The All Progressives Congress, the Labour Party, and the All Progressives Grand Alliance have continued to trade words over the state’s local government elections scheduled for September 28.... CLICK TO READ THE FULL NEWS HERE▶▶
The Anambra State Electoral Commission, through its chairman, Genevieve Osakwe, shortly after its inauguration by the state governor, Prof. Chukwuma Soludo, had fixed September 28 as the date for the LG poll, after 10 years of non-conduct of election at that level.
But while the APC in the state, through its chairman, Basil Ejidike, has challenged the process and described it as an “illegality”, he also insisted that the APC cannot legitimise illegality in the local government elections.
Ejidike made this statement on Saturday while briefing journalists on ANSIEC’s planned local government council elections and the plans of his party, threatening not to participate until there is a “level playing ground.”
He said the party is ready to participate in the elections, but not in an election marred by poor planning and execution, allegedly aimed at favouring the ruling APGA in the state.
He said, “APC will support any process aimed at democratising the local government council and called for a level playing field for all political parties.
“We expect a minimum level of credibility and transparency in the election. Though we do not expect perfection, there must be a minimum benchmark of credibility.
“We are prepared to participate in the local government elections if a level playing field is provided for all political parties. The APC is criticising the amendments to the state electoral laws favouring the ruling APGA because it is anti-democratic and untenable.
“If the government and ANSIEC continue their current approach, the APC in Anambra State may be forced to seek other legitimate options, as we cannot be part of an effort to legitimise illegality.”
Ejidike noted that ANSIEC had not allowed political parties to engage in the planning of the local government council elections.
The Labour Party, on his part, says it is considering boycotting the September 28 local government election due to alleged irregularities.
This indication was made clear during a recent meeting in Awka, where party members expressed outrage over Governor Chukwuma Soludo’s failure to conduct local government elections within six months of assuming office, as promised during his campaign, only to overnight “smuggled obnoxious clauses” into the ANSIEC Law.
The party, in a press statement by its Publicity Secretary, Theo Egbe, on Saturday, expressed the party’s concerns and position on the proposed local government elections, saying it has resolved to challenge the amended law in court and prepare for the election once legal requirements are met.
He said, “We cannot participate in an election that has been rigged from the outset. We demand that the ANSIEC Law be restored to its original form, and that legitimate political party leadership be allowed to submit candidate lists.”
The Labour Party had earlier joined other major political parties, including Edozie Njoku’s APGA, APC, and PDP, in boycotting a stakeholders meeting convened by ANSIEC, alleging illegal amendment of the ANSIEC law.
The parties claim that the amendment was done to rig the election and prevent legitimate political party leadership from submitting candidate lists.
They are threatening to boycott the local government election if their demands are not met.
But reacting to these, the state Publicity Secretary of APGA, Mazi Ejike Uche, on Saturday, said the opposition shot themselves in the foot as they have failed to study the ANSIEC laws to understand its legal framework.
Uche said, “What the oppositions have done is to shoot themselves on the leg because interestingly, their utterances suggested total ignorance of the legal framework in the ANSIEC laws. If they are afraid of losing the LG polls, they should come out boldly and say so, instead of dancing around the bush.
“Their position also suggests that they have a dumb set of lawmakers in the state Assembly because if their lawmakers participated in the amendment of the Anambra State Electoral Law, they would have expressed a loss of confidence in their party members.
“So they should channel their protest to the appropriate quarters and in specific terms instead of dancing in ambiguity. As far as we are concerned, they are speaking for themselves and not for the people of Anambra who have expressed confidence in the electoral laws and are expecting free, fair, and credible LG polls.”
Recall that since 2014, the 21 local government areas in the state have been under the control of caretaker committee chairmen appointed every three months by the governor due to the non-conduct of elections at that level since 2014.
