APGA Accuses ENSIEC of Partisanship in Council Polls

The All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) Enugu State at its recent extraordinary meeting agreed on some resolutions regarding the just concluded Enugu State local government election.

The leadership of APGA Enugu State commended the good people of Enugu State for coming out to vote for the candidates of APGA in the various Local Government Areas in the state but are disappointed by non- or inadequate number of ENSIEC staff and electoral materials at various venues used for the election.
In a joint statement by Ndubuisi Enechionyia, APGA Enugu State Chairman and Hon. Dickson Ani,
APGA Enugu State Secretary, the party decried the activities and actions of the Enugu State Independent Electoral Commission which allegedly reneged on its statutory oaths and betrayed the mandate imposed on them.

APGA condemned in totality the gravity of electoral harassment, intimidation, violence, assault and malpractices displayed by the ruling party in the state in collaboration with the Electoral Commission and its officers wherein lives and properties were lost.

The party further rejected the pre-written electoral results declared by ENSIEC even in many glaring areas where no elections were conducted, and calls on ENSIEC to immediately withdraw the illegal certificates of return issued to the candidates of the Peoples Democratic Party, while calling on its teeming supporters to remain calm and resolute as it commences the process of nullification of the outcome of a clearly biased electoral body, which is against the will of the people.

According to the APGA leadership, “Our State has never had it so bad. This is the final dance of a failed PDP government We have no doubt that Enugu will be rescued from the hands of these ravenous lions come 2023 especially as the new Electoral Act 2022 has been signed into law by the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
Meanwhile, the frontline gubernatorial aspirant of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) in Enugu State, Prince Jeff Nnamani has called on the National Assembly to consider an amendment to the electoral law to allow the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) take over conduct of elections into the 774 Local Government Area Councils in Nigeria from the State Independent Electoral Commissions.
This, according to him, is the only way to stem the ugly tide of arrested development in most states, deepen democracy and boost the confidence of the masses in democracy as truly a government of the people by the people and for the people.
Nnamani, who spoke with journalists after voting at the Nvu Amakpu Polling Unit, Agbani Ward of Nkanu West Local Government Area of the State, expressed sadness at the conduct of the election by the Enugu State Electoral Commission (ENSIEC) and the general voter apathy witnessed.
He said ENSIEC, like almost all the other State Electoral bodies, is always at the mercy of the party in power, thereby incapable of delivering on its mandate of organizing free and fair elections that reflect the wishes of the people at the grassroots.
According to him, “total apathy witnessed in grassroots elections is as a result of having states conduct local government elections”
Nnamani said his confidence in INEC as a body that could conduct credible grassroots election is underlined by elections conducted by the body in the past in Rivers, Anambra (twice) and Edo States where the opposition triumphed over the ruling party.
He also praised the APGA party’s committed Polling Agents and members in Enugu State for remaining steadfast and principled, telling them that their efforts would be rewarded in the coming 2023 elections despite the false claims by the party in government that the state is a one-party state.
He said APGA has shown that it could stand for and with the people of the state by serving as a reliable and impeccable platform to promote grassroots development.