The biggest event in Anambra State this week is the conduct of the chairmanship and councillorship elections in the 21 Local Government Areas of the state on Saturday.
Barring any exigency, over 100 candidates, it was gathered, are set to battle for the control of the 21 LGAs in the state. The LGs have been under the control of Caretaker Transition Committee chairmen since 2014, and would, perhaps, begin to feel a fresh impact of governance from elected officials from tomorrow.
Before now, the 21 LGs in the state had been under the control of Caretaker Transition Committee chairmen appointed for a specific term by the governor.
Since the announcement of the election date, ANSIEC, the electoral umpire, has been preparing for the smooth conduct of the exercise, which aims to bring governance, through the third tier of government, closer to the people at the grassroots. Such preparations included engaging with leaders of political parties, issuing timetables, schedules and guidelines for the poll, training ad hoc staff and publishing names of candidates of political parties.
According to the timetable for the exercise, political parties were expected to begin and conclude all issues relating to primaries and campaigns between August 21 and September 24, 2024.
However, since the announcement of the date for the contest and even as the date approaches, a series of controversies have continued to trail the process with the main opposition parties, including the Peoples Democratic Party, All Progressives Congress and the Labour Party, faulting the composition of the ANSIEC board, claiming that Governor Chukwuma Soludo did not follow due process, as enshrined in the Electoral Act 2022 while inaugurating the board.
The opposition parties, on several occasions, also raised a series of concerns, expressing fears and doubts over the ability of the electoral umpire to conduct a free, fair and unbiased election on Saturday. The three parties also threatened to boycott the exercise, accusing ANSIEC of working to announce all the candidates of the ruling All Progressive Grand Alliance as winners of the forthcoming election.
The parties alleged that ANSIEC had already pencilled names of all the CTC chairmen as APGA candidates and was getting ready to announce them as winners. They, therefore, declared the exercise as a sham.
To match their words with action, the three main opposition parties shunned any political campaigns leading to the exercise, as findings showed that only the APGA candidates have been carrying out campaigns, led by the governor, across the state.
The development means that APGA candidates might likely be contesting without any opponents on Saturday, further putting the election’s credibility in doubt.
Following widespread apprehension concerning the government’s reluctance to kick-start the process of installing democratically-elected officials at the third tier of government, an exercise that was last held in the state 10 years ago, the move did not materialise until the Supreme Court’s landmark judgment on June 20, 2024, which reaffirmed the financial autonomy of LGs in the country.
The court had ordered, among other things, that all federal accruals to the councils be remitted directly to them, thus putting paid to the much abused States/Local Government Joint Account Committee. Similarly, the apex court ruled that only LGs under the leadership of democratically elected officials will be eligible to receive monthly federal allocation.
In order not to be caught napping and to prevent the seizure of the state’s LGs allocation, Soludo, who had already reneged on his promise to conduct local council elections six months after assumption of office on March 17, 2022, kick-started the move to conduct elections for the grassroots on August 6, 2024, by inaugurating a six-member ANSIEC board, with Genevieve Osakwe as the chairman of the commission.
Inaugurating the commission, Soludo stressed that “they have been called to perform an onerous task, especially as it concerns the conduct of local government election in the state.” While stating that the law spelt out their wide range of functions, the governor asked them to expedite action and set a date for the conduct of local government election for Ndi Anambra.
He charged them to render sterling service with honour and integrity, as he recalled that the conduct of a local government election was a major promise he made to Ndi Anambra when he was inaugurated though he said drafting the law and getting the institution up and running took some time.
“The rest of the job is in your hands. The people of Anambra are expecting you to hit the ground running. When you are done, announce to the people when you will hold elections. I have done my job. Ndi Anambra, here comes your ANSIEC commissioners. With their credentials, it is expected that the commission would render first-rate action,” Soludo added.
But since the commencement of the process for the election by the ANSIEC board, the three major opposition parties – APC, PDP and LP – have continued to threaten withdrawal from the exercise, citing “irregularities and lopsidedness” in the process.
First to announce its withdrawal was the PDP, which expressed fear and concern over the ability of the electoral umpire to conduct a free, fair and unbiased election on Saturday. After the PDP had raised the concerns, the APC and LP also expressed their worries.
Speaking to our correspondent, the state APC chairman, Basil Ejidike, insisted that his party was withdrawing, saying that participating in the LG election would mean “legalising illegality.” He further insisted that the constitution of the ANSIEC and the announcement of the date for the election did not follow due process, as prescribed by the Electoral Act 2022.
Ejidike said, “How can a great party like the APC be involved in an election where political parties are not given enough time to conduct primaries to elect their candidates, no campaign rallies, no selling of forms in accordance with the Electoral Act?