I’ll Still Conduct Local Govt Polls, Soludo Reassures Anambra

Anambra State Governor Prof Chukwuma Charles Soludo has reassured the people of the state that his administration will conduct local government elections as he promised during his election campaign.

Governor Soludo gave the assurance on Monday while fielding questions from Ndị Anambra during a phone-in interactive session with the people of the state at the Anambra Broadcasting Service, which was simultaneously aired on some other stations across the state.

The phone-in program, popularly known as Chat with Ndị Anambra, is a quarterly interactive session the Governor has with Ndị Anambra, where he tells them what his administration has done, what it is doing and what it is going to do, with regards to fulfilling the campaign promises he made to the people of the state, and actualising the general vision of his administration and that of the state at large.

While responding to a question from a caller in the program concerning his promise to conduct local government elections in the state, Governor Soludo said he will still fulfil the promise. He explained that certain things ought to be worked out and modalities put in place before the conduct of the election, as doing so will imply the autonomy of the local governments in the state.

He said some structures also need to be put in place before the conduct of the election, both with respect to administration, execution of government’s policies and programs, as well as the payment of the local government’s staff (both active and retired) among other things that need to be planned, defined or worked out before conducting the local government election.

The Governor, however, refuted the caller’s claim that he promised to conduct the local government before his eight months in office, adding that he did not give such a time frame when he was making the promise.

“So, I don’t know where you got that date from… But one thing I can assure you is that the local government election will be conducted, as soon as these things I told you are concluded,” he said.

Local government elections were last conducted in Anambra State on January 11, 2014. This means that since about 24 years of the return of democracy in Nigeria in 1999, local government election has only been conducted once in Anambra State.

Even prior to that of 2014, several attempts to conduct the election proved abortive, as attempts were made to conduct it on December 4, 2004, February 2005, November 2011, October 5, 2013, December 14, 2013, and December 21, 2013, which all met brick walls before it was finally conducted on January 11, 2014, during former Governor Peter Obi’s administration.