The Anambra State House of Assembly during plenary on Tuesday, amended the Anambra State Electoral Law 2024, which was passed a few weeks ago and assented to by the governor, Prof. Chukwuma Soludo. This amendment marks the second time the law is being amended since it was passed into law and assented to, only a few weeks ago.
The Bill which was sponsored by Hon. Ikenna Ofodeme, the Majority Leader of the House and member representing Ekwusigo Constituency, was introduced in a motion by Hon. Ofodeme, and the motion was seconded by Hon. Noble Igwe, the member of the Assembly representing Ogbaru I constituency. Anambra State Electoral Amendment Bill 2024 was read for the first time, the second time, then the third and final time, and passed on Tuesday.
Some of the sections of the law amended include section 24 which deals with the nomination of candidates for local government election in the state. This section was amended to include that where there is a dispute in party leadership, the Anambra State Independent Electoral Commission shall accept as valid, nomination countersigned by elected members of the party in the State or National Assembly. This amendment, it is suspected, was introduced to cater to the current leadership impasse in APGA, the ruling political party in Anambra State. It would be recalled that Governor Soludo who is the National Leader of APGA has not recognized Chief Edozie Njoku as the National Chairman of APGA. Other sections of the law amended include sections 25, 27, and 56.
Also, the nomenclature of the assistant to an elected chairman of a local government was changed from “Vice Chairman” to “Deputy Chairman.”
Similarly, the Anambra State Local Government Law 1999 was amended. This amendment the Speaker of the House, Rt. Hon. Somto Udeze, noted, was to “expunge all sections in connection to the local government election.” Consequently, Clause 1 through Clause 80 of the law was expunged from the Anambra State Local Government Law 1999.
Both the Anambra State Electoral Law Amendment 2024 and the Anambra State Local Government Amendment Law 2024 were passed to take effect from Tuesday, August 13, 2024.
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