Governor Alex Otti of Abia State has disclosed when local government elections will hold in the state. He also explained why his former Commissioner for Health, Dr Ngozi Okoronkwo, resigned her appointment.
Governor Otti made the revelation during a media parley Friday night in Umuahia. He clarified that the former Commissioner was discovered to have abused some procedures in the discharge of her duties.
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Meanwhile, recall that the Commissioner for Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs, Abia State, Prince Uzor Nwachukwu, explained the reason the Dr Otti-led administration is not in a hurry to conduct local government elections.
He had said the Governor wanted to first stabilize and get the councils working. The Commissioner told Vanguard that Otti met a lot of rot in the state.
So he wanted to clean up the system before conducting local government elections.
However, last year, Abia State Independent Electoral Commission, ABSIEC, said the then strike action by the Nigerian Labour Congress in Abia State, and courts’ orders prevented the conduct of the local government election scheduled for Friday, May 19, 2023.
Speaking at the media parley yesterday, Otti said the state would soon present a draft bill before the House of Assembly for the amendment of the state local government electoral law.
He explained that as soon as that was done, and the necessary changes effected, the state would then hold council polls.
“The timetable for the council election is not yet out. We believe things need to be changed in the electoral law.
“In the next few days, we will be approaching the House of Assembly to change a few things, and make the conduct of the election as seamless as possible,” Otti said.
He promised that an equal playground would be given to all the political parties and participants during the exercise.
Meanwhile, the Governor absolved the ex-commissioner for health of any financial impropriety. He explained that she decided to throw in the towel of her own volition.
According to the Abia Governor, the committee set up to investigate the commissioner did not find her guilty of any financial impropriety or theft.
Governor Otti said: “Her resignation has been received and accepted. Before she resigned, the committee set up to investigate her turned in its report.
