Governor Ugwuanyi of Enugu State

The Enugu State Independent Electoral Commission (ENSIEC), says no fewer than 27 of the 45 existing political parties will participate in the Nov. 4 local government elections.

Uzoamaka Agbo, the spokesperson of the commission made the disclosure in Enugu on Monday while speaking with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN).

Agbo said that prominent among the political parties include the All Progressives Congress (APC), All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the United Peoples Party (UPP).

The Public Relations Officer said that the parties fielded candidates for the chairmanship and councillorship positions for the 17 councils in the state.

Agbo said that the commission screened councillorship candidates on Oct. 6 adding that the exercise was hitch free.

“The screening of the candidates conducted by ENSIEC, led by the Chairman, Dr Mike Ajogwu (SAN), was highly successful and peaceful.

“Most of the candidates presented by the political parties were successful and scaled through to contest the election proper.

“The only candidates that had problems were those who did not come with their three year tax clearance certificates.

“However, the commission gave them till Tuesday, Oct. 10, to present the tax clearance certificates in order to give everyone a fair chance to contest,’’ she said.

NAN reports that aside the tax clearance, candidates came with birth certificates, party membership cards, permanent voters’ cards, academic qualification and letter of identification.

A minimum educational qualification of school certificate or its equivalent is expected from the chairmanship and councillorship candidates.