Plateau House of Assembly Committee Chairman on Information, Mr Matthew Kwarpo, says the assembly repealed the Plateau State Independent Electoral Commission (PLASIEC) Law 2018 and reenacted PLASIEC Law 2024 to conform with the 2022 Electoral Act.
The lawmakers repealed and reenacted the law during its Tuesday plenary presided over by the Speaker, Gabriel Dewan.
Kwarpo (APC/Mangu South Constituency), who spoke with newsmen on Wednesday in Jos, said that they repealed the law based on the fact that there were emerging political challenges in Nigeria.
The information committee chairman stated that the Tuesday plenary was a success to the entire people of Plateau, considering the fact that the state was going into local government elections.
He said that considering the country’s new electoral act, there were certain things that were not captured in PLASIEC Law 2018.
“One of them is the issue of the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS). In Plateau, we have never used BVAS in terms of accreditation during elections, but the new law gives room for BVAS to be used.
“The use of BVAS is to ensure that there are credible and transparent elections, and the vote cast should count.
“There was another issue about who is to declare the result of the election from the polling unit to the ward and the local government.
“Section 54 of the 2018 PLASIEC Law was ambiguous. It stated that any officer of the law can declare the result, but the new law clearly defined who is to declare the result at the polling unit, ward, and local government levels.
“In total, 35 clauses were amended and passed into law,” he said.