ABEOKUTA– A political analyst based in the United Kingdom, Olufemi Solola has urged the Ogun State Independent Electoral Commission (OGSIEC) to scrap the monetary demand imposed on political candidates for the forthcoming local government elections.
Solola, in his reaction to the release of notice and guidelines for the elections by the OGSIEC Chairman, stated that the state government should be responsible enough to foot the elections’ bills.
Recall that the Electoral umpire has pegged a non refundable fee of N200,000 for all chairmanship candidates and N100,000 for all councillorship candidates.
Solola argued that with the high rate of poverty, hunger and joblessness in Ogun state, the credible youths who are determined to give birth to a better Ogun state and who form 95% of the elections’ candidates do not have any money to pay.
He also pointed out that the government has impoverished the people enough, hence the government should not hinder them from serving their community, by asking them to pay money before they can contest for elections.
The security expert therefore suggested that Ogun state government, if truly is the people’s government and wants the best for the good people of Ogun state, should pay for everything OGSIEC needs to conduct a free and fair local government elections, so that no financial burden will be put on the candidates by OGSIEC.
