The Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, in Kwara State has completed all payments for nomination forms for all its chairmanship and councilorship candidates across the state for the forthcoming September 21 local council polls.
A statement signed by the party’s State Publicity Secretary, Olusegun Olusola Adewara, on Thursday, in Ilorin, said that in a bid to meet all procedures outlined by the Kwara State Independent Electoral Commission (KWASIEC) and demonstrate the party’s readiness for the upcoming local government elections, the PDP has completed payment of approximately N25m for the nomination forms for all the 16 LGA chairmanship candidates and all 193 councilorship candidates fielded under the party for the council polls.
According to the party, “the payment of N24,900,000 was made to the Kwara State Internal Revenue Service (KWIRS) and receipts of payments have been issued to the party’s leadership.
“They have now proceeded to the KWASIEC office to obtain forms on behalf of all its candidates.”
KWASIEC had earlier announced the sale of its nomination forms, with N350,000 for chairmanship positions, while councilorship positions were pegged at N100,000, contrary to the prior agreement where a maximum of N200,000 was set for chairmanship and N50,000 for councilorship positions.
The party stated that aside from the payment for nomination forms, each of the chairmanship candidates is also mandated to pay another N350,000 for tax clearance while councilorship candidates are paying N168,000 each.
The PDP noted that although by a court judgement KWASIEC had acted outside the law in imposing fees on its nomination forms, the party remained committed to the forthcoming local government elections in a bid to rescue the people of Kwara from the current hardship and misgovernance.