Tension Looms In Enugu Over Council Poll

Anxiety is rift in Enugu state over the silence of Governor Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi on the conduct of local government election for the 17 local councils in the state.

According to Vanguard, the decision might be connected to the prevalent economy situation at the moment coupled with the cost implication of the election at a time where the state is battling with unpaid workers’ salaries.

It was learnt that the governor’s body language tends through the appointment of council administrator to oversee the councils. According to the extant law of the state, council election should be conducted once every two years as the tenure of the current occupiers’ expired in December 2015. However, political parties in the state had held primaries elections to pick candidates.

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According to a source, the state governor might be tinkering with the idea of council administrator due to the economic situation and luxurious lifestyle of most council boss who reportedly owned choice properties in Enugu.

The source said: “ex-governor Sullivan Chime started a tradition of buying brand new cars for each Councilor in 260 wards in the state. He did this for eight years in office. Now,there is economic meltdown. I do not think Ugwuanyi can afford to buy 260 brand new cars for the Councilors that will emerge at the council poll.

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“I think the governor is battling with financial difficulty. That is equally the reason why he has ordered a biometric exercise to ascertain the actual number of local government staff in order to cut costs.

“He is miffed over the ostentatious lifestyle of most these chairmen who have built estates for themselves with council funds.”

In a separate development, Governor Rochas Okorocha had gotten the approval of the federal ministry of finance to collect N20 billion loan.

Making the request, Okorocha said the fund would be deployed for ongoing capital projects in the state and this will skyrocket the state’s debt profile to N80 billion.

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