AWKA- The Anambra State chapters of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) led by Governor Charles Chukwuma Soludo are currently locked horns and are fighting dirty over what becomes of Local Government (LG) elections in the state.
The trouble started when the Anambra State Chairman of APGA, Barr. Ifeatu Obi-Okoye, said that Local Government elections in the state are being stalled by cases filed by parties in court.
Barr. Obi-Okoye made the excuses for Governor Soludo, who during his campaigns, pledged to hold the elections six months into his administration if elected, being September 2022 after he was sworn in in March, 2022.
However, nearly a year and six months into his administration, Local Government elections are yet to see the light of the day in the state.
Launching a bare-knuckle attack on Obi-Okoye, in a statement entitled “No court has retrained LG elections in Anambra; enough is enough!“, the Anambra APC Publicity Secretary, Mr. Okelo Madukaife, accused him of ‘rehashing old tricks’ of stalling LG elections using fraudulent excuses in order to corner the resources of LGs.
Drawing attention to Obi-Okoye’s remarks that Local Government elections are being stalled by cases filed by parties in court, Madukaife said:
“Not surprisingly, Barr. Obi-Okoye did not mention the parties, the subject matter of the suit(s), or the specific orders, if any, tying the hands of the Anambra State Government on LG elections.
“Gov. Peter Obi of APGA used that excuse until it suffered self-expiration. Gov. Wille Obiano applied that excuse to corner the resources of LGs. Now Gov. Soludo, who was emphatic about holding LG election in September 2022, as part of electoral promise has failed and is finding a leeway in the latest APGA umbrage.”
Madukaife further wondered what Soludo is afraid of since his party, APGA, will also be contesting if LG elections hold today.
He said: “In the first place, were LG elections to hold today, APGA will be contesting.
“So, it suits APGA over which Obi-Okoye presides in the state to unconstitutionally maintain control of 21 LGs, at the expense of development and due process.
“Therefore, speaking through Obi-Okoye, APGA is only trying to defend an unjustifiable plunder that is putting Zik’s home State down in the comity of Nigerian states, to the extent that Anambra State is the only state in the South East that has neither formed democratically elected LG governments, nor set a date for the purpose.
“In time, the state may yet become the last in Nigeria. Speak of the first becoming the last under APGA watch. Talk of Anambra State not having a democracy where it matters most!”
He noted that on September 02, 2023, Edo State will repent from non-LG election “sin” while Soludo and his cohorts will be taking Anambra residents for a ride.
Madukaife, therefore described the leadership of Chukwuma Soludo’s APGA as “colourless”, an euphemism for inconsequential.
He regretted that “Anambra State is wasting money paying a set of near unproductive staff who people the Anambra State Independent Electoral Commission (ANSIEC) for doing next to nothing” and draining the resources of the state.
“We look beyond Obi-Okoye’s weak defence, knowing that there is no injunction against LG elections to request Gov. Soludo to stop hiding behind his fingers, and roll out a timetable to hold LG polls, as Anambra may not be able to afford a situation where each political party will appoint its own Caretaker Committees, after 24 years of patience. Enough is Enough!” Madukaife thundered.
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