Ondo State Governor Lucky Aiyedatiwa has declared today work free day, to enable public servants travel to their communities to participate in tomorrow’s local government election.
A statement by Chief Press Secretary to Aiyedatiwa, Ebenezer Adeniyan, said the governor urged stakeholders to ensure a free, fair and peaceful local government election across the state.
Police Commissioner Wilfred Olutokunbo Afolabi has announced restriction of vehicular and motorcycle movements during the exercise.
He, however, said security personnel, medics, health workers, fire-fighters and other essential service providers were allowed movements to carry out their duties.
Some chairmanship candidates of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) have kicked against the decision of the party to withdraw from tomorrow’s local government poll.
They said they were not consulted before the notice of withdrawal was sent to Ondo Independent Electoral Commission (ODIEC) 72 hours before the election.
Speaking at a news briefing in Akure, a PDP chairmanship candidate, Oluwatuyi Adekambi, described the withdrawal from the election as a failure of the PDP leadership.
He said the candidates prepared for the election without substantial support from the party.
According to him, “we invested heavily—both financially and emotionally—in this process. We paid for forms, followed all procedures, and dedicated ourselves to this election. Elections are costly, even at the local government level, and we have spent significant resources campaigning and engaging with the community.