The National Chairman of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), Chief Sylvester Ezeokenwa, has described the decision by major political parties in Anambra State to stay away from the scheduled local government election as an attempt to hide from the obvious truth, alleging that they have no candidates for the exercise.
The All Progressives Congress (APC), African Democratic Congress (ADC) and Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC) have already indicated their resolve not to participate in the council election scheduled for Saturday.
Meanwhile, uncertainty persists over the proposed conduct of the local government election across the 21 local government areas in the state.
Ezeokenwa, however, disclosed on Tuesday that the only political parties participating in the election were APGA and the Young Democratic Party (YPP).
According to him, the YPP fielded one chairmanship candidate in Anambra East Local Government Area and no councillorship candidates.
He said, “If you say that you are pulling out of the race, that means that you are in the race. But to say that you are pulling out of the contest when, in the actual sense, you did not field candidates is more of playing the ostrich.”
He said, “Go to the headquarters of the Anambra State Independent Electoral Commission (ANSIEC) and find out. You will discover that they never fielded candidates for this Saturday’s election, and the only party that has a candidate for the election is the YPP, which has one chairmanship candidate in Anambra East and no councillorship candidates.”
Ezeokenwa stated that, before any election, political parties hold primary elections to nominate candidates, but the other political parties never conducted primary elections, insisting that they were not in the race.
“A good example is our party, APGA, which did not field any presidential candidate in the next general election, and we cannot say that we are pulling out because we are not in the race for that election.”
“So people should not see their respective comments about the election to mean that initially they were in the race. You can confirm that from ANSIEC, which is the umpire for this election,” he said.
Recall that the Chairman of the Anambra State Independent Electoral Commission (ANSIEC), Mrs Genevieve Osakwe, had told newsmen in Awka, the state capital, that the election would hold as planned.
However, indications suggest that most of the key political parties in the state are poised to pull out of the race due to a lack of confidence in the electoral body.
The Chairman of the APC in the state, Senator Emma Anosike, the Chairman of the NDC, Chief Ikem Uzoezie, and the Chairman of the ADC have all declined to comment on the exercise.
There are indications that the three parties are not fielding candidates for the election, making it largely an APGA affair.
There are also reports that 56 councillors who had earlier filed a suit against the planned conduct of the election are alleged to have obtained a court order restraining the electoral body from holding the election.
They have also refused to speak on the matter, insisting that it would be sub judice for them to comment on a matter pending before the court
