Council polls: Chime flags off campaign amidst legal concerns
From Lawrence Njoku and Chinenye Nnaji, Enugu
WITH twelve days to the December 5, 2009 council polls in Enugu State, the state governor Mr. Sullivan Chime the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) campaign train to Nkanu West and Enugu South councils.
While the governor and the leaders of the party are campaigning, the chairman of the State Independent National Electoral Commission (ENSIEC), Abel Nwobodo is worried that the election might not hold. He is worried by the spate of lawsuits by other parties challenging the fees charged by the commission.
And in spite of the funfair that attended the release of the election timetable by the ENSIEC, activities surrounding the council elections had been shrouded in uncertainty.
The state governor formally presented the party's chairmanship flag-bearers and councilors to the electorate and thanked the people for supporting the government. He assured the people that the PDP government would not disappoint them but do its best to meet their expectations.
The party state chairman, Chief Vita Abba said the current PDP in Enugu believed in genuine election devoid of manipulation or thuggery.
Two members of the House of Representatives, Princess Peace Nnaji (Nkanu East/West) and Prince Ofor Chukwuegbo (Enugu North/South) thanked the governor for his work in infrastructural development, road construction and environmental sanitation.
There are various lawsuits filed by other political parties, contesting the nomination fees imposed by the state electoral commission. The Peoples Progressive Alliance (PPA) said that the ENSIEC lacked the constitutional right to ask for nomination fees from candidates over council election.
The leader of the party in the state, Chief Okey Ezea doubted the competence of the commission to give the people of the state a credible exercise, following the perception that Chime's return to office in 2011 would depend on the outcome of the council polls.
Ezea said that the party went to court "as a result of the imposition of unlawful purchase of forms for candidates contesting in the election. Under Section 7 sub section 4 and section 106,107 of the Constitution, no candidate is expected to pay any money to contest election. But we see a situation where ENSIEC is imposing fees, which are beyond the reach of other parties excerpt the ruling PDP."
He said the council polls would expose the level of illegality perpetrated in the state.
The electoral commission had fixed N250,000 and N50,000 for the nomination forms for chairmanship and councillorship positions respectively.
The Republican Party of Nigeria (RPN), the Citizens Popular Party (CPP), the PDP faction led by Chief Ray Nnaji and a combination of Conference of Nigeria Political Parties (CNPP) also complained about the "exorbitant fees for the election."
Adonys Igwe, chairman of the state branch of CNPP said that the high fees made it impossible for opposition parties and their candidates who wanted to contest.
He said that appeals and petitions by her group to the commission to reduce the fees failed on deaf ears. She said: "It is no longer democracy if the people cannot express their wishes in the form of voting and being voted for. We had so many interests from various political parties across the 17 councils for the election but when ENSIEC came up with the fees, many of them declined. It is only those in government that can afford to pay the stipulated amount. It is sad that the commission paid deaf ears to appeals for reduction in the fees. This is no more democracy because the fees have denied the people participation in the elective process."
Nnaji, a former national auditor of the PDP whose faction of the PDP in the state took its national leadership to court over the recognition accorded the Abba led executive of the party, also sued the commission for rejecting a list of candidates it submitted for the council polls.
Nnaji said that since the executive led by Abba whose list was accepted by the commission was faced with legitimacy question, there was no basis for the Abel Nwobodo led commission to accept the list and reject the one from his group.
He stated that the acceptance of the list from marked the beginning of a fresh crisis in the party in the state. He claimed that he was being persecuted and warned that, "our members are not resting; they are ready for a show down with anybody over this exercise. We are prepared and nobody will truncate our rights. They said I have forged PDP forms and certificate and receipts, which I used for the primaries of the party for the council election. Why would I engage in such when I am the authentic chairman of the party and had carried out my duties in line with the constitution? Let us see how the commission will conduct the election without us being part of it."
He noted that his group followed the process for the primaries as stipulated in the party guidelines on the emergence of candidates and that the commission had no legal rights to reject his list when the group was in court with the national chairman of the party, Chief Vincent Ogbulafor.
The chairman of ENSICE said that the constitution empowers the commission to charge fees for the council polls, and that the suits in the courts were impacting negatively on the December 5 polls.
He said that the commission had continued with preparations towards a hitch free exercise but that the inability of the courts to resolve the various suits was threatening the exercise.
The 2007 council election was held after the court ruled in favour of the commission over suits challenging fees charged then. The ruling made many opposition political parties to boycott the process.
Nwobodo said that though the Commission had taken time to arrange for a hitch free exercise, the conduct of the election on the scheduled date would depend on the disposal of the various cases over nomination fees filed by the various parties.
He explained that the commission was worried by the development and though it experienced a similar situation in 2007, the number of litigants this time is higher.
He said: "We have as much as possible tried to explain to the parties that election is a costly venture and that we did not fix the fees to deny any party or candidate opportunity to participate in the exercise. But they choose to go to court to challenge the action of the commission.
"I don't know the exact number of litigations we are facing, but I know that what we have is beyond that of 2007, which was conducted after the pronouncement of the court. We have made all the preparations and we are recruiting ad hoc officers, whose training has commenced. We are not comfortable with the fact that the courts have not decided on the cases filed over the fees for nomination forms. Until that is done, we will continue to wait."
Although Nwobodo could not confirm the number of candidates from other political parties vying for the election, it was gathered that only the PPA among the political parties is presenting candidates for the council election in about seven councils.
The ENSIEC boss, who also spoke on the rift in the PDP over parallel lists of candidates, said the issue had been cleared after a letter it received from Ogbulafor, authorising it to recognise the leadership of Abba.
He said that though the commission had earlier rejected both lists, it would deal with Abba, pending the determination of the court case allegedly filed by the Nnaji led group.
The suits in court no doubt have affected the campaigns for the council elections as virtually all the parties have looked forward to the determination of the matters before the next line of action could be taken, thus many of them have failed to engage in any campaign exercise.
Investigations revealed that the recent strike embarked upon by Judiciary workers as well as the legal year, which the judges observed might have affected the quick dispensation of the suits.
But in a manner that seemed to have broken the deadlock surrounding the exercise, the PDP last weekend kicked off its campaigns for the election when it handed over party flags to its 17 chairmanship candidates and councilors in the state.
Chime, who performed the ceremony, told the crowd at Okpara square, that his achievements in the past two and half years had further diminished opposition in the state, insisting that those who now play the opposition lacked credibility.
He said Enugu people had come to embrace the PDP in view of the good works of his government, stressing that the party would win hundred percent the council election.
Chime had sent the gathering into jubilation, when he announced that the party had been returned unopposed in 10 out of the 17 councils in the state, assuring that, the party would work hard to win the remaining seven.
He said: "We are not in the election to contest with anybody because virtually there is no opposition in Enugu. Our methods of administration, where we have succeeded in entrenching infrastructural development to every part of the state, have been responsible for this. The men we are lining up here would further carry the stride to all communities of the state."
Although the speech was punctuated with dancing and praise- singing, the absence of leaders of the party in the state, including Chief Jim Nwobodo, Ken Nnamani, Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu, Ayogu Eze, Okwy Nwodo among others created a gap in the campaign flag off, just as some party faithful asked whether there was a problem between these leaders and the state government.
To douse their fears, state chairman of the party, Abba mounted the podium to announce that the leaders were either held in a national assignment or were out of the country.
Chime has carried the campaigns personally further to the councils and has so far visited eight councils, where he not only presented the party candidates to the supporters but also canvassed for votes to enable the party win in the election.
