ENUGU, Nigeria (VOICE OF NAIJA)- The Cross River State chapter of the Inter-Party Advisory Council (IPAC) has given Governor Bassey Otu a three-month ultimatum to conduct the suspended Local Government Elections in the State.
The state government had, in May 2022, commenced the process of conducting local council polls, but the exercise was postponed because of the general elections held in February and March 2023.
The last date announced for the local government elections in the state was 21 October 2023.
However, in a statement signed by the state chairman and secretary, Comrade Anthony Attah and Pastor Ntami Esege, respectively, IPAC expressed concerns over the refusal of the Governor to talk about the scheduled local council elections in a recent public address to mark his 100 days in office.
“We had declared a deserved honeymoon for the new administration but were however shocked that in his Press Conference last week to mark his 100 days in office, nothing was said about the administrative lacuna in our Local Government Councils.
“This clearly shows that the governor is yet to prioritize Local Government administration,” the statement said.
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The Cross River State IPAC further stated that the Governor, being a former federal legislator at both the upper and lower chambers, ought to lead by example.
The organisation declared that the people of the state can no longer tolerate the imposition of illegal heads of local government administration.
According to the IPAC, some other states in the country have already concluded local council elections while others are getting set to conduct theirs.
“Moreover, Taraba State, with a new governor just like us, has scheduled her Local Government election to hold on the 18th of November, 2023.
“These are states that commenced the process about the same time with Cross River State. The reason these states are conducting elections hitherto postponed is because government is a continuum.
“It is against the background of the foregoing that we have elected to call on the governor to mandate the Cross River State Independent Electoral Commission, CROSIEC to immediately return to work as Cross Riverians can no longer tolerate the illegal and unconstitutional imposition of Heads of Local Government Administration, HOLGA“, IPAC said.