The Association of Local Governments of Nigeria, Anambra State chapter, has warned politicians and supporters of opposition political parties against plots to instigate fresh political crises in the state.
The body said it had watched with dismay the continuous “campaign of calumny” against the ruling All Progressives Grand Alliance by the opposition Labour Party, Peoples Democratic Party and the Young Progressives Party, ahead of the state Assembly election, describing their actions as a show of negative desperation.
There have been a series of battles in Anambra as to who controls the state legislature in the next dispensation, ahead of the rescheduled March 18, 2023 governorship and state House of Assembly elections.
But rising from a meeting in Awka, Anambra State capital, on Sunday, ALGON said it would not fold its arms and allow the forthcoming state Assembly election be used to distract the people and the state governor, Prof. Chukwuma Soludo, from carrying out its responsibilities.
The Chairman of Onitsha South Local Government Area, Chief Emeka Orji, who spoke on the sidelines after the meeting, insisted that the entire 21 local government areas of the state would vote massively for APGA.
Orji said, “The fact that Anambra is an APGA state is not in doubt and for a state that has produced three governors, of which two of them had two tenures of eight years each, one wonders how a political party that just emerged by chance will attempt to defeat APGA in an election that is the party’s election.
“For us in Onitsha South LGA, it is 17/17 and 30/30 and that means that we are not losing any single electoral ward to any party because it is APGA all the way.
On his part, the Chairman Ihiala Local Government Area, Mr Kingsley Obi, who spoke through his Media Assistant, Mr Elvis Okoli, said, “It is not about having a wishful thinking of something that is not realisable at this point.
“The people of Ihiala LGA have spoken and it is APGA and we cannot forget the fight Soludo gave to the hoodlums that had held Ihiala LGA by the jugular and how this administration has been able to ensure that the people of Ihiala came out to vote in the last general election.
“We also have massive road construction that is already going on in the council area through the instrumentality of the Soludo-led administration and also how he has been able to sanitise the transportation sector and reduced the negative activities of the touts and revenue thieves.
“Some people have a negative design to cause trouble and make Anambra State ungovernable by trying to impose their errand boys on the state Assembly in order to distract the administration of Soludo and we wish to state that Anambra people would resist it on the day of election by voting only APGA candidates.”
But in his reactions through a telephone interview, the Deputy Publicity Secretary of the Labour Party, Mr Titus Ijeh, said only the Anambra voters can decide who leads them in the state legislature and not some “opportune and self-seeking politicians”.
“Nobody is instigating a crisis anywhere. The people of the state are the ones yearning to make a positive change because they want a breath of fresh air and away from tyranny.
“APGA is just being jittery by the day because they have seen that by the handwriting on the wall, their days are numbered and come March 18, the people will respond through the ballot,” Ijeh added.
