“The worst that will happen if the local government election is boycotted is that the ruling party will simply have a field day .” —Ebuka Onyekwelu
As of today, barely a month and six days to the first local government election in Anambra State in over a decade, there are deep concerns that the government of Anambra State is bent on having its way. First of all, the governor had promised to conduct the local government election in the first six months of his tenure. On the day of his swearing-in, he then promised to conduct the election in his two years in office.
By next month when the election is billed to be held, the governor, Prof. Chukwuma Soludo, had overshot his free promise by at least two years going by his first promise during campaigns in 2021, and six months, going by his later promise the day of his swearing-in. Either way, the governor has not exactly kept his promise.
Plans for local government elections in Anambra State commenced about two months ago with the repeal of the Anambra State Electoral Law. Thereafter, the Anambra State Electoral Law 2024, had been amended twice within two weeks, after it was assented to by the governor. The federal government’s intent to challenge the continued misuse of local government funds by the state governments must have triggered the sudden interest of Anambra’s government in the local government election. Supreme Court’s decision that followed simply deepened state governors’ desperation to devise means of continued meddling with local government funds, whatever it may take. The Anambra state governor then constituted the Anambra State Independent Electoral Commission – ANSIEC, whose members were screened and confirmed for the governor on the same day, and they were sworn in by the governor. The Anambra State House of Assembly had gone ahead to also amend the Anambra State Local Government Law 1999.
Interestingly, the Anambra State Electoral Law 2024, took the House of Assembly only two days to pass. The two amendments to the law were done in just one day. Also, the local government law was amended in one day. These developments created an environment of suspicion and doubt among political players who felt that there was a grand design by the governor to outwit them by maneuvering the laws of the state, to his favour. Today, while the governor is bent on the Barr. Sly Ezeokenwa’s leadership of APGA, yet, the legitimate National Chairman of APGA is Chief Edozie Njoku. The Njoku-led APGA had alleged refusal by ANSIEC to accord it recognition in its processes. These are not without consequences as it would mean that APGA might have two candidates in all elective positions for this election and then expect to resolve in the court at a later time. If this scenario plays out as experienced before in Anambra State, it gives APGA an undue advantage over other political parties. This is of immense concern and the governor’s position looks bent on reinforcing this abnormality.
Yet, a boycott is not the solution to any misgiving other political parties might have against the election. Boycotting a political contest points to absolutely nothing as it is self-defeatist and, at best a mere protest. In other words, it amounts to resigning to fate as a means of registering displeasure or lack of confidence in the process. Every political contest must go on from the pre-election to the post-election stage. Good or bad, those experiments are the bricks with which the foundation of a functional democracy is laid. Even more, boycott points to nothing significant beyond a political misalignment which remains an assumption except it was confronted and challenged in the political process, then, it becomes an experience and a matter of record. In perspective, opposition political parties in Anambra should not boycott and allow the government of the day to have its way unrestrained. The worst that will happen if the local government election is boycotted is that the ruling party will simply have a field day and do as it pleases. Conversely, as the opposition political parties are raising concerns and pointing to clear gaps in the build-up to the election, they must be preparing fully for the election.
In the end, opposition political parties must make the local government election competitive. There are insinuations that Governor Soludo’s faction of APGA has planned to print one expression of interest form each, for local government chairmanship aspirants, across the twenty-one LGAs in Anambra State and one form for all the councilor aspirants as well. This is allegedly in a bid to return, by all means, the current occupiers under the defunct transition committee arrangement. There is no way a boycott of that election scuttles this plan if it is true. However, a competitive election, even if unable to stop such a bizarre plan, would add to the records the governor is amassing for himself. At least in the future, it would be remembered that among many other things, a certain public intellectual and internationally reputable economist oversaw a heist of an election in Anambra State when he was governor. Such records at least matter.
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