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From George Onyejiuwa, Owerri
The National Chairman of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), Chief Edozien Njoku, has said that the party is determined to fully participate in the forthcoming local government elections scheduled for September.
He also commended Governor Hope Uzodinma for conducting local government elections, saying it is the way to go.
Chief Njoku stated this at the weekend during a courtesy visit to the Chairman of the Imo State Independent Electoral Commission (ISIEC), Barrister Charles Ejiogu, at his office in Owerri. He said that APGA is determined to fully participate in the council polls to be held in September.
He also said that the ISIEC Chairman has granted the party’s request for a short extension to allow it to finalise its preparations and fully participate in the council polls.
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The National Chairman, who was represented by Mr Muyideen Imam, National Secretary of the party, said: “We are here today for a courtesy call on the Chairman of Imo State Independent Electoral Commission. We also appreciate the Imo State Governor, Senator Hope Uzodinma, for conducting local council elections which are billed for September, which is the way to go. Secondly, we are here to also notify the commission of our determination to participate fully in the local government elections and, because of the time frame, we wrote to the commission requesting an extension of time considering the circumstances surrounding APGA.”
He added: “In this instance, the commission has deemed it fit, having spoken with them, to grant our request for an extension of time. You are aware of the recent developments. The Supreme Court judgment pronounced Chief Edozien Njoku as the authentic Chairman of the party and, by virtue of that judgment, everything has to cascade down to every state. We just came in two weeks ago. So, for APGA to really participate in this election, we need a bit of time to be able to tidy up our ends. As a result of the internal re-engineering of the party, we have been moving from state to state to harmonise our people together and to get them ready for the election.”
Barrister Charles Ejiogu, Chairman of ISIEC, said the national leadership of APGA paid a courtesy visit to the commission and also made a request for a time extension on the final submission of their candidates.
“The national leadership of APGA paid us a courtesy visit in line with our duties and also made a request for an extension of time. Recently, we also had a request from one of the main parties, the People’s Democratic Party, asking for an extension during the interaction with the political parties with ISIEC, and it was unanimously resolved that their request be granted, and we gave them seven days to tidy up, and that is also what we have done in this instance because we want full participation of all parties in the local government polls.”
He added: “We are ready to conduct a free, fair, and transparent election, and the commission will not exclude any political party from the election.”
