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From Obinna Odogwu, Awka
Tension is brewing in Awgbu community, Orumba North Local Government Area of Anambra State following moves by two groups to conduct parallel elections into the national offices of the Awgbu Progress Union.
Efforts made by the community sometime in 2020 to conduct the polls in order to fill the vacant offices in their union failed as the planned exercise was temporarily suspended by the court.
But some fresh efforts to conduct the poll have split the community as two groups and their loyalists are, at the moment, making efforts to hold parallel elections. In fact, two separate dates have been fixed for that purpose.
At a press conference in Awka, the state capital, the Elders Committee of the community led by Chief Mike Izuegbune, lamented the current state of affairs in the town but, however, told newsmen that they were making efforts to restore lasting peace to the community.
Izuegbune, who was represented at the briefing by Chief Theophilus Okoli, however, alleged that the Commissioner for Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs, Hon. Collins Nwabunwanne, was taking sides with their opponent instead of maintaining a neutral stand.
“He wants to precipitate anarchy in our dear town, Awgbu, by invading and occupying Awgbu town this Saturday 14th May 2022 to pronounce and install his cronies and allies as officers of Awgbu Progress Union in a shambolic meeting.
“This he intends to do without any authority under any law in a blatant disregard of the constitution of Awgbu Progress Union, the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and a subsisting court order.
“This his skewed, parochial and dangerous pursuit arose from the union’s invitation to the Ministry of Local Government, Chieftaincy and Community Affairs to come and observe the final phase (voting and swearing-in) of the formerly court suspended Awgbu Progress Union 2020 Election on 18-5-2022”, he said.
The commissioner, Nwabunwanne, in his reaction, dismissed the allegations levelled against him as untrue. He explained that he was making spirited efforts to resolve the crisis in the community and ensure that they conduct a free, fair and transparent election.
“This administration has no personal interest in any community. What we are trying to do is to resolve all issues in various communities and conduct elections for them; to bring peace in various communities; and that’s what we’ve been doing.
“Coming to the case of Awgbu, the community wrote to this office that they want an election. The present caretaker wrote. In fact, they have overstayed. They came. Some other people came and said no, that it is not possible; that they had issues.
“I now decided to invite the caretaker committee on one side, discussed with them; they told me the problem and I also invited the other party who also told me their own issue.
“So, at that point, the Onowu came and the elders’ forum…; and the problem there is that the elders are divided into two. The chairman of the elders has his own group and the secretary of the elders has his own group.
“So, what we tried to do was to bring them together first. And the major problem here is this: they were trying to have an election earlier, years back and some people were screened out.
“According to them, it wasn’t what the constitution says but they had to do that because people were having one interest or the other. Somebody went to court and got a court judgment.
“The other judgement didn’t say we shouldn’t conduct an election. What the other judgement says is ‘reinstate this person that was actually screened out wrongly and conduct an election.’
“What we did when we called the both sides together was to appeal to them and they unanimously agreed that they were going to resolve for peace, that we should go ahead and fix a date for the election”, Nwabunwanne explained.
Meanwhile, APU’s legal adviser, Alphonsus Elui, called on the Governor of the state, Prof. Chukwuma Soludo, to wade into the matter and see to its resolution to avoid possible breakdown of law and order in the town.
“We want the commissioner and the Government of Anambra State to allow Awgbu Progress Union (APU) to conduct elections to the national offices of the union in accordance with the APU constitution 2017 which the court upheld in suit no: AG/109/2021 between Joseph as applicant and Ndubuisi and three others as respondents. The judgment of the court was delivered on the 28th day of January, 2022”, Elui said.
