the adhoc staff.”
The SIEC chairman announced that the state government had since released all the funds needed for the election, although he declined to disclose the amount.
He however promised that the commission would conduct free, fair, transparent and credible polls.
Abubakar appealed to all politicians and other stakeholders to be law abiding and desist from contravening the provisions of the Electoral Act and the Constitution.
The chairman stated that the commission was partnering with various security agencies, political parties and key stakeholders to ensure that the poll was hitch-free.
NAN.