Recently, there has been sustained conversation around the conduct of local government elections in Anambra State. To systematize and mainstream this call for the conduct of local government election in Anambra State, the African Centre for Leadership, Strategy and Development (Centre LSD) has partnered International Peace and Civic Responsibility Centre, in collaboration with the Nigeria Civil Society Situation Room, to raise again awareness on the need for a fully functional local government in Anambra State. The stakeholder’s forum organized by these civil societies on Thursday in Awka has added to the sustained demand for local government elections in Anambra State.
It bears repeating that the local government election was last held in Anambra State in 2014, just two months before Governor Peter Obi left office. The election was held precisely in January 2014, while the then Governor, Mr. Peter Obi, handed over to Willie Obiano on March 17th, 2014. For the whole eight years, he served as governor of Anambra State, Chief Willie Obiano did not conduct local government elections. Instead, he used self-appointed transition chairmen and committee members, to run the local government. By the time Prof. Chukwuma Soludo was campaigning for his election in 2021, the local government election was then a major issue of concern. In response, the governor who was then a candidate promised that upon his election, within six months in office, he would conduct a local government election. It is now two years since Soludo mounted the saddle as the executive governor of Anambra State and there is no sign that local government election is anywhere on the government’s agenda. This has further heightened the debate and conversations around local government elections in Anambra State.
The African Centre for Leadership, Strategy, and Development (Centre LSD) aligned with International Peace and Civic Responsibility Centre, in collaboration with the Nigeria Civil Society Situation Room, to hold a stakeholder’s engagement on the conduct of the local government election on Thursday in Awka, Anambra State capital. The Anambra situation which is the worst in the entire Southeast was variously described as a “shame.” The forum that political party leaders attended, the Inter-Party Advisory Council – IPAC, the media, the academia, religious leaders, and traditional leaders, among many others, ended in a communiqué calling on the governor of Anambra State, Prof. Chukwuma Soludo, to conduct local government election. Chief Ugochukwu Emeh, the Anambra State Labour Party Chairman was in attendance as well as the State IPAC chairman, Chief Uchenna Ugwoji. The consensus reached was that Governor Soludo should live up to the constitution he swore to protect and his promise and conduct local government elections in Anambra State.
In his closing remarks, Prince Chris Azor noted that the call on Governor Soludo is not confrontational, but for the public good. According to Prince Azor, “We are civil society, and we are not fighting with the governor; we are helping him to succeed. We are losing a lot to this non-conduct of local government election. Development partners are willing to help our government do the right thing”.
This is the second stakeholders’ engagement organized since December 2023 in Awka, Anambra State capital by the African Centre for Leadership, Strategy, and Development (Centre LSD) and the International Peace and Civic Responsibility Centre, in collaboration with the Nigeria Civil Society Situation Room, supported by the United Kingdom Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office.
He is a Technical Assistant to Governor Willie Obiano’s Special Adviser on Legislative Matters, whoonce was a Special Adviser to a former Deputy Speaker of Anambra State House of Assembly. Ebuka is a second class upper division graduate of Political Science from University of Calabar, Calabar Nigeria and holds a Masters Degree in Political Science with specialization in Government and Development Studies, from Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka Nigeria
