Benue Suspends LG Polls Over Lack Of Funds.

Benue state governor Samuel Ortom.

 The local government elections in Benue state which was to hold in September 3, 2016, has been suspended due to lack of funds.
This was made public after Governor Samuel Ortom and the Benue State Independent Electoral Commission (BSIEC) chairman, Dr. John Tsuwa on Sunday held an emergency meeting with relevant political stakeholders at the People’s House in Makurdi.

It would be recalled that the BSIEC chairman had announced that political campaigns should commence immediately shortly after the election date was fixed.

With the instruction, the political parties including the governing APC and the opposition PDP had quickly begun sale of nomination forms, only to be informed on Sunday, June 19, that the conduct of the polls has been suspended indefinitely indefinitely.

The BSIEC chairman had insisted that for the election to be free, credible and fair, all stakeholders including political leaders must eschew all manner of violence, thuggery, snatching of electoral materials among others.

But giving reasons for the postponement, Governor Ortom hinged the reason on the unavailability of funds because of the dwindling federal allocation, the enormous challenge of generating internal revenue and the huge task of releasing money to the state electoral body to conduct the election.