OKEY CHRIS, in this piece, reports that the sack of 21 Transition Committee chairmen and 328 Councillors, appointed by Governor Willie Obiano of Anambra state, by the Federal High Court, is generating feuds among political parties in the state
Mixed reactions have continued to follow the recent High Court judgment that sacked 21 Transition Committee chairmen and 328 Councillors appointed by Governor Willie Obiano, to run the affairs of the third tiers of government in place of conducting local government election.
The judgment was delivered by Anambra State Chief Judge, Justice Peter Umeadi in a reference to suit No A/182/2016 filed by All Progressives Congress (APC) & 21 others vs Anambra State independent Electoral Commission (ANSIEC) & 28 others, who also ruled that the appointment and reappointment of Caretaker Committees in the 21 LGs of Anambra State was illegal, and ordered ANSIEC to conduct local government election before August 15, 2017.
The Chief Judge further disclosed that available records shows that it was only APC that nominated candidates for the unsuccessful 2015 Anambra State Local Government Elections, and asked ANSIEC to issue a notice of election as well as to conduct it for the nominated candidates of APC within 90 days from the date of the judgment (May 18, 2017).
Blueprint recalls that the state on January 11, 2014, for the first time in 11 years, conducted Local Government Election, after unsuccessful attempt in December 1998, Dec. 4, 2004, February 2005, November 2011, Oct. 5, 2013, Dec. 14, 2013, and Dec. 21, 2013.
It would also be recalled that the then Acting Chairman of ANSIEC, Mr Sylvester Okonkwo, who announced the result of the poll on Sunday 12 January, disclosed that the ruling All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), won a total of 304 councillorship seats out of the 328 wards in the state, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) garnered 12 councillorship seats, the Progressives Peoples Alliance (PPA) and United Progressives Party (UPP) secured one councillorship seat each.
He added that APGA won 20 chairmanship seats out of 21, stressing that no election was held at Nnewi North Local Government Area, making the then governor, Peter Obi, to appoint a Sole Administrator to the council which was subsequently renewed by successive government of Willie Obiano till end of their tenure in January 2016.
In accordance to the 2010 Electoral law as amended, nomination processes ought to be concluded between 60 and 90 days to the expiration of the tenure of the elected executive (Octobber-November 2015) which was period only APC nominated candidates list was reportedly submitted. Blueprint further learnt that the list of ANSIEC board members sent to Anambra State House of Assembly for approval is still pending.
Governor Obiano, however, extended the tenure of the council executives to about nine months as TC members before the present TC members were subsequently appointed barely two months ago.
Following this development, some stakeholders and political parties appeared to be jubilating over the recent judgment, while some especially those unhappy over the ruling that restricted the poll to only APC candidates, have publicly condemned it, and threw their weight behind the dethroned TC members and APGA led administration.
Addressing a press conference on Monday, Prince Bartho Igwedibia, Chairman of 25 registered political parties leaders/chairmen in Anambra State, said that although the judgment is a welcome development, they were however, “utterly political concern with the quagmire in the judgment that failed to take into consideration the constitutional right of about 40 registered political parties in Anambra State.
“The Chief Judge of Anambra State, in the said judgment did not only deprive all other political parties that were not parties to the suit their constitutional right to participate in the said election that is to be conducted in accordance to the judgment of the court which held that it is only APC is qualified to take part on it…
“It is an equivalent to a rape of judicial system/ process to the detriment of the citizens as well as their political parties which is capable of generating anarchy and pandemonium in the local government election process in Anambra State. The Honourable Chief Judge in his judgment has shut out all registered political parties in Anambra State when he said in view of my findings and facts that only APC nominated candidate for the 2015 Anambra State Local Government election and all other parties fail to do so. ANSIEC should give a notice of election and conduct election for the nominated candidate and conduct within 90 days from today, May 18th 2017.
“The leaders of political parties in Anambra State having been conversant with the election law/processes are aware that the anambra state independent electoral commission, ANSIEC, by the provision of the law, never gave any guideline for the conduct of the Local Government election in the state from January 2015 till date. And no time table was released by the ANSIEC as postulated by his Lordship, the chief judge and couldn’t have found as he did above, as there was never a time such a thing happened.
We are very much aware that the government of Chief Willie Obiano is making arrangement to conduct Local Government Election soonest.
“Sequel to the above, we stand fully in support of Anambra State government by appointment of transition committee pending when ANSIEC is ready with their preparation for Local Government Election,” Igwedibia, the group’s Chairman and incidentally, Chairman, Accord Party and Inter-Party Advisory Committee (IPAC), concluded.
But speaking to Blueprint, Comrade Osita Obi, the Coordinator, Movement for Conduct of Local Government Election in Anambra State, described Justice Umeadi, who delivered the judgment as a legal or judicial democrat, adding that he was happy to have witnessed a landmark judgment to a course he had been fighting for over a decade. Obi, while describing the 5 political parties that countered the judgment as “Limited liability political merchants who are uninterested in democratised elections”, maintained that Governor Obiano has no excuse to hearken to the court order.
However, the Anambra State Publicity Secretary, Young Democratic Party (YDP), Barr. Henryking Onyedikachukwu Adibe, disclosed that his party was still studying the judgment and would address the public at appropriate time. Adibe further revealed that his party was not part of the 25 political parties that reportedly condemned the court judgment.
On his part, Chief Mathias Ameke, the Anambra State Chairman of Progressives Peoples Alliance (PPA) pointed out that his party was ready for the election even as he argued that APC cannot be the sole beneficiary of the judgment because according to him, other political parties in the country had equally clamoured for conduct of local government election.
“This court judgment is overdue. We want the election conducted now. We are political party and we are on ground. We will go to court if ANSIEC dare to disfranchise us in the election. But there is fear that Anambra State government is government that does not respect court judgment. The war is still on. We are waiting to see Obiano obey the court. If not, we shall make him to obey it. Court is the last hope of a common man” Ameke added.
In a press release earlier, the Anambra State Publicity Secretary of APC, Okelo Madukife said the judgment was a departure from PDP 16 years of impunity and APGA’s 13 years of non-conduct of elections and parochial rule, political suppression and economic exploitation through confiscation of LG funds, urging the citizenly across 21 LGs to be vigilant to ensure that public property is neither pilfered nor vandalized as the TC vacate office.
