WHY WE NEED LGA ELECTIONS IN ABIA NOW!

For the past 15 years now, since after the 1999 general elections across the country, and democracy restored in Nigeria, Abia state have not conducted any local government elections till date, even though the constitution mandate's the governor of the state to do so.

Infact immediately the LGA chairmen and councilors, elected during the 1999 elections, finished their tenure, the illegal/unconstitutional imposition of TC chairmen began, and have continued year-in-year out till date.

Successive governors of the state have continued to appoint TC chairmen, who in most cases have illegally exceeded the constitutionally stated 3 months period to 6 months and above. Then at the discretion of the governor, he sacks them and appoint a new set of his party loyalists, godsons, and those he see as faithful servants, who should be rewarded. To replace the sacked ones and then they serve for another short period before they too are sacked and replaced.

This have shown to be an unconstitutional method, used by the governors to grant favours to their loyalist and make political settlements to their party members, as I see no reason why the democratic process of election cannot be conducted across these LGA's.

The effect of this undemocratic practices, abuse of power and the constitution, is that local development in these Area councils have come to a halt. The governor no longer releases LG allocations to the 17 LG councils of the state, and this in turn have crippled grass root growth and development on our villages.

Most of the villages within these LGAs are left in abject poverty, with no electricity, pipe-born water, health services, emergency services, road infrastructure and means of transport from this villages to the city, and no security.
Again knowing fully-well that these rural areas depend solely on agriculture to survive, and other forms of local arts and craft fabrication from their cottage industries to make a living, the governors have denied them local governance and government support for this past 15 years, which has more than worsen their plight.

Worst still, whilst the people are yearning for the presence of government, the so called appointed TC chairmen, abandon the LGA secretariats which they say is located in the bush, and flee to Aba or the capital city, umuahia or even to wherever they wish to go, till their tenure expires or they are sacked by the governor.

The local government secretariats have been abandoned, workers have absconded from their offices with the excuse of no salary payment, and grasses, rats and cobwebs, have taken over the buildings. Infact some of the LGAs have turn to a mini wildlife park.
Our people can no longer get important services like collection of (certificate of origin, birth certificate etc) which the LGAs issues, because no staff to attend to them.

The biggest rape to our democracy and grass root politics is that in the LGAs where the people didn't vote for the governor's party, he still goes ahead to impose a TC chairman from his party on them, against their wish and right to vote and be voted for. Mainly to hijack the grassroot politics there, and install his party influence there. As well as to crush perceived opposition.

Finally, there is no how the governor alone could govern the entire state and the thousands of villages in it, yearning for development and the presence of government effectively, without the help and corporation of democratically elected chairmen of these LGAs, who knows their Area, their people and what their people wants more than the Governor knows.
Therefore, in view of these, we ask for the immediate conduct of chairmanship and councillorship elections across the 17 LGAs of the state by the Abia state independent electoral commission (INEC) and the state government, led by Dr. Okezie Ikpeazu, Governor Abia state.

My People

It is like the federal government does not care about the Local Government elections.