From Mokolade Michael, Akure
Ten political parties are, today, participating in the local government election holding in all the 18 Local Government Areas of Ondo State.
However, the main opposition political party in the state, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) said it will boycott the election as it has no confidence in the Ondo State Independent Electoral Commission (ODIEC) organizing the election.
But the ODIEC chairman, Prof. Yomi Dinakin, assured that the election will be free and fair, stressing that the Commission has perfected all necessary arrangements for the smooth conduct of the exercise.
He disclosed that both sensitive and non sensitive materials to be used for the election have been provided by for by the commission.
Also, he disclosed further that non sensitive materials had been distributed to all the local government areas about a month ago, while the sensitive materials were distributed yesterday.
Besides, he revealed that the voters’ register for the state which will be used for the election had been obtained from the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
Also, the state police command said it was fully prepared for the conduct of the election.
The state Commissioner of Police, Mr Bolaji Salami said no fewer than 5,000 police officers have been deployed to various parts of the state to monitor the exercise.
He disclosed that a minimum of 10 police officers will man each of the polling units across the state