It has been 15 years since the last local government elections were held in Anambra State. October 5 has been fixed for the elections. NWANOSIKE ONU reports that stakeholders are skeptical about the possiblity of the polls.
The last local government election in Anambra State was conducted 15 years ago by the military in 1998. It was followed later by the governorship election that brought Governor Chinwoke Mbadiuju’s administration into office
Once the tenure of that set of elected council executives ended in 2002, successive administrations in the state have constituted one caretaker committee or the other for the administration of the councils.
On few occassions, however, such duties have been entrusted into the hands of the heads of service of the councils.
There are 21 local government areas in the state with a total of 326 wards. An additional ward was created to bring the total tally to 327.
During the tenure of Senator Chris Ngige, preparations for the conduct of the council elections got to an advanced stage in 2004. All the materials were ready, but hoodlums, who were alleged to be members of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), disrupted the process.
The incident occured during the infamous November 2004 mayhem when the headquarters of the Anambra State Independent Electoral Commission (ANIEC) was set ablaze and vital electoral materials destroyed.
It was alleged then that the onslaught was perpetrated by those who wanted Ngige out at all cost, following the failed bid to abduct him at the Choice Hotels in Awka.
Soon after, in February 2005, another attempt was made by Ngige, but former President Olusegun Obasanjo allegedly threw a spanner in the works. He was said to have advised Ngige not to go ahead with it on the ground that security reports did not favour the conduct of local government elections.
Last year, it was generally believed that the polls would hold in December. In fact, the chairman of the state’s Independent Electoral Commission, Prof Titus Ezeh, described the proposed December 4, 2012 date as “sacrosanct”. But certain technical challenges came up.
First, it was discovered that the voter’s register was full of fictitious names from the North, Southsouth and Southwest and it was stopped following a public outcry against it.
Before then, ANSIEC had carried out large scale sensitisation in all the 21 council areas. And some political parties had collected millions of naira from their aspirants through the sales of nomination forms.
There was the case of a particular party, which imposed N1 million on each of its chairmanship aspirants for the nomination form. The party allegedly collected millions of naira only for the elections not to hold. That incident remains a talking point and it is causing ripples in the party till date.
Ever since the failed attempt of last year, the commission and the government have been playing hide and seek on the issue.
Expectedly, the attitude of the state government and ANSIEC pitched them against some groups and individuals. The government became jittery as civil society groups such as the Civil liberties Organization (CLO) led by Alloy Attah; Intersociety led by Comrade Emeka Umegbelasi; Movement for the Conduct of Local Government Elections, led by Comrade Osita Obi and Transform Nigeria Movement led by Comrade Obi Ochije turned the heat on the government and the commission.
This forced Governor Peter Obi into making some pronouncements in that direction at some public functions but nothing concrete came out of them all. His common excuse has been that the court cases instituted by those at the helm of affairs in the commission were hampering his plans to conduct the elections.
Former ANSIEC chairmen, Chief Cornel Umeh who served during the era of Ngige till Obi came in and Prof Titus Ezeh, who Obi had described as the man for the job, had both gone to court to challenge their removals from office by the state government without due process at different times.
Some of these cases, which the governor referred to, are still pending in different courts till date. And until they are vacated, it would be difficult for the election to hold in Anambra.
Furthermore, the constitution does not allow an acting chairman to conduct such an election, therefore, the commission, as it is presently constituted without a substantive chairman, may be wary of conducting the election, considering the fact that money, resources and time would have been waisted in no small measure.
Besides, the chairmen of some political parties in the state, believe that the Governor Obi Administration is not sincere in its quest to get democratically elected individuals to pilot the affairs of the council areas.
Critics in the state say that the reluctance to conduct local government elections is not just a problem that is peculiar to Governor Obi but a general political malady plaguing the system in the country. They argue that the desire to control allocations from the federal government, was the reason behind the reluctance of state governors to conduct council polls.
They further claim that governors are more comfortable working with transition committee chairmen and their members because they are more amenable to doing the biddings of state executive governors.
However, Governor Obi last week told members of the Movement for the Conduct of Local Government Election at the Government House, that he is now ready to conduct the council polls.
Speaking to over 200 members of the group, at a meeting he held with them at the Conference Hall of the Government House, Obi said that if the money made available for ANSIEC in the 2013 appropriation bill was not enough, he would ensure that funds were made available to facilitate the conduct of the election.
But in an omnious note, Obi reminded his visitors that he is not the commission that would conduct the polls.
“I am not the commission, I have become your member today, but go to the ANSIEC and liaise with them to fix a date for the election and you will be assured of my assistance” Obi told them.
The Nation learnt that ANSIEC was allocated 400 million naira in the 2013 budget, an amount political observers say is too meager for the conduct of council polls.
Osita Obi, the leader of the group and his members had threatened that if the council polls was not conducted in the state, the governorship election in the state may also not hold. The activist said that he was ready to lay down his life to actualize his campaign, saying that Anambra and indeed, the aspirants had become a laughing stock in the society after 15 years.
Following the agitation, ANSIEC acting chairman Sylvester Okonkwo, named October 5, 2013 as date for the conduct of the election. However, he did this without releasing the other necessary guidelines as earlier planned by the commission. He postponed that to this week.
He merely announced that all nomination and completed forms by aspirants should be submitted to ANSIEC on or before August 15, 2013.
But curiously, what he tagged as interactive sessions with stakeholders was not to be. He moved quickly into his office after the announcement, leaving the state party chairmen.
Okonkwo’s action sparked instant protests from the party chieftains, who sat glued to their seats, waiting for the acting chairman to come and offer some explanation. But when he failed to turn up, they left in anger.
The Nation learnt that what the acting chairman of ANSIEC did was a mere smokescreen designed to deceive the party leaders. It was alleged that the acting chairman did what he did under duress. Furthermore, a government source, who spoke with The Nation in confidence, last week said there will be no local government election. He added that “The Governor is planning to put sole administrators at the helm of affairs at the councils”.
The tenure of transition committee members expired on June 12, 2013, and The Nation learnt also, that the aim of giving lawmakers 12 million naira each as constituency funds by the state government was to have its way on the plan.
Anambra State PDP chairman Kenneth Emeakayi, told The Nation that as far as he was concerned, their mission at ANSIEC office was a jamboree. “The aim of the meeting, according to ANSIEC, was to have an interactive session with the stakeholders; rather, what we saw was a different thing. The acting chairman of the commission just refused to speak with us”.
Chairman of the Labour Party (LP), Hon Sam Oraegbunam said the date of the election as announced by ANSIEC is not feasible. He told The Nation after the meeting that ANSIEC was only playing to the gallery and that it lacked focus.
As for the chairman of the All Nigeria Peoples Party, Chief Pat Orjiakor, the entire arrangement by ANSIEC was “pure deceit”. He said the electoral body was not sincere to the project. “Anybody who holds any office should be a man of honour and integrity”.
The same argument was put up by the state chairman of Advance Congress of Democrats (ACD), Lolo Oby Okafor. She said that ANSIEC called the party leaders to “ridicule them”. According to her, “the public can testify that there are no plans by anybody to hold council election, we were happy when we were summoned to come for this meeting, but on getting here, it was another thing altogether” Okafor said.
But the chairman of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), Chief Mike Kwentoh and the factional chairman of the party Egwuoyibo Okoye, commended ANSIEC moves.
The state chairman of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), Chief Amechi Obidike told The Nation that the possibility of the election holding is remote.
According to him, the fact that there are some impending cases in court against the commission that have not been dispensed off, and that the acting chairman of ANSIEC has no powers to conduct council polls and as such the whole project is doubtful.
