The All Progressives Congress (APC) in Anambra State has asked the state governor, Prof. Chukwuma Soludo, to resign following his inability to conduct elections in the 21 local government areas of the state more than a year after assuming office.
Consequently, the party has urged the Federal Government to appoint a “caretaker” governor to run the affairs of the state.
It stated this in a statement signed by the state Publicity Secretary, Okelo Madukaife, on Wednesday.
Both APC and the ruling All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) in Anambra have been tackling each other over the non-conduct of LG elections in the state since 2014.
Okelo pointed out that since 1999 when democracy returned to the country, Anambra State had only organised two local government elections and that was during the early days of Late Dr Chinwoke Mbadinuju’s administration and towards the end of Peter Obi’s administration in 2014.
The state chairman of APGA, Mr Ifeatu Obi-Okoye, had in an interview recently, cited “litany of litigation” at the courts as the reason preventing the state from holding LG elections.
But in the statement, Okelo asked the Anambra people and the general public to critically engage APGA on the issues concerning the Anambra State local governments.
The statement read: “Evasion of issues will not cure the angst and disappointment of Ndi Anambra over the inability of the government of the day to hold local government elections, within six months as was promised in their campaign during the Anambra governorship elections in 2021.
“On the contrary, APC promised to hold the APGA government, which seems to have lost initiative so soon to account and are doing so.
“For the second time in one week, APGA chairman, Ifeatu Obi-Okoye, has failed to mention the particular suit which he claims APC has in court that has stopped the government controlled by his party from holding LG elections and no one seemed to have returned him to the brass tacks.
“He failed to allude to the fact that Anambra State Independent Electoral Commission is paying workers who do nothing and has also failed to acknowledge that as of today, ANSIEC has no board, which has a serious duty in election planning and execution.
“On one hand, Obi-Okoye cites an apex court judgment that, according to him, empowers Anambra State Government to appoint caretaker committees while on the other, he says the case is pending and no one has taken him up for the glaring contradiction.
“Interestingly, this is coming from a party who ignored specific court orders to hold its conversation without worrying about the implications, only to invoke uncited and unreferenced cases stopping LG elections.
“We are interested in saving Anambra LGs from the state government and allowing our people feel the impact of government at the grassroots rather than being treated to vocabularies from Awka. APGA can only tell a blind man that there is no oil in the soup, not that there is no salt.
“Anambra State citizens and residents are well advised to demand for 21 elected local governments that will be accountable to them and not to be schooled on dictations that seek impossible legitimacy through legality.”
He explained that whatever APGA members impose on the LGs lacks the legitimacy to be regarded, adding that neither APC nor Anambra people will offer them any recognition.
“Henceforth, the recognisable steps to register our non-recognition of those stooges from one party will become clearer.
“If Soludo insists on defending lack of democratic governments in Anambra LGs directly or in proxy, a full year after the time he gave to hold elections has passed, he should resign as governor to enable President Bola Tinubu appoint a Caretaker governor for Anambra State and later find a legal justification for it.
“Ndi Anambra should be prepared to reclaim their right to elect their leaders after 24 years of continuous rape, 17 of which have been executed by APGA,” the statement added.