By Rotimi Olaleye

Ado-Ekiti—The Ekiti State House of Assembly, yesterday, passed the state Security Trust Fund Bill into law, while two other bills successfully passed through the first reading at a plenary of the House.

The Security Trust Fund Bill seeks to establish a fund to foster effective and enduring Public /Private Partnership, PPP, collaboration for crime prevention,  in the state.

The two other bills that passed through the First Reading at the House Plenary in Ado-Ekiti are Office of the Public Defender Bill (2015) and Ekiti State Kidnap and Terrorism (Prohibition) Bill (2015).

According to a statement from the office of the Special Assistant, Media, to the Speaker of the House, Stephen Gbadamosi, the Security Trust Fund Bill was passed after the chairman of the House Committee on Security and Special Duties, Pelemo Dare, presented his committee’s report on the bill.

In his reaction, the Speaker of the House, Right Hon. Kola Oluwawole, observed that the bill will boost the financial support for the security outfits in the state.

No PDP member in Ekiti SIEC — Govt

Meantime, the  state government yesterday debunked the allegation that Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, members were appointed into the state Independent Electoral Commission, EKSIEC.

The Commissioner for Local Government, Community Development and Chieftaincy Affairs, Mr Kolade Kolapo, said the governor painstakingly selected non-partisan individuals into the electoral body to ensure credibility.

Kolapo, who spoke in Ado Ekiti on the activities of his ministry in the last one-year, described allegations that card-carrying politicians were on the commission.

The All Progressives Congress had dragged the state government and the electoral body to court over the composition, alleging that some members were card carrying members of the PDP.

Bailout: Council workers postpone planned strike

Also yesterday, the Nigerian Union of Local Government Employees, NULGE, Ekiti state chapter  rescinded its decision to embark on strike for now, as a result of the explanations offered by Governor Ayodele Fayose concerning the release of bailout to Ekiti State.

The Chairman of NULGE in Ekiti, Bunmi Ajimoko, who spoke in Ado Ekiti yesterday, however, regretted the exclusion of some of his members’ benefits from the bailout based on the action of  the Central Bank of Nigeria.