Benue State Independent Electoral Commission (BSIEC) says it plans to recruit 11,000 ad-hoc workers to complement its staff for the conduct of local government elections in the state.
The Chairman of the Commission, Dr John Tsua, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Friday in Makurdi that the local government elections would be held before November.
He said the commission needed additional manpower to conduct transparent and credible polls.
“The state is delineated into 3,999 polling units and with staff strength of 267; it will be difficult to hold elections in all the units.”
Tsua said the ad-hoc workers would be recruited from staff of tertiary institutions and students with trustworthy guarantors.
He said the commission was committed to the conduct of credible and transparent local government elections and appealed to political parties to play their part by fielding credible candidates.
The BSIEC boss said the commission was collaborating with security agencies and religious institutions to ensure credible and transparent elections in the state.
“We have held series of meetings with the political parties in the state for the purpose of ensuring the credibility of the polls.
“We feel that one of the ways that the elections could be discredited is through imposition of candidates.
“We want to ensure that the local government election is conducted by the people themselves to elect credible representatives that will initiate projects that are life transforming.”
Tsua warned mischief makers to stay away from election venues to avoid incurring the wrath of the law.
He said the commission was also dialoguing with local vigilance groups to guarantee the sanctity of the polls.
NAN reports that the state had not held local government elections in the last two years.
