Again, Elechi, Lawmakers Clash over Ebonyi Council Polls

10 Feb 2015

Ebonyi State governor, Chief Martin Elechi

Benjamin Nworie in Abakaliki
The crisis between Ebonyi State governor, Chief Martin Elechi and members of the state House of Assembly may be far from resolution as the governor is planning to hold a new election for local government chairmen and councillors without the determination of the appeal filed by the house in the Court of Appeal, Enugu against the judgement of a Federal High Court sitting in Abakaliki which set aside the law made by the house and nullified the local government election.

The Federal High Court had nullified the election on the ground that the open ballot system adopted by the Ebonyi State Independent

Electoral Commission (EBSIEC) negates the  individual’s right to privacy, as the plaintiff contended.

The crisis, THISDAY learnt, exploded when Elechi suddenly parted ways with his deputy, Mr. Dave Umahi and further planned to impeach Umahi up to nine times but the lawmakers stood firmly for the deputy and united against the governor.

The lawmakers have questioned the constitutionality of appointing and swearing in of the  thirteen local government caretaker committee chairmen by Elechi  without being screened by the members of the state House of Assembly.

However, THISDAY gathered that since the swearing in of the caretaker chairmen, an exparte motion has been brought before an Abuja Federal High Court, challenging the appointment and release of state funds for the caretaker chairmen by the state government.

Already, the lawmakers had petitioned President Goodluck Jonathan and the leadership of the Nigeria Stock Exchange (NSE) to withdraw the N15billion proposal by Elechi, as the governor has not briefed them on how he utilised the first N16.5billion bond which he procured in 2010.

The state chairman of EBSIEC, Mr John Nkwuda, has released the
guidelines and time table for the conduct of the council elections in
the state.

According to Nkwuda, the election would hold on April 25, 2015.
Meanwhile, the state House of Assembly has not amended or repealed the use of open ballot system and now that the lawmakers have united against Elechi, THISDAY gathered that Elechi may find it difficult to get the consent of warring lawmakers to amend the electoral law.

In a statement, the Clerk of the state House of assembly, Mrs Rose
Nwokporo, noted that the planned local government election cannot hold in view of the appeal the house filed in the Enugu Court of Appeal
against the judgement of the Federal High Court, Abakaliki, which set
aside the law validly made by the House and nullified the council
election held on October 5, 2013.

Nwokporo directed the electoral commission to suspend every process connected with the conduct of any local government election until the pending appeal is determined and further urged members of the public and political parties to ignore any notice, as there will not be any local government election in the state pending the determination of the suit.

 Source: Thisdays news