The Chairman, Nasarawa State Independent Electoral Commission (NASIEC), Dr Abdullahi Modibbo, has condemned the one year tenure of elected local government council executive in the state.

Addressing a news conference in Lafia on Tuesday, Modibbo said that the law on the councils’ tenure in the state was “strange and inadequate by any standard across the world’’.

He said that the situation had posed huge challenges for the councils, the state government and the electoral commission.

According to him, apart from financial and logistics constraints  in conducting election yearly, one year will not afford elected chairmen needed time to effectively deliver dividends of democracy.

Modibbo said that NASIEC would make recommendations to the state House of Assembly for a new law that would increase the tenure of local government councils.

“Go to anywhere around the country, it is only in Nasarawa State that local government chairmen have one year tenure.

“We are making a recommendation to the state assembly for a more reasonable tenure of at least two years,’’ he said.

Modibbo also said that the commission would make recommendations to the legislature on the need for NASIEC chairman to announce final results of elections to avoid confusion between the polling centres and the commission’s headquarters.

He said that the state was ready for the conduct local government polls, adding that timetable for the process would be released before the end of July.

He warned politicians not to engage in any form of politicking until the timetable was released and all approvals granted for the exercise.

“We are doing our very best to ensure that we conduct a free and fair local government election in the state.

“Timetable for the polls will be released before the end of this month. I urge all politicians to be patient and wait for the right moment to come out and campaign,’’ he said.