July 17, (THEWILL) – A former Chairman of Edda Local Government Area, Hon. Eni Uduma Chima, has called on the government of Ebonyi State under Francis Nwifuru, to listen to the plea of the Ekoli autonomous community in Edda Local Government Area of the State, and ensure free, fair, transparent and peaceful election of Ekoli Band of Hope Union.
Eni, who disclosed this in an interview in Abakaliki, while reacting to the call by the ruling age grade Chairman, that he (Eni) and the Chairman of All Progressives Congress (APC), Stanley Okoro Emegha, should step aside to allow for the conduct of the town union election, said he is not against the conduct of the election, provided the election is neutral and devoid of any political inclination.
Chief Thomas Ama, Chairman of Ukejiogo Ruling Age Grade, Council of Village Heads member, Ezeogo Etta Egor Akanu, Pastors Isaac Chima Oti and Enworo Otta of Ekoli-Edda Indigenous Pastors had insisted on a democratic election.
He called on the caretaker committee not to use the governor of the state, who in a meeting on November 11, 2023, faulted the requirement of the first degree as a qualification for being president of the town union, as an excuse to amend the constitution.
Eni said, “My position is that the government should listen to the plea of the people through the different authorities; the association of village heads, the ruling age grade, the women groups, even the indigenous pastors’ forum and give Ekoli people free, fair, peaceful and transparent elections. And in doing that, whatever it will cost, well-meaning individuals of the community are ready to finance it. The government does not even need to spend money. All they want is peaceful elections.
“The call for myself and my brother, Stanley Emegha to step aside for the election to hold is something I am not against. In fact, the people who made the call are the ruling age grade through their chairman. The ruling age grade is in charge of the traditional administration of the community.
“They make decisions. In fact, they are the highest decision-making organ of the community as far as traditional administration is concerned. It is made up of people who are between 80Â to 90Â years old. Then after that, we have another one because the older they are, the lesser the number. The people who spoke on their behalf spoke well.
“Personally, I think I am in support of an election, wherein the traditional institutions and the town union are divested of any political visages. You should be neutral even though it is populated by human beings who may have political inclinations, but it should be suppressed and reduced to the barest minimum.
“When you make it a platform that is politically relevant, then, politicians will become interested and that way the community is destroyed. I joined them in calling for an election.
“Recall that on the 11th of November, 2023, our matter went to the Governor, who met with the community people, listened to them and resolved there should be a caretaker committee for three to six months. The local government chairman chose the maximum of six months and they have exhausted their tenure, but he added another three months. Even the local government chairman wants an election to be conducted. He is saying they have achieved other terms of reference, except the conduct of the election.
“Now where I would want to emphasise is the nature of the election. We want an election that is free, fair, transparent, peaceful as well as credible. The caretaker chairman, of course, who was nominated by Chief Stanley Okoro Emegha is playing politics with the destiny of the community.
“In fact, he has gone ahead to purport to amend the constitution using the Governor as an excuse. The Governor went through our constitution and found a fault. Where we said the town union president general should have a qualification of first degree. It was not consistent with the Constitution. Of course, being that president of the federal republic has an O’ level to qualify. That our own should not be above that.
“Traditional institutions, the Ukejiogo, the women, the youths and no person of good conscience in Ekoli-Edda autonomous community will accept that. And if it is imposed on them, they will not give good prayer to anybody thinking that. So, the position of the community is that, of course, they tried to bring the constitution, but it was roundly rejected on the 29th of June”, Eni recalled.
Sunday Ogbu is a professional journalist with eight - twelve years experience that had worked with various print and online media. Sunday specializes in news reporting with the aim of educating his readers on current social, political and economic occurences within his area of coverage. Sunday is a strong force to work with in the media industry and uses his positive attitude and tireless energy to encourage others to work hard and succeed. Sunday is inspired daily by his wife and their four children. In his free time, Sunday likes sight-seeing, reading and discussing issues of societal interest.
