* Gov Ugwuanyi, 3rd left, the Deputy Gov, Mrs Cecilia Ezeilo and Mr Sheddy Ozone, right after the swearing in of the Transition Committee Chairpersons


Enugu State Governor Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi Tuesday swore into office the 17 Transition  Committee Chairpersons for the State's 17 LocaL Government Areas, LGAs' administration.

The Transition Committee chairpersons takes over from the LG Caretaker Committee  administration which has been dissolved in preparation for the LG elections scheduled for  November 4, 2017. The Transition Committee will be in office till January, 2018 when the  newly elected LG Executives would be sworn into office.

 Among those appointed to the Transition Committee includes Mr Sheddy Ozone, a reknown journalist and Publisher, People and Politics magazine, Abuja


 Before his appointment as Transition Committee Chairman for Udi LGA, Mr Ozone has held office as a Senior Special Assistant to Governor Ugwuanyi.

 Ozone, who is also  member, Nigerian Guild of Editors, NGE began his journalism practice over two decades ago.

 From 1999 to 2003, he served variously as Special Assistant, Media and Senior Special Assistant, Media to former Governor James Ibori

 Meanwhile, the Enugu State Independent Electoral Commission (ENSIEC) has since issued  comprehensive timetable   affirming  Nov. 4 for the polls.

 The Chairman of ENSIEC, Dr Mike Ajogwu (SAN), disclosed this while outlining the comprehensive election timetable during a political stakeholders meeting in Enugu.

 The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the election would be for the 17 chairmanship positions, as well as for the councillorships in each of the wards in the council areas.

 Ajogwu said the electoral body is, by the announcement, issuing the mandatory 90 days notice to all political parties as part of the statutory requirement, as enshrined in the Constitution.

 He gave the complete outline of the timetable as follows:

 “Aug. 1: 
Public notice announcing the chairmanship and councillorship elections in all the local government councils in Enugu State.

 “Sept. 4 to Sept.12: 
Political parties’ primaries geared towards the selection of candidates for elections. Parties are to prepare and submit to ENSIEC their timetable specifying times, days and venues for their primaries.

 “Oct. 4:
Lists of candidates nominated by political parties shall be forwarded to the headquarters of ENSIEC.

 “Oct. 5 to Oct. 9: 
Councillorship candidates shall be screened at various local government headquarters, while chairmanship candidates shall be screened at ENSIEC headquarters.

 “Oct. 16: Returning of lists of qualified and disqualified candidates on forms ENSIEC 3 and ENSIEC 4, for the chairmanship and councillorship elections, respectively, to the political parties.

 “Oct. 17 to Oct. 19: 
Replacement of disqualified candidates by the affected political parties. Names of two party agents with photographs attached for each polling booth shall be forwarded to ENSIEC by political parties. Parties shall endorse the passport photographs.

 “Nov. 4: 
Voter’s accreditation and voting by Open Ballot system from the hours of 8:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m.

 “Dec. 2: 
Chairmanship and/or councillorship run-off elections, if need be.’’

 The chairman, however, assured the stakeholders that ENSIEC would remain unbiased and neutral in the discharge of its duties.

 “The Commission is not a political party, neither is it attached to any political party in Nigeria.

 “Like it is named and called, it is independent and our duty as the operators of the system is to try as much as possible to be and to live in accordance with our name. That is to say, to be independent and to hold the stake as an umpire,’’ he added.

 NAN reports that over 200 members of all political parties and stakeholders in the state attended the meeting.