Anambra State Chapter of All Progressives Congress (APC) and Civil
Liberty Organisation (CLO), have decried the extension of the tenure of
Local Government Transition Committee Chairmen in the state.
The groups in a separate chats with this reporter described the
extension of local government transition committee chairmen as an act of
illegality, that must not be encouraged.
Recall that Anambra state House of Assembly had on Thursday last week
renewed the tenure of 18 out of 21 Local Government Transition Committee
Chairmen and members for three months following Governor Willie Obiano’s
request.
According to the state Chairman of APC, Mr Basil Ejidike, the Anambra
state government should rather conduct elections into the local
government offices to entrench democratic process at the grassroots.
“What the state House of Assembly has done is something that will not
help our democracy. It is coming to a point where the people must rise
up to condemn the impunity in the state.
“There have been court pronouncements on the need to conduct local
government elections and have democratically elected officers at the
local government levels.
“I call on the Federal Government to intervene by withholding the funds
meant for the local government in Anambra until elections are
conducted’’, he said.
The Chairman of CLO in the state, Mr Vincent Ezekwueme said that the
tenure renewal was contrary to the position of the country’s laws,
urging the state government to respect the constitution of the nation.
According to him, the non-conduct of local government elections had
remained a major threat to ensuring grassroots development and political
participation.
He added that the trend was gradually sidelining people from
participating in grassroots politics.
“Governors have no power to constitute local government caretaker
committees.
“The National Assembly and the Federal Government should ensure strict
compliance to the land mark Supreme Court judgment that mandated all
state governments to conduct elections into local government offices’’,
he said.
It was reliably gathered that the last local council elections conducted
in the state was in January 2014 by Mr.Peter Obi.