Leading a debate on the executive bill, the Minority Leader of the House, Mr. Iloabuchi Aniagu, disclosed that seeks to amend sections 5, 7 and 10 ten of the ENSIEC Law to conform with the reality.
The minority leader added that the bill also reduced the age limit to contest as local government chairman from 35 to 30, arguing that this would give the young people opportunity to participate in the electoral system of the state.
On his part, Mr. Okey Mbah, member representing Nkanu East Constituency, said the amendment of the bill is aimed at strengthening the capacity of the electoral body to conduct credible elections.
Mbah pointed out that ENSIEC board member would now be mandated to resign from the office, to contest for the LG election, three months before the primary election.
However, Mr. Harrison Ogara, representing Igbo-Eze South Constituency, disagreed with the charging of political party money for the conduct of Local council polls in the state.
Ogara noted that the section 7 is in contravention of the 2022 Electoral Act and as such should be scraped, adding that it is improper to ask political parties to pay money before participating in any election.
The lawmaker predicated that the controversial section would be challenged in the court by aggrieved individual or political party.
Ogara requested that for the ENSIEC to adopt and use the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) in the next election, for the seek of transparency.
In his remark, the Speaker of the House, Uche Ugwu, while responding to Ogara’s request, said the state government is not financially stable to deploy BVAS for the next LG elections.
Ugwu expressed the hope that the amended sections would be for the good of the residents of the state, who he said always participate in the election of local government officials.
The House thereafter adjourned its plenary to Tuesday, Feb. 20, 2024.
