The Osun Independent Electoral Commission (OSIEC), says it plans to hold the state local government council poll on October 15.

Electoral commission boss Segun Oladitan announced this at a news conference in Osogbo on Monday.

He said that the original plan was to conduct the election in 2020, saying however, that many factors including the COVID-19 pandemic and litigations prevented the commission from holding the poll as planned.

“The last local council election conducted in 2018 was for a parliamentary system, this year the election will be based on a presidential system where chairmen and councilors will be elected directly.

“The Osun Independent Electoral Commission Establishment Law, 2022, has repealed all subsequent electoral laws in the state, so the election will be conducted on the newly instituted law.

“The commission had been making necessary contacts with relevant stakeholders and carrying out in-house preparations for the conduct of the local government election.

“As recently as August 12, the commission had a parley with all the political parties in the state where they were informed of the impending conduct of the election,” he said.

Responding to a question on the timing of the election, Mr Oladitan said that the commission was conducting the election in obedience with Section 197(1) of the 1999 Constitution of Nigeria.

He, however, said that the commission would not use the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) for the election, as it has no technical capacity to do so.

(NAN)