
Abia IPAC Chairman, Hon. Ceekay Igara
IPAC not an opposition to Abia Govt, says chairman

[From BONFACE OKORO, Umuahia]
Chairman of Inter-Party Advisory Council (IPAC), Abia State chapter, Ceekay Igara, has described as erroneous, the popular belief that the Council was set up to work as opposition to government.


Rather, Igara said that IPAC, an umbrella body of all political parties, was set up to engage constructively with government in a manner that would add value to democracy, stabilize the polity and enhance development.
He argued that criticizing, fighting government and causing chaos within the system would not provide the proper ambience the government would require to bring about the needed development.
The Abia IPAC boss who spoke with The Oracle Today in an interview in Umuahia, said that the Council, under his leadership, has been engaging the Dr. Okezie Ikpeazu administration and making invaluable contributions for the development of the state and overall good of all Abians.
Responding to a question on the role and focus of IPAC in Nigeria’s democracy, Igara said it was unfortunate that many people do not understand the role of IPAC, particularly in Abia State.
“It is very unfortunate that too many people don’t understand the role of IPAC which was born for the purpose of stabilizing our polity, making suggestions to the government, criticizing bad ideas, not publicly because it is advisory; you advise the government.
“You also advise the political parties when there is intra-party wrangling. It is also the duty of IPAC to call the chairman or chairmen of such parties and advise him on the best way to resolve the issues. It is also the duty of IPAC to liaise with INEC and give the people a very credible election.
“Also our responsibility as IPAC is to educate the populace about their civic duties, their responsibilities in entrenching a sound democratic process and a sound electioneering process so that the overall objective of even development would be achieved,” Igara explained.
He expressed surprise that even some of his predecessors felt that “IPAC is just an opposition to the government,” which, he said, “IPAC does not stand for.”
“IPAC is not an opposition to the government. IPAC is an organization that should bring superior idea to the government. If IPAC must do its job well, it must think out of the box. It must present quality considerations, quality propositions to the government so that when government fails to implement that, that is when IPAC can say we told you this, we did this, we did that.
“IPAC can go to INEC, and engage them on deepening the electoral process and we did that in last elections. When the Continuous Voter Registration started, INEC invited stakeholders, I went there and spoke on behalf of the political parties. I told them what and what to do. INEC agreed with me,”he added.
He disclosed that Abia IPAC has started organizing leadership summits for her members, as well as political and church leaders to bring them up to speed on their roles in a democracy to make sure that we bequeath a society that Abians would be proud of.