By Chesa Chesa
Anambra State Governor, Chukwuma Soludo, says the State will eventually conduct local government council elections and ultimately obey the Supreme Court’s judgment granting autonomy to the councils.
Reacting to the court’s decision shortly after he met with President Bola Tinubu at the Presidential Villa on Thursday, Soludo told State House correspondents that a court case has been preventing him from conducting the polls.
“That’s great. I am a democrat. I believe in the rule of law. And once the Supreme Court has spoken it has spoken. The Governors Forum is meeting to review this.
“At a fundamental level, yes, we need resources to get down to the real down grassroot and we need the people’s money to work for them at all levels, whether at the federal or the state and the local government. We need to promote accountability. We need to promote transparency in the utilization of public resources at all levels, to be able to lift the burden of the common man”, he said.
Reminded that only elected councils will henceforth enjoy the financial autonomy as the court verdict stipulated, the Governor said: “We will certainly (conduct elections). When I was elected into office, that’s one of the things I promised our people because in Anambra, we haven’t had them, to be honest with you.
“I promised the people of Anambra that we’re going to have local government election, and I stated that in my inaugural speech. We’ve just passed the Independent Electoral Commission law of Anambra state and we’re putting together the institutions to be able to organize that.
“The other thing that is peculiar, is that there has been a lingering litigation, for example, that stopped local government elections in the past and that particular litigation is still in the courts.
“So, we’re going to see how we handle all of that and to organize a local government election as appropriate. I’m a believer in having a democratic system. Like I said, I made a firm commitment to that and I don’t say what I will not do.”
