By Jude Atupulazi
One of the topics on the front burner in Anambra State at the moment is the clamour by people outside the All Progressives Grand Alliance, APGA, and its government in the state, for the conduct of local council elections which were last held in the Peter Obi regime ten long years ago. The argument is that the refusal to conduct the elections by the APGA Government of Prof Chukwuma Soludo is stalling development in the grassroots which represent the third tier of government.
Soludo is also being slayed for reneging on his promise of conducting the elections as soon as he assumed office. But with the next governorship election in the state coming up in November next year, the signs of Soludo conducting the said elections are as bleak as one expecting harmattan in June. This is to say that Soludo has failed on that promise which he gave while campaigning for votes last time out. Rather than conducting it, he has been using appointees to run the third tier of government, just like others did before him and what some few other state governors are doing.
This system favours only those whose parties are in power, and, understandably, a great many of them are not complaining. This suits the government too as it uses local council funds to do other business which also includes strengthening its political structure and machinery.
Under this system, the transition chairmen are completely controlled by the governor who appoints them. They are told how to spend money, how much to spend and what to spend it on. They are given some money monthly for upkeep, with the main money coming from security votes.
These chairmen are not accountable to the people, being that the people neither elected nor appointed them. They could even be picked by the governor from anywhere if the governor so wishes. In a nutshell, the local government system under transition chairmen is just a conduit pipe for the government in power to stay financially afloat.
Of course you don’t expect opposition parties to like this because money accruing to the local governments is so, so much. In fact, the other day, an opposition candidate, Mr Val Ozigbo, berated Soludo for using the local government funds to oil his political structure.
Before then, another opponent, Senator Ifeanyi Ubah, had taken Soludo to the cleaners for refusing to conduct council polls and threatened to initiate moves to stop the local council funds coming to the Anambra State Government from source.
There is no arguing that local government elections are necessary. If not for anything, they open the door for opportunities at the grassroots level and even relives the state government of some stress as some of its burdens will now be borne by the third tier of government. But that is in an ideal situation. Sadly, our situation here is far from ideal.
Even if elections are eventually conducted, they turn into one big scam as most times virtually every member of the ruling party is returned by the electoral body which is controlled and bankrolled by the party in power in the state. To say that the worst elections in Nigeria today are local government elections is to state the obvious. You therefore wonder why state governors don’t want to conduct the elections since they will also be calling the shots.
But we’ve read stories of how some ”elected” council chairmen became stubborn and refused to be used as houseboys by their governors. Being that they are protected by the constitution they are largely safe to disobey the governors. Also, there is a constitutionally agreed remuneration for such elected council officials which means the governors will not be making as much as they would have been making under the transition arrangement.
Yet, the system under this still favours the party in party as they will garner every seat for themselves after ensuring that only loyalists are given tickets to run.
Interestingly, after such council elections (it is actually selections), the same opposition that cried over the non-conduct of council polls will also cry that the elections were rigged. So where do we actually go from here? This is why I’m not overly worried about this issue of the conduct or non-conduct of council polls. This is because nothing will really change except that the chairmen and councilors will earn more.
What I would have therefore thought the opposition should be more concerned with is to be calling for the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, to be given the power to conduct council elections. This way, the governors won’t be able to put their cronies into positions.
You might argue that INEC isn’t much better than state electoral commissions but elections by INEC are still much, much better. It is because INEC is better that we have today many states controlled by different parties which would not have been possible if INEC was not in charge. Under INEC, parties usually win in their strong zones. That is why APGA, for instance, has been winning in Anambra. That is also why Soludo is governor today.
Under INEC-organized elections, opposition parties have almost a 50-50 opportunity of winning state elections except the presidential election. In the last general elections, all three major parties ran neck and neck, winning almost the same number of states. Can this happen in elections conducted by state electoral commissions? Capital MBA! (No). Indeed, I look at opposition candidates contesting local government elections as people who want to waste their money; for no matter how hard they campaign and how much money they splash around, they will never win so long as the government in power doesn’t want them to win.
So why the noise or hullabaloo about the non-conduct of local government elections in Anambra State? I really do not see what will change much when it is conducted. But then, since Soludo promised to conduct such elections, he should walk his talk and conduct one. The money involved in conducting such is not cheap and is perhaps another reason why some governors shy away from doing so. But since the constitution requires that such elections should be conducted, why not conduct them? At least it will keep many politicians (mostly those without serious means of livelihood) busy, as well as making it easier for those in the villages to have access to government.
To this end, I call on Soludo to conduct the elections as he promised as failing to do so will not portray him as a man of his words and believing what future promises he makes will become difficult.
The curious case of APGA not being their brother’s keeper
The popular slogan or motto of APGA is ”Onye aghana nwanne ya”, or loosely translated, ”Don’t abandon your brother”. But in my ward in Nimo (Ward 4), this motto is being rubbished due to the treatment being meted to a former APGA ward chairman and chairman of chairmen, Mr Ignatious Achalugo, alias Uhuru, who lies dying of prostate issues.
Uhuru, in his active days as ward chairman, was very active and did no other thing than party work. He had his shortcomings as a human, for sure, but there was no disputing that he was among the best chairmen of his day. This was why he was made the chairman of chairmen.
Today, he is down with prostate issues and has shrunk from the giant of a man he was. What is perhaps still keeping him alive today are his courage and valour as a Biafran soldier during the war and the grace of God. Despite reaching out to some big wigs in his party to help him, no one has responded. Yet, this is a party that shouts its motto of ”Onye aghana nwanne ya” from the roof tops.
On my own I have begun reaching out to some people in the party to come to his aid before he dies and I’m using this medium to remind those I reached out to, to reach out to others in the party on his behalf.
His sad fate reminds me how it is a tragedy to be a poor man in this country. No one remembers you in times of need. You are used when you are in your prime and abandoned when you are deemed useless to them. I’m sure that if tomorrow he is no more, many will flood our space with eulogies, forgetting that they did nothing to help him when he needed it.
When I think of this man in his current condition, the pain pierces my heart like a dagger.
The clock is meanwhile ticking and the time to help Uhuru is NOW! Those who may want to reach out to him may do so through me as his phone is often not charged to receive or make calls. You don’t have to know this man to help him. Just do it as an act of charity for the sake of God.
