By Olufemi Oni, Ilorin

Ahead of the September local government polls in Kwara State, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has urged the State Independent Electoral Commission (KWASIEC) to maintain its independence and ensure a fair and transparent electoral process, adding that the electoral body “must go extra miles to prove that the commission will not be teleguided by the ruling APC”.

The PDP made the call at the meeting of KWASIEC with the political parties in Ilorin, the State capital.

“The integrity of our democratic processes is paramount, and any actions that compromise this integrity must be addressed with the utmost seriousness.

“We are by this statement calling on all our party members, stakeholders as well as Kwara electorate to uphold the principles of democracy and work together with the PDP towards free, fair, and credible local government elections in the State.

“The PDP is pleased to declare that our party is fully prepared for the upcoming elections. Consequently, we have not requested any adjustments to the election timetable previously released by KWASIEC. Our commitment to a transparent and timely electoral process remains steadfast, and we are confident in our readiness to participate under the current schedule,” the PDP said in a statement by Olusegun Olusola Adewara, the State Publicity Secretary of the PDP.

On the price tags for the nomination forms, the party, in solid agreement with suggestions from other parties, said the fees attached to nomination forms must be affordable to all prospective aspirants for both councillorship and chairmanship elections, adding nomination forms for councillorship should not exceed N50,000, while that of chairmanship should also not be more than N200,000.

The PDP, however, raised serious concerns regarding what it teemed “a suspicious alliance between the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) and KWASIEC. This was evident in the manner the APC Chairman, Mr. Sunday Fagbemi, took over the position of KWASIEC’s Chairman and responded to salient questions posed to the Commission, rather than allowing the Commission to address these questions.

“The PDP maintained that such behavior from APC chairman has led us to question the impartiality of the Commission and raises fears of potential manipulation in the forthcoming local government elections since there seems to exist sinister alliance with the ruling APC by the singular behaviour of the APC chairman”.