From Judex Okoro, Calabar

Since the inception of this Fourth Republic, Cross River has always been rated as one of the leading democratic states across the country in terms of conduct of council elections.
To successive governments in the state, that tier of government is seen as the people’s government and therefore should be left for the people to decide those who occupy positions at that level. They also see the local government as the fulcrum of development hence, the need to enthrone an elected administration to drive the process.
Therefore, seeing it as the nearest to the rural dwellers, past administrations saw the conduct of election as very important. At every end of three years, politicians look forward to engaging the electorate in another round of electioneering.
For the political parties and its leadership, it is usually a ritual for them to rejig the political system, re-organise their parties and membership and sell their manifestoes to the electorate.
It is also another golden opportunity for parties to engage their members and then rake in finances from dues and other sundry charges that might be imposed on those wishing to run for either chairmen of councils or councillors as might be deemed necessary. All these are a part of the democratic processes of re-building the parties at the grassroots.
It is therefore, no wonder that the appointment of head of Administration by the Governor Ben Ayade-led government on the expiration of tenure of elected council chairmen and councillors has generated much furore and criticisms especially form the opposition APC in the state.
In a release signed by the Secretary to the State Government, Tina Agbor, the governor directed that, “following the end of tenure of the current Local Government Administrations in the state on Thursday, December 15th, 2016, the state governor, His Excellency, Senator (Professor) Ben Ayade, has directed all out-going chairmen of councils with the exception of Bakassi Local Government Council, to handover to Heads of Local Government Administration (HOLGA) in their respective local governments. Handover should take place on or before Friday, December 16, 2016.”

As APC kicks  
Following the dissolution of the elected council officials and subsequent appointment of head of administration to man the affairs at the grassroots, the opposition party in the state has outrightly rejected the arrangement. It instead has called for election immediately as stipulated by the constitution.
According to the All Progressives Congress (APC), it stated that it will not be involved in any form of transitional committee the State Government is proposing after the tenure of the 18 Local Government Chairmen expires.
The party which described the non-conduct of Local Government elections in the State as illegal said it respects the country’s constitution and will not get its hand soiled.
Disclosing this newsmen in Calabar, the publicity secretary in the state, Mr. Mensa Ikpeme, said “Section 7 of that Constitution, first schedule, stipulates that local government must have democratically elected local government personnel to make it a legitimate government. So if the government takes their time to delay these things, they are openly violating the Nigerian constitution”.
Insisting that his party has been pushing for the conduct of the elections, Ikpeme said “We held a seminar sometime in Channel View. I was there in that seminar and I stood up to ask the Chairman of Cross River State Independent Electoral Commission, CROSIEC, whether he is ready for the elections, if he is ready, let him tell us the modalities. He openly said yes they were ready for the election”.
Corroborating the party’s position, the Vice Chairman of APC, central senatorial district, Cletus Obun, said the 2016 LG election was budgeted for by the last leadership of CROSIEC.
Obun disclosed that in one of the meetings CROSIEC had with political parties, it saw reasons that December 15, was very close and so the stakeholders agreed that in the worst case scenario, it can take 90 days from December and prepare for the election.
He said based on that, they suggested that if there must be a caretaker, all the parties that have shown presence at the national assembly must have a representative at the committee.
Wondering why the state cannot conduct election even when they get funding from international agencies, he said, “I can also tell you that Cross River has been getting international funding and accolade for conducting local government election in Nigeria. So, why can’t they explore that avenue?
“The so called N6bn isn’t too much. We have LG funds coming from federal. They get their LG funding so why can’t they fund because they are not prioritising it. They want to run it as department of local government.”
The Supreme Court ruling is a mere interpretation otherwise the constitution has never been ambiguous on the issue.
He said that Section 7 (2) of the Constitution confers the powers on legislating for the local government on Houses of Assembly, but does not empower them to make laws for the formation of caretaker committees at local government as that is an aberration.

Battle shifts to court
The battle over whether council election will hold in Cross River or not has been shifted to Calabar High Court as Chief Justice of Cross River State, Justice Okoi Ikpi-Itam, granted a Motion Exparte restraining Governor Ben Ayade from appointing caretaker management committees or sole administration into the 18 local government councils.
In a suit no HC/7/2017 filed on behalf of APC, Cross River chapter by their counsel, Chief Utum Eteng, against the state governor and Cross River State Independent Electoral Commission, Ikpi-Itam also granted an order restraining the Head of Local Government Administration from performing the statutory functions of democratically elected councils. The court further ordered an accelerated hearing of the originating summons by virtue of the issues raised.
The Motion Exparte was granted on January 9 while government’s reaction to the ruling is expected on January 24.
In the originating summons, the lead counsel to claimants, Chief Utum Eteng, had argued that Governor Ayade had breached section 7 (1) of the constitution, section 2(1) and section 63 of the local government law of 2004 for the conduct of council election as at when due.
The section states, “Whether the failure, neglect and refusal by defendants to take necessary steps consistent with the mandatory expectations of section 7(1) of the constitution, section 2(1) and section 63 of the local government law of 2004 to conduct council election as at when due, is consistent with section 7(1) of the constitution and violation of the oath of office the governor took on May 29, 2015 in the 7th schedule of the constitution.
“Whether the 1st defendant’s (Governor Ben Ayade) directive vide press release of December 14, 2016 directing chairmen of councils whose three-year term expired on December 15, 2016 to handover council administration in their respective local councils to an unelected Head of Local Government Administration, except Bakassi LGA.”

PDP tackles Opposition
Reacting, the Publicity Secretary of the state chapter of PDP, Mr. Egbung Odama, said “elections would be conducted before May 2017 and the political parties are waiting for CROSIEC to come out with timetable.
“For us in PDP, we are ready and not worried about the development as we are one of the states in the country that has always conducted council poll. Check across the country, how many APC states have conducted their council election, so why Cross River should be used as a guinea pig in terms of stopping allocation as speculated by people.”
Commending APC for seeking interpretation through the court, Austin Ibok, the Special Adviser Inter Party Affairs to Governor Ben Ayade, said the opposition APC in the state showed they have leaved up to their responsibility as a viable opposition in the state.
Ibok said obtaining an exparte motion restraining the government from appointing head of administration implies that they have also got injunction for other APC states that have not conducted local government elections.
He maintained, “If you’re going to equity, you must go with clean hands because a good number of APC states have not conducted council elections. Therefore, they have indirectly restrained their other APC governors operating caretaker committee from collecting their allocation when the chips are down. So, we thank them for the injunction for other states.
“We have had meetings with other parties and we have agreed that very soon, we would have election may be before June this year because it takes a lot to have an election.”
Lamenting the lean resources of the state which has hindered the conduct of council election, he disclosed that the state government needs a whopping sum of N6bn to be able to conduct local government election this year.
The SA said the amount include conduct of the elections, allowances for council chairmen, councillors, council political appointees and severance allowances for those leaving office.
Ibok, the former Chairman of the Labour Party in the state said, “To conduct the council election in Cross River, we need about N2bn. For the current local government chairmen, Vice Chairmen, Councillors and other political appointees whose tenure would soon come to an end, we would pay them severance if I am not mistaken.
“If they do the statistics, the least number of elected and political appointees will be 47 in any Local Government if I am not mistaken. For you to take care of those bills after leaving office, you will have to spend another N2bn.
“Besides, once the new council officers are elected, the state government buys cars for them to make them function optimally and that will cost an additional N2bn totalling N6bn in all,” he stated.

Umpire, CROSIEC, promises free, fair contest
While waiting for the outcome of court processes, the Cross River Electoral Commission (CROSIEC) has stated for the umpteenth time that it is ready to conduct the 2017 Local government elections in the state once funds are made available to it.
In an interview with DAILY SUN in Calabar, the Chairman of the commission, Dr Mike Anake, said beside the fact that all template for the election and other processes involved there in are ready, the commission has met with critical stakeholders informing them of its preparedness to go with the election within the ambit of the local government law.
Anake, however, said that the commission is waiting for release of the required funds to commence full activities for the election, adding that the commission has proposed for minor adjustment in some of the provisions for the conduct of the election
He said:  “The commission is also trying to persuade the State Government to increase its budgetary allocation for the election. We proposed N1.36 billion in the 2016 budget for the election but the government cut it down to N600 million.
“And considering that the previous management of the commission spent N900 million for 2013 election, it is obvious that N600 million is not enough; so we are pushing for an increase in our budget, ‘’ he said.

Conclusion
As the ding-dong between the ruling PDP and APC continues, some analysts are worried whether the opposition parties this time would rise up to the occasion by offering an alternative leadership to voters. They also contend whether the opposition would muster enough resources and logistics to prosecute the pending council election.
Some have argued that it would be very difficult to dislodge the ruling PDP at the council poll because the party is much grounded in the state and considering that CROSIEC is a state agency. To this school of thought, it would be business as usual.
“One thing is very clear, the pending council election will be an acid test for both parties to prove who really controls the state. To PDP  it will be the first baptism of fire as it has to prove that the party is still intact and cohesive while for the APC, it is the time to test its popularity and strength at the grassroots.”