Major political parties on Thursday were absent from a stakeholders meeting the Anambra State Independent Electoral Commission (ANSIEC) convened ahead of the local government council elections scheduled for September 2024.
The boycott gave an indication that some political parties might take legal action against ANSIEC over the proposed election fixed on September 28 which majority of the parties had rejected for being sudden.
The political parties that boycotted the stakeholders meeting included the All Progressives Congress (APC), the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), and the Labour Party.
However, the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), the Action Alliance (AA), and the Social Democratic Party (SDP) participated in the meeting.
Reacting, the Chairman of the APC in Anambra State, Chief Basil Ejidike, said they would issue a position after a meeting on Friday.
“You will hear from us after the meeting tomorrow. We are going to have a meeting of the Inter Party Advisory Committee (IPAC) made up of all the political parties, and we are working together,” he said.
“What they are planning to do is unacceptable to us, the political parties. They have already failed from the beginning because there must be a level playing field for everybody.”
“You cannot continue changing the goalposts while the game is on. So you will hear from us after the meeting, and it has to be a collective decision,” he added.
Chairman of the Action Alliance (AA), Sir Nobert Okoli, insisted that the situation was not acceptable and that the political parties, as the stakeholders, should be fully involved in the election process.
“You cannot conduct the election without the political parties, and their exclusion is a very bad signal for the upcoming election and should be corrected,” he said.
“For us in the Action Alliance (AA), we support every due process carried out by ANSIEC, but if they act contrary to this, we, as a party, have our own actions to take.”
Also speaking, the representative of the SDP Chairman, Mr. Vincent Chukwurah, and Chairmanship candidate for Awka South local government area, Prince Charles Ekwunife, argued that the election date was too sudden, suggesting that more time should have been given to political parties to prepare and nominate candidates.
Meanwhile, the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) has concluded its primary elections and nominated twenty-one local government chairmanship candidates and 326 councillorship candidates for the September 28th election.
According to our source, the candidates are incumbent members of the Transition Committees, and it was also gathered that the party resolved to nominate the chairmen and councillors whose three-month tenure would expire by September.
In his statement, Chairman of the party, Chief Ifeatu Obi-Okoye said;
“Our party has three provisions in our Constitution for the nomination of candidates, including through primary elections, affirmation, and consensus.
“You may recall that we recently held a stakeholders election to nominate three names for the post of Chairman, from which the Governor selected one as the local government Chairman. We then held our primary election and nominated our candidates through consensus, and they are now our candidates for the election.”
Speaking at the stakeholders meeting, Chairman of ANSIEC, Genevieve C. Osakwe, said:
“The Commission, which has been working tirelessly day and night, recognizes the importance of involving critical stakeholders in our discussions to address key issues that must be communicated to Anambra people to ensure the elections are free, fair, and credible.”
“My team and I believe that this meeting is crucial for us to gather your insights, identify critical success factors, and explore value-adding opinions that will help us achieve the objectives of the Commission,” she said.
