The Benue State Independent Electoral Commission (BSIEC) has said that eight political parties will participate in the October 5, 2024, local government elections.
The chairman of the commission, Richard Tombowua while addressing journalists in his office, in Makurdi on Thursday, September 19, 2024, said BSIEC has started preparations towards the LG polls.
He noted that the commission is focused on ensuring a smooth exercise.
According to Mr Tombuwa, 14 parties had indicated interest to contest in the election, but only eight parties had fielded candidates.
He said that the eight parties are the African Action Congress (AAC); All Progressives Congress (APC); All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) and Labour Party (LP).
Others are the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Social Democratic Party (SDP), New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP) and Zenith Labour Party (ZLP).
Mr Tombuwa said that the House of Assembly recently approved the budget for the conduct of the election and the money had been released to the commission.
He said that 21 vehicles had been bought and sensitive and non-sensitive materials had also been paid for.
“The commission has awarded contracts for the production of sensitive and non-sensitive materials and some of those materials have been received.
“There are pending programmes that would start from September 21, 2024, to October 5, 2024, which is the day of the election and an arrangement has been made for training of ad-hoc staff,” he said.
The training, he said, will commence on September 26, 2024.
The Benue State House of Assembly had on September 4, 2024, approved the sum of N6.64 billion for the election.
