On Saturday November 2, 2024 voters in Abia State would go to the poll and cast their ballots for the candidates of their choice in the Local Government election. The last time Chairmen and councillors were elected to preside over the affairs of the 17 Local Governments of Abia was in December 2020. It was conducted by the government of Okezie Ikpeazu. At the expiration of their two year tenure, the elected Chairmen were replaced with successive transition committees Chairmen. This undemocratic state of affairs continued in the LGs until the end of the Ikpeazu administration on May 29, 2023.
Governor Alex Otti, who took the reins of power inherited a local government system devoid of elected leaders. Though Otti had consistently critised the use of transition committees to run the LGs, he was not in a hurry to conduct council poll when he entered government house. The official reason was that the local government system that the Otti administration inherited was “a huge mess”. So, the new government said that it needed to clean the Augean stables, implement a set of reforms before it would be reasonable to hold election in the local governments.
On November 2023, Otti appointed his own set of transition Council Chairmen into the 17 Abia LGs. He christened them Mayors, apparently to differentiate them from their predecessors, at least in nomenclature. But that didn’t, in any way change the fact that the 17 Mayors and their Deputies were unelected. While the Mayors held sway, there was no sign that Abia would have elected Chairmen soonest. Local government election was never mentioned. Even the body language of Governor Otti said so much.
The unexpected happened on July 11, 2024. A seven-member panel of Supreme Court Justices chaired by Justice Mohammed Garba broke the chain of absolute control of local governments in the hands of state governments. In the judgment read by Justice Emmanuel Agim, the Supreme Court ruled that “Local Government allocations from federation account should henceforth be paid directly to the Local Governments”. The much clamouring for local government autonomy has finally ensued.
Abia and other states running their local government administrations with non-elected political leaders, were thrown into panic mode by the Supreme Court ruling. There was confusion and uncertainty, moreso as the federal government hinted that states operating undemocratic grassroots governments would cease receiving allocations for them. There was flurry of activities as many states hurriedly started conducting local government polls. Not wanting to be hit by the swinging hammer, Abia was left with no other choice than to start preparations for council poll when it least expected it to happen.
Like a bolt out of the blues, the Chairman of the Abia State Independent Electoral Commission(ABSIEC), Professor George Chima, announced on September 21, 2024 that local government election would be held on November 2. It was during a meeting with representatives of 18 political partes and other stakeholders at the headquarters of the state electoral body in Umuahia. He even rolled out a timetable for the poll to the surprise of the party leaders. The political parties just had four days to commence their primaries which according to the ABSIEC timetable, would begin on September 25 and end on October 4, 2024.
The political parties did not find the firebrigade preparation funny and they told ABSIEC so. The Chairman of the state electoral body acknowledged the shortness of the notice and tendered apology. He explained to the political leaders that the abrupt preparation became expedient in order for Abia to beat the three months deadline set by the Federal Government for states to conduct council poll or forfeit council allocations. While he solicited the cooperation of the political parties to make the electoral process smooth, Prof Chima urged them to comply with the timetable. He warned against non-compliance to the timetable, saying that ABSIEC would strictly enforce it to the letter.
However, it has turned out that observing the timetable was easier said than done. ABSIEC could not strictly comply with its electoral timetable as earlier promised. As the days rolled by, it became very difficult for the electoral body and the political gladiators to keep to the timetable. Two of the political parties were swirling in crises, namely, the ruling Labour Party and the All Progressives Grand Alliance(APGA), making it difficult for them to put their acts together. APGA is torn between Sunday Onukwuburi and Ben Onuoha, both claiming state chairmanship while leading different factions of the party.
Along the line, ABSIEC was compelled to extend the deadline for the parties to submit the lists of their candidates for the poll. It was obvious that it was done for the sake of the ruling LP which failed to meet the deadline of October 7. By then it had not conducted its primary election. And when eventually LP held its primary it was tales of complaints, rancour and disappointments as allegations of impositions filled the air.
Not only that, the Labour Party conducted two parallel primaries reflecting the two factions created in the party. The primary conducted by the faction loyal to Governor Otti with Emmanuel Nweze Oti as acting state chairman had its hands full of protests on the outcome. Yet, the state publicity secretary, Ajike Njoku has insisted that “the primary went on fine (and) nothing happened beyond our control”. He said that it was “unfortunate” that some persons were alleging about impositions whereas Abia LP “did not engage in imposition of candidates”.
The other faction loyal to the Julius Abure is anchored in Abia by the National Vice-chairman, Southeast, Comrade Ceekay Igara with Prince T. Ndubueze as its acting state chairman. This group quietly selected and compiled the names of its chairmanship and councillorship candidates. The double list of candidates from the ruling party has presented a dilemma for ABSIEC. But the Chairman of the electoral body has come out to say that the decision of INEC would guide ABSIEC on which of the two factions of Abia LP it would recognise for the LG poll.
The Court of Appeal verdict, which favoured Abure and his subsequent recognition by INEC, meant that the pendulum has swung in favour of Igara and his faction in Abia. This turn of events has knocked the sail off Otti’s plan to have his loyalists emerge as elected Chairmen and councillors in the LGs. But Igara has warned that any candidate elected on the ticket of LP outside the list of his faction would not stand as they would go to court, nullify and claim the mandate. For Otti, this is an alarming prospect. To avoid the risk of having his chosen candidates disqualified by courts after winning the LG polls, the Governor has secretly adopted Zenith Labour Party (ZLP) as alternative platform.
ZLP which had been in comatose in Abia has suddenly burst into new life. It has become the only party that has formally launched its campaigns for the council poll. On Thursday October 24, 2024, ZLP loudly proclaimed its readiness for the poll at a huge rally held at Enyimba International Stadium, Aba. The fact that the party was allowed to use this government-owned sports facility, in addition to the elaborate celebration of the event in Abia government media sent strong message of government backing. The light in the camp of LP has gone out while it is burning brightly in ZLP. Governor Otti is obviously working behind the scene to ensure the success of ZLP at the LG poll. This could have given the Abia Chairman of ZLP the assured hope and confidence when he declared that his party would come out tops at the poll on November 2.
Though he has not directly campaigned for the ZLP, Otti’s body language says volumes about his love for this adopted child of political circumstance. The scenario that played out in Rivers State where the governor, Siminalayi Fubara, out of political exigency, adopted an opposition party to win the LG poll, is about to play out in Abia. On the same day ZLP was kick-starting its campaign, Otti was at the other end of Aba asking LP members to vote for candidates that “share in our vision for Abia”, without mentiong LP. On the other hand they should vote for ZLP. He was speaking at Aba South headquarters during the inauguration of the reconstructed office buildings destroyed during the #EndSars protests. The Abia Governor didn’t see any need to canvass for votes for the candidates of his own party apparently to avoid the landmines laid by the Abure group. It’s really unheard of that a ruling party in a state would be heading for an election without formally launching its campaigns or organising campaign rallies.
Generally, the run up to the Abia LG poll is devoid of frenzy of political activities. The major opposition parties are quite. The case of the All Progressives Congress(APC) is different. The Abia chapter of the party has already ruled itself out of the LG poll. The state Chairman of the party, Dr Kingsley Ononogbu in explaining the party’s decision not to participate in the poll, said that ABSIEC never officially communicated the party on the election timetable. He also said that the Abia electoral body did not give political parties enough time to prepare for the council poll.
On its own part, the Peoples Democratic Party(PDP) has said that it as fully prepared to participate in the coming poll. The spokesman of the party, Mr. Jude Ndukwe said that the party’s primary election was “rancour-free” as the candidates emerged through consensus arrangements.
“We are very much prepared for this election,” he stated, adding a poser, “If you(as a party) did not participate in the electoral process, why are you a political party?”
Despite the hurdles, non-comformity to the timetable as well as intra-party crisis strewn along the route to Abia’s first LG poll under the new dispensation, the ABSIEC Chairman has maintained that “November 2 is sacrosanct”. According to him, “we have absolutely nothing to postpone the election”. Prof Chima said that the electoral umpire was ready with the electoral materials and would deliver on its mandate of conducting “free, fair and unpolluted election that will be accepted by Abians”. He appeared to be satisfied with the level of preparations.
Chima has not stated the exact amount of Abia money that would be expended on the poll. He skirted around the issue, saying that the Abia House of Assembly had already approved budget for the LG election even “before my inauguration” on September 5, 2024. The professor of geography could only say that the expected cost of the poll “is not up N2 billion, unlike last time(2020) when it was N3 billion”. He has ruled out the use of BVAS for the poll, pointing out that no state has used the electronic device to conduct LG poll, so far, and Abia would not be an exception.
Every LG election conducted in other states had been a bumper harvest for the ruling party in the respective states. It’s left to be seen if Governor Otti would lead a fractious ruling LP to achieve an overwhelming victory or use a proxy ZLP for the same end. So, the 2024 Abia LG poll is goimg to be a two-horse race between LP/ZLP and PDP. The last time local government election was held in Abia, the then ruling PDP won all the 17 chairmanship seats and all the councillorship seats except six out of 10 seats won by LP in Ikwuano Local Government. This time around, LP , even as a ruling party, is not even sure it would be on the driving seat at the grassroots after November 2.
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