A chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Chief Dan Okeke, has assured of his party’s readiness to conduct local government elections in Anambra State if voted into power on November 6.
Okeke said the governorship candidate of his party, Senator Andy Uba, had expressed his readiness to follow the footsteps of the Kaduna State Governor, Nasir El-Rufai, who conducted LG polls in his state recently.
He said the party had resolved to conduct the elections within six months if it wins the governorship election; stressing that governance at the grassroots was important to the party.
This is even as he carpeted the state governor, Chief Willie Obiano, for his failure to do that in his over seven years as the state’s helmsman. He said he was disappointed that Obiano, who had lived in the United States of America, could not replicate what’s obtainable in that country.
He said it was even sadder that aside from the governor, other appointees of the state government had lived abroad, yet they could not muster the courage to promote democratic activities in the state, especially as it concerns the LG polls.
Okeke lamented that Obiano who came to power through the ballot papers did not deem it fit to equally democratise local governments in the state for over seven years that he has been in the saddle.
He stated that the state government only succeeded in using thugs to harass and intimidate residents of the state in the name of generating revenue for the state from the local governments,
The APC chieftain alleged that the governor installed his cronies as chairmen of local government areas and renewed their tenures every three months in clear disobedience to the relevant laws of the country which he swore to defend.
Okeke, however, demanded for a full account of all the money received on behalf of the 21 local government areas in the state by the governor. He insisted that the Anambra people would want to know what he did with the funds which accrued to the local governments.