The Anambra State Governor, Prof. Chukwuma Soludo, has been asked to immediately set machinery in motion to conduct local government and market elections in the state.
The Campaign for Democracy, South East chapter, and Human Rights, Liberty Access and Peace Defenders’ Foundation, stated this in a statement signed by the Executive Director, Dede Uzor, on Sunday.
The groups pointed out that since 1999 when democracy returned to the country, Anambra State has only organised two local government elections and that was during the early days of the late Dr. Chinwoke Mbadinuju administration, and towards the end of Peter Obi’s administration in 2014.
They described the current situation whereby all the 21 Local Government Areas in the state are currently being run by caretaker chairmen who are appointed by the governors over the years as “unconstitutional and unacceptable”.
The group said, “For eight years that former Governor Willie Obiano was in office, he did not organise any local government election and almost one and half years into his first tenure, Soludo’s body language is not showing as someone who wants to organise local government or market elections.
“Many Anambra citizens see Soludo as a democrat to the core who will follow all the necessary democratic tenets and principles. To that extent, we are saying Soludo should therefore begin to set machinery in motion to conduct local government and market elections in the state.
“The current caretaker committee arrangement which is renewed every six months is not only unconstitutional, but also prone to corruption and statutory market constitutions and abuse of the constitutional order.
“Against this backdrop, we call for the setting up of the State Electoral Commission which is constitutionally empowered to organise the local government election within the next six months.”
Regarding the market election, the groups said there were no obstacles in beginning the elections in the different markets by the next few months, adding that this had become imperative if Soludo must win the confidence of the traders in the state.
They noted that the current caretaker committee leaderships of the markets had expired and elections were due at the markets.
“Some of the market leaderships have refused to conduct elections because they know that they are not popular among the traders in the state but they wouldn’t want the election to take place because most of them cannot win the election.
“Soludo need strong leaders who will hold the markets for him, not the present crop of market leaders who cannot win their respective line elections,” the groups added.
