The chairman, Adamawa State Independent Electoral Commission (ADSIEC), has announced the indefinite suspension of the forthcoming LG polls citing dearth of funding as the major culprit.
The State electoral umpire had on the 25th August, 2021, announced 90 days notification to conduct election in the third tier of government across the 21 LGCs on the 4th December, 2021.
The Chairman of the Commission, Alhaji Isa Shettima, in a press release made available to newsmen on Friday, said that the polls will no longer be conducted as scheduled over dearth of funds.
Alh. Shettima, disdclosed that the money allocated for the exercise in the 2021, budget is too small to enable his commission to conduct the election successfully.
He said the suspension of the exercise was to allow the state government to source for adequate funding of the election.
He disclosed that the election process has been confronted with myriad of challenges including vandalization of electoral equipment during the EndSARS protest including “the re-usable electioin materials like ballot boxes, duty vests, bags, kits among others.”
The Chairman observed that the conversion of voting points into polling units has increased the number of polling units from 2, 609 to 4,104 in the state, explaining that the changes will lead to increase in both facilities and ad hoc staff.
He further stated that the ongoing registration exercise of new voters will have a resultant increase in ballot papers requirment.
He added that the changes will require additional funds to organise and conduct the election; hence, the suspension of the exercise, to enable government source for supplementary funds for the exercise.
Alh. Isa Shettima, added that the objective of organising the election is for the elected officials to take over from the incumbent on the 8th December, 2021, when the present council will be formally dissolved.