Prof. George Chima, ABSIEC CHAIRMAN (Middle), flanked by other Commissioners during the briefing
Abia holds LG elections Nov. 2, as parties decry short notice
From Boniface Okoro, Umuahia
Elections of Chairmen and Councillors into the 17 local government areas and 184 wards of Abia State has been scheduled to hold on Saturday, November 2, 2024.
Chairman of Abia State Independent Electoral Commission (ABSIEC), Prof. George Chima, unveiled the timetable for the local government elections at a meeting at the Commission’s headquarters in Umuahia on Saturday, 21, 2024, with political parties decrying the short notice.
“I hereby issue a notice to all political parties that the election process into the positions of Council Chairmen and 184 Independent National Electoral Commission Wards Councillors of the 17 Local Government Areas of Abia State has begun and rightly inform you that the election date is November 2nd, 2024,” Prof. Chima said while unveiling the election timetable.
He emphasized the importance of having a democratic system of governance at the grassroots and the need to pay proper attention to ensuring credible system of electing the operators of the system.
“Our assurance to you is that the elections into our various local Government Councills in 2024 will no longer be business as usual. The Commission is highly determined to making the elections free, fair and credible and also ensuring that the elections will be seen as such,” the ABSIEC Chairman promised the leadership of the 19 political parties existing in Abia which attended the meeting.
He recalled that in the past, apprehension always seizes the political space when Council elections approach occasioned by fears of impartiality of the Commission and vowed that commitment of ABSIEC under his watch, would remain pivotal to ushering in “true democratic principles” in the system.
“The present Commission is made up of men and women of integrity and outstanding pedigree, committed to changing the narratives,” he added.
He explained that the essence of the meeting was to assure the political parties and every stakeholder “of the true desire and determination of the Commission to ensuring that right things were done rightly.”
Prof. Chima, therefore, called on all the stakeholders to ensure that the contestants and political parties play according to the rules, “ as that will complement the gesture extended by the Commission in order to ensure this common goal of effective and credible governance” at the grassroots.
In their responses, various chairmen of the political parties expressed reservations that the Commission did not carry them along before the unveiling of the election timetable, saying they have been taken unawares, to which Prof. Chima responded that the Commission was in a race to meet up with the deadline set by the Federal government on the conduct of local government polls across the country, and equally open to further deliberations.
Chairman of Abia State Inter Party Advisory Council (IPAC), an amalgam of the all the political parties in the state, Mr Nelcin Uluocha, who is also the state chairman of Young Progressives Party (YPP), however, in Vote of Thanks, assured that the parties would cooperate with ABSIEC to ensure that the forthcoming Council polls was a success.
“Congratulations for starting well and for opening your doors for further deliberations. The political parties will work with you for the success of the election. We will make Abia State Local Government election a model for others across the country,” Uluocha said.
