Politics tamfitronics
Just last Monday the Anambra State Independent Electoral Commission (ANSIEC) announced that the local government elections would be held on September 28 this year. OKEY MADUFORO reports on the process, the politics and the undercurrents
Governor Charles Soludo was in his element when he oversaw the inauguration of the six-man member of the Anambra State Independent Electoral Commission (ANSIEC). He did not mince words about his determination to prove book makers wrong over the non-conduct of local government elections in the state .
During the inauguration Soludo urged the Committee to ensure a free, fair, credible and transparent process of election at the local government level.
And just recently, the Chief Electoral Officer of ANSIEC, Genevieve C Osakwe sq announced September 28 as the date for the conduct of the election. Indeed, this has put paid to insinuations from quarters that Soludo is not keen to conduct local government elections in the state.
Long work to LG Polls in Anambra
The last council election conducted in Anambra State was in 1999 which enthroned the Chairmen and Councillors of the21 Council Areas in the area. Two years later , the then governors of the 36 states of the federation approached the courts challenging the tenure of the Council Chairmen which led to the abrupt end of the tenure of the Chairmen.
Ever since, Anambra State has been relying on the appointment of Transition Committee Chairmen and Councilors to oversee the affairs of the local government areas.
Under the government of Sen Chris Ngige as governor, Transition Committee Chairmen and Councilors were appointed with the establishment of the State and local government Joint Account Committee.
Ngige however, set up the Anambra State Independent Electoral Commission (ANSIEC) and a time table was published for the exercise and a few months after trouble came calling.
The then lingering political crisis between the then governor and his traducers got messier when an army of thugs and hoodlums took the entire state by the storm and unleashed mayhem on the state .
The Government House, House of Assembly, State Judiciary and the headquarters of ANSIEC were burnt down with both sensitive and non-sensitive materials for the election reduced to dust .
Deepening the fate of conducting the election were three judicial pronouncements restraining the state government from conducting the said election.
At the inception of Mr Peter Obi administration, the same issues suffered more setbacks as those court pronouncements were never vacated hence Peter Obi had a set of Transition Committee Chairmen and Councilors .
At some point Obi appointed Heads of Service at the Councils who acted as Head Of Local Government Administration which lasted towards the end of his second tenure as governor.
Before leaving office Obi conducted local government election in the state after sundry judicial issues were said to have been resolved though not in it’s entity.
Former Governor Chief Willie Obiano inherited the elected Chairman and Councilors but at the end of their two year tenure the local government areas were manned by Transition Committee Chairmen and Councilors until the end of his tenure in office.
But barely two years in office, Governor Soludo came under pressure to conduct local government elections with several litigants praying the courts to order a probe of the three former governors on how the allocations of the 21ouncil areas were managed .
Apparently, the Supreme Court ruling recently provided a buffer for the 774 Local Government Areas across the country giving impetus for the conduct of the election.
Soludo in the eye of the storm
Observers believe that Governor Soludo has indeed done the needful in providing the enablers for the conduct of local government election and it is left for the electoral body to do the needful irrespective of what his political traducers may interpret about his actions
True to his traducers they are already up in arms expressing fears over the fate of their Political Parties and their candidates. This stems from the fact that no one saw it coming that the date for the election would come too soon and with forty five days to the election political watchers are wondering how this could work.
They contend that there is no time for political parties to hold primary elections to nominate candidate for the forth coming election.
The member representing Ogbaru Federal Constituency Chief Adam Ogene described the time as too hasty expressing apprehension about the fairness of the election when it is conducted.
Ogene in a statement in Awka, the state capital, criticised the swift amendment of the state’s Electoral Law, calling it an unholy manoeuvre to stifle the interest of the grassroots in producing credible leadership at the local government levels as envisioned by both the constitution and the recent pronouncement by the Supreme Court, which granted financial autonomy to the LGAs for the purpose of sustainable developments at the local areas.
“The newly imposed 30-day notice period for local government elections will lead to widespread disenfranchisement at the grassroots level. Within this truncated time frame, it will be nearly impossible for stakeholders to conduct meaningful consultations, organize primary elections, secure funding, and prepare for the election without government support.
“This is a disservice to the people and a mockery of our democracy. By frustrating the enthronement of true democracy at the grassroots level – the foundation of democratic governance – the government is mindlessly undermining the very essence of democratic practice..
“We urge all advocates of democracy to remain vigilant and engaged in the upcoming Anambra local government and state elections, ensuring that the people’s will is not subverted by the state government’s deceitful tactics under Governor Soludo’s leadership.”he said.
However National Publicity Secretary of APGA, Mazi Ejimofor Opara, described the reactions of Ogene as a case of one shooting himself on the heels, contending that whatever amendments made on the Anambra Electoral Act were the collective actions of members of the State Assembly including the six members of his party the Labour Party in the legislature.
“What Ogene has done is to shoot himself on the heel because interestingly the six lawmakers of his party the Labour Party were part of the Assembly session
“He sees them by this statement as dumb set of lawmakers because if they participated in the amendment of the Anambra State Electoral Law he has expressed lost of confidence in his party members.
“Is Ogene telling us that the Labour Party members will appropriate and reappropriate at the same time?
“So he should channel his protest to the six Labor Party members at the state Assembly and he should carry out a probe of their individual contributions to that law and also provide proof if they were not part of the legislation at the chambers of the Assembly ” he said.
Parties and wars without end
While the opposition parties continue to kick against the date for the election, most major political parties in the state are neck deep in crisis over leadership. The All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) has its hands full in that regard following the recognition of Chief Edozie Njoku by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) as the National Chairman of the party.
Edozie Njoku has been going about imaginating state executives of APGA loyal to him and it is being wondered who would sign the nomination tickets of the candidates of the party.
But Chairman of APGA in Anambra Chief Ifeatu Obi-Okoye dismissed those apprehensions noting that there is neither any law Court or validly conducted National Convention that produced Edozie Njoku as National Chairman of the party.
“These fears are mere academic excise and you know that there was no Convention that produced Edozie Njoku as National Chairman of APGA”
“He has always been a serial contender that every dispensation and it is important to note that the position of National Chairman has tenure and he has been dragging this since the time of convention that produced the former Chairman Ozo Victor Oyeh” he said.
In the People’s Democratic Party PDP it is still the same picture of leadership tussle and despite the fact that the party has an Acting Chairman in the state some members are contending that the Acting Chairman has no locus to do so.
The All Progressives Congress APC in Anambra appears to be enjoying some level of stability with Basil Ejidike as Chairman but the party has been accused severally of not observing internal democracy in its congresses and primary elections hence this is an issue that may affect the nomination of candidates.
Apparently the Labour Party which political watchers saw as one that would take it all has its own challenges over the leadership of the party as the party has parallel executives from the ward to the National level hence to conduct a valid primary election may appear a heavy task before them .
However, Osakwe is not backing down as she has made it clear that the election must be held. The issue of nomination of candidates is the internal affairs of the political parties and ANSIEC is there to play observatory roles but cannot interfere in the affairs of the party.
Observers states that all that ANSIEC needs to do is to conduct the election irrespective of who is the candidate or not and it is however being feared that the opposition parties may not have ample time to resolve their internal problems before fielding candidates for the election hence making it a seamless walk away for APGA .
