The Ondo State Independent Electoral Commission (ODIEC) has cancelled the chairmanship election in Ondo West Local Government Area due to the use of an outdated logo of the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP) on the ballot paper.
Henzodaily reports that the Chairman of the commission, Joseph Aremo, announced the development during a press conference in Akure on Saturday, adding that the election has been rescheduled for Sunday.
Aremo explained that the commission’s attention was drawn to the error, prompting the decision to nullify the initial process and re-conduct the election.
He reassured residents of the local government area and the state of the commission’s dedication to credibility and transparency.
Aremo said, “We observed that the logo of New Nigeria Peoples Party on the ballot paper was indeed an old logo of the party. And the commission has met and we have taken a decision that we should provide a fair and better platform that will throw up an equal opportunity to all participating political parties in the election.
“For the chairmanship position where we have NNPP participating in Ondo West LG, the commission has taken a position that the election is hereby cancelled or void. And that the commission tomorrow, which is January 19, will have an election re-conducted into the office of chairmanship position for Ondo West LG between 11am and 4pm.
“Ordinarily, we expected the party to have drawn our attention to it, but nevertheless the commission has taken a decision that the entire chairmanship election in Ondo West is hereby void.’’
According to Aremo, the new logo of the party will appear on the ballot paper for the election scheduled to hold on Sunday.
He said, “Everything would be ready before 11:00 a.m tomorrow morning.’’
The chairman said that apart from the incident pertaining to the chairmanship election in Ondo West, there were no other complaints from other LGAs concerning the elections.