Anambra LG poll: LP laments, Soludo hails exercise

It was a bag of mixed feelings virtually all over Anambra State Saturday afternoon as the much-expected council elections got underway.

The election was to elect chairmen and councillors into the 21 local governments and 326 wards in the state.

While members of the ruling All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) described the election as commendable, members of the opposition political parties described it as falling far short of expectations.

The Labour Party led by Peter Okoye was so incensed that at her press conference, shortly monitoring proceedings and based on feedback from his field officers and members, she told journalists that they were “going to challenge the event in court.”

Okoye, who spoke at Nkpor in Idemili North Local Government Area, was flanked by key LP executives.

“What we witnessed was a shame. We are going to challenge it in court. We are dragging Gov. Charles Soludo and the State Independent Electoral Commission (ANSIEC) to court.

“From the experience at my Umuoji ward and around the whole state, the ruling APGA and ANSIEC did not send out the result sheets.

“In some instances, the election materials were not delivered, or APGA members waylaid polling officials, vandalized materials, carted away ballot papers, chased away the officials and the voters who gathered to cast their ballots, and ended up running away with ballot boxes and materials,” he said.

Okoye, while expressing disappointment at the alleged poorly planned and executed rigging pattern, added that APGA didn’t even hide it.

“We expected their conduct to look a bit professional, not this very crude rigging pattern,” he said.

The LP chairmanship candidate for Idemili North Council, Mr. Chudi Chukelu, noted that when ANSIEC and Gov. Soludo repeatedly called for participation in the council election, they thought they were ready to bestow democracy at the third tier of governance.

Also, a chieftain of the Obedient Movement, Obinna Agom-Chine, accused those he described as “mercantilist members” who used the LP name to negotiate for their meal tickets.

He lamented that the incumbent council administrators took charge of the distribution of materials for the election.

According to LP’s Peter Okoye, reports he obtained from his members in Ideani Ward, Idemili North Council revealed another ugly side.

There was sporadic shooting during which ballots were snatched.

But Governor Chukwuma Soludo, who voted in his polling unit 002 at Ofuiyi Square, Umueze, at Isuofia Ward 13, in Aguata LGA, at about 11:45 a.m. on Saturday, expressed satisfaction that the exercise went smoothly.

He said, “I commend the state’s Independent Electoral Commission for their early commencement of the voting process in the state.

“This voting exercise is a promise kept. This will be a huge example of local government elections being conducted transparently and creditably.”