Anambra State Governor Charles Soludo has made history with the conduct of local government election in the state after 11 years.
The eligible voters will on Saturday (today), elect their local government executives to run the third tier of government in the state.
The last local government election in the state took place in 2013 at the twilight of the administration of former Anambra State Governor Peter Obi.
Since then, successive administrations, particularly under former Governor Willie Obiano, opted to manage local councils through caretaker committees.
The incumbent Governor Charles Soludo also continued with this tradition since assuming office in 2022 until a recent Supreme Court judgment outlawed the practice of running local governments with un-elected officials.
Incidentally, Soludo recently announced that eight political parties would be participating in the election.
But the Commissioner for Information and Logistics at the Anambra State Independent Electoral Commission (ANSIEC), Tony Nnalue, stated that he did not have a clear figure on the number of parties involved.
Soludo also listed parties like the Action Alliance (AA), Labour Party (LP), New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP), Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the Social Democratic Party (SDP), but not all have candidates contesting across all the local government areas.
The announcement of September 28 as the date for the election had, however, sparked controversy among opposition parties, who argued that the timeline was too short to allow for adequate preparation, including primaries, sales of forms and campaigns.
The ruling All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) in the state, however, dismissed these concerns, insisting that the preparation period was sufficient.
The All Progressives Congress (APC) and Labour Party (LP) expressed dissatisfaction with the election process, threatening to seek legal action.
Chief Basil Ejidike, APC’s state chairman, said his party would not participate in what he described as a “planned sham election,” citing poor planning and lack of transparency. He criticised recent amendments to state electoral laws, accusing ANSIEC, the state electoral body of favouring the APGA and failing to involve other political parties in the process.
Meanwhile, Governor Soludo has voted at his Ofuiyi Square, polling unit 002, Umueze-Isuofia, Aguata Local Government Area of the state.
The governor said the anticipated victory of his party, the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) will be a foretaste of his victory in the Anambra 2025 governorship election, which is expected to hold around November next year.
He also adjudged the local government as being seamless and an example of what an election should be.
Speaking to journalists after casting his vote, Soludo said: “Today is a promise made and promise kept. We are holding the local government election to elect the chairmen of the 21 Local government areas and councillors for the 326 ward.
“From all the calls and feelers that I have gotten from all over the state, everything is going well. The process has been confirmed to be going on very well, in fact superlatively well. We are taking this very very seriously.
“We put in resources, a lot of mobilisations, campaigns in all the 326 wards, because for us this is the grassroots election, the one that will help us get a feel as to how we are doing, and this is like and opinion poll as to what will happen next year, and we are not taking it very lightly.
“We have said it everywhere and to all Anambra people that this will be one good example that is conducted very transparently and creditably.
“You can see all the people here lined up voting peacefully, and it has been the same all over the state. I said to people that votes must be cast openly and transparently and must be counted, one man, one vote.”
RESIDENTS of Anambra State are set to elect executives into their respective local government areas today, as voting exercise should kickstart in the later hours.
This is the first time that a local government election will be held after 11 years. The last election was held in 2013, under the administration of the former governor, Peter Obi.
Subsequently, successive administrations have managed the local government councils through the appointment of caretaker committees.
However, a recent judgement by the Supreme Court in July granted the nation’s 774 LGAs financial autonomy. The court also ruled that it was unconstitutional for the state government to hold onto or manage such allocations and directed the 774 LGAs to commence managing their funds.
Going by this judgment, many states like Adamawa, Bauchi, Benue, Ekiti and others, have begun to conduct elections scrapping the institutional caretaker committees to allow voters to decide their local government leader.
In Anambra, for instance, the incumbent governor, Charles Soludo, upon assumption of office in 202, appointed committee chairmen into the 21 LGAs until the Supreme Court decision outlawed the practice.
