Chuks Ogbuka, the national coordinator of Corruption Watch (CW), has urged President Muhammadu Buhari to suspend local government allocations to Anambra state pending when Governor Willie Obiano conducts local elections, The Punch reports.
We gathered that Ogbuka, who made the appeal to Buhari in Nnewi, Anambra state on Tuesday, December 11, described the failure to conduct council polls in the state for over five years as undemocratic and illegal.
“President Buhari should intervene by first stopping Anambra State local government allocations until democratically elected governments are put in place in the 21 council areas of the state,” he said.
The national coordinator said the continued governance of the state by Obiano without input of democratically elected council officials was an absurd.
He stated: “Governor Willie Obiano would be taking the people of Anambra state for a ride if he failed to conduct local government election in the state as soon as possible to fulfill his second-term campaign promise.
“Non-conduct of the council poll had led to uneven development of the 21 council areas in the state, whereas huge amount of funds always come to Anambra from the Federation Account for the council areas. If the local government election was conducted in the state, more jobs will be created in addition to more grass-roots developments.
“As social crusaders, we want Obiano to tell Anambra people why he has not deemed it fit to conduct local government election in the state almost one year after being sworn in for a second tenure. We consider the practice as trampling upon the right of Anambra electorate who had voted him for second tenure.”
Ogbuka lamented that the caretaker committee system were handpicked workers, therefore reducing officials at the council areas to mere stooges in the hands of the governor as they were not answerable to the people.
We previously reported that Governor Obiano state rubbished reports that he was supporting the 2019 presidential bids of President Muhammadu Buhari of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and Alhaji Atiku Abubakar of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
Obiano rubbished the claims in a statement released by his commissioner for information and public enlightenment, C-Don Adinuba, on Sunday, December 2, Punch reports.
The governor disclosed that he was supporting the ambition of the presidential candidate of the All Progressive Grand Alliance (APGA), General John Gbor.
