APC, PDP, others give Obiano 30-days to conduct election or face civil unrest

Four Coalition groups in support of APC in Anambra State, on Friday, give the state governor, Willie Obiano, one-month ultimatum to conduct the Local Government election or face civil disobedience, including occupying the 21 local government secretariats in the state.

The Coalition groups namely Recover Nigeria Project led by Osita Obi, Nigeria Youth Organisation led by Ozoemena Unegbu, All Registered APC support groups led by Orji Hope and PDP Youth Alliance, led by Golden Ugo threatened to embark on a 14-day hunger strike from August 17 over non-conduct of the poll.

They said they had petitioned the State Government, the State Police Command, the Department of State Service and National Human Rights Commission to intimate them of their action plan.

The petition made available to newsmen in Awka, read in part, “We write to inform you about our hunger strike which commences on 17th August 2020 and ends on 1st September 2020.

“The hunger strike is as a result of your refusal to conduct local government election

“Recall that we wrote to you in the month of July 2019 demanding you to conduct local government election in Anambra State for citizens.

“Take note that immediately after the hunger strike, we shall conduct civil disobedience to occupy local government Secretariats in Anambra State to bring the attention of the world and the Federal Government to this issue.”

“It would be recalled that the last gubernatorial election in the state was held in January 2014, barely two months to the end of ex-governor Peter Obi eight-year tenure.

Local Government poll preceding Obi’s was held in the state in 1998 by the military administration.

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This development had led to calls by stakeholders to the Federal Government to stop giving Anambra State Government, Local Government Allocations, the groups summited. APC

In his swift reaction to the development, via a statement he made available to Tribuna Online, in Awka, the Senior Special Adviser to the governor, on Political Matters, Barrister Ifeato Obi-Okoye, said as responsible government like ours in Anambra state, we have engaged and interacted with the leadership of the 18 registered and recognized political parties in Nigeria under the auspices of Inter-Party Advisory Council (IPAC), where we informed them why the conduct of local government election in the state is still pending.

To that extent, he said, it is common knowledge to note that the All Progressive Congress APC, together with its 21 chairmanship candidates in the state are at the Supreme Court appealing against the judgment of the Court of Appeal Enugu Division which had early dismissed an appeal file by the same APC and it’s candidates against the judgment of Umeadi, Chief Judge of the High Court of Anambra State, on 18th August 2017, challenging the conduct of the electoral process. APC

“Expectedly, we can not take any steps to conduct local government elections while the said appeal is pending at the Supreme Court, the SA maintained.

Concerning the threat to cause civil unrest in the state, Obi-Okoye said I can assure you that security of lives and property remains a cardinal vestige of governance under Governor Willie Obiano.

” And we are ready to engage this faceless neo-cultist group with the same ruthlessness and tenacity we engaged kidnappers, armed robbers and criminal elements in the state. APC

Be rest assured that nobody will compromise the security and peace we are currently enjoying under this present administration, he boosted.

NIGERIAN TRIBUNE