LG polls: Is Otti reading from same script with Fubara?

In what seemed to many observers as a curious case of a sitting governor clinking glasses at the victory of the opposition in an election, he (the governor) organised and supervised, the recent sweeping of all the 17 chairmanship seats in Abia State by the opposition despite the reported “fantastic” governance posted by Governor Alex Otti has elicited variegated permutations.In what seemed to many observers as a curious case of a sitting governor clinking glasses at the victory of the opposition in an election, he (the governor) organised and supervised, the recent sweeping of all the 17 chairmanship seats in Abia State by the opposition despite the reported “fantastic” governance posted by Governor Alex Otti has elicited variegated permutations.

Otti had, early in the life of his administration, said he wanted to work with men and women who had achieved success in their chosen fields, who would not be tempted to steal public funds.

So, in November 2023, he went ahead to appoint Mayors into all the 17 local government areas of the state to take care of the 17 local government areas of the state. Some of those he appointed then were retired military personnel, professors, and accomplished businessmen who had lived outside Nigeria for many years. He wanted them to bring in their wealth of experiences and resources to develop their respective local government areas.

In the council election that took place on Saturday, November 2, the ruling party in Abia State, Labour Party (LP), could not even secure a local government. Zenith Labour Party (ZLP) won 15 LGAs; the Young Progressives Party (YPP) got the remaining two councils.

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But many political watchers and analysts strongly believe that the development was a precursor to political alignments and realignments that may unfold not too far from now.

They point to the internal wrangling that is besetting the LP, the highpoint of which was the November 4, 2024 declaration by the Federal High Court, Abuja, affirming Julius Abure as the authentic national chairman of the party.

In recent times, Governor Otti, together with some other party apparatchiks, including the Presidential Candidate of the party in 2023, Peter Obi, had moved to wrest the party from the stranglehold of some elements they believed were being used by external forces to wreak havoc to the party.

Now, allowing the Zenith Labour Party to race to victory may have been a way of telling the Labour Party “good night” in Abia State, and that could not have happened without the “hand of Esau” somewhere.

Many observers had said that the LP was merely a special purpose vehicle that Peter Obi rode on to prosecute his presidential ambition, thereby conferring importance on an otherwise unknown political association.

“What Governor Otti has done in Abia is simply to tell Abure and the likes to carry the carcass of their party. It is obvious that the LP has been hijacked by politicians outside the party ahead of 2027,” a political analyst, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said.

Read also: Abia LG election: Otti urges Abians to vote right candidates

Governor Otti has thus, toed the path of Governor Siminalayi Fubara, who on October 5 supervised a council poll and “lost” 22 of the 23 chairmanship positions to a little-known Action Peoples Party (APP).

Before the acrimonious council election, Fubara had spoken up to the leadership of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), explaining how pained he was that his own party had abandoned him by handing over the party’s machinery in the state to someone else.

It must be noted that since the Supreme Court ruling on July 11, 2024 affirming the autonomy of Local Government Areas (LGAs) and barred state governors from exercising control over the council administration, many states have held what they termed “elections” to fill the vacant positions at the council level.

From the results declared in most of the states that have conducted the exercise, it does not appear that the governors have distanced themselves from the full control they exercise over the LGAs.

Although the Supreme Court ruling had meant to end the culture of running the councils with caretaker committees, the outcome of the elections that are held are not far from appointment of sole administrators.

So, then, it becomes more than curious that at a time when all the governors are organising local government elections and ensuring that all the seats are won by their own parties, Otti and Fubara allowed opposition parties to win wholesale in their own states!

For instance, in Ebonyi State, the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) won all the 13 chairmanship seats and 171 ward councillors.

In Bauchi State, the ruling People’s Democratic Party (PDP) under Governor Bala Mohammed won all the 20 chairmanship seats at the election held on August 17, 2024.

In Kebbi State, the election conducted on August 30 saw the APC winning all the 21 chairmanship positions and 225 ward councillors.

It was not different in Kwara State as the APC won in all the 16 local government areas, including 193 councillorship seats.

On September 21, 2024, in Imo State, the APC won all the 16 chairmanship seats and all the 193 councillorship seats. It was the same in Enugu State the same day, as the PDP won all the chairmanship seats.

It was not different in Sokoto State as the APC was declared winner in all contested seats.

The All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) in Anambra State under the supervision of Governor Chukwuma Soludo ensured that no council was left for the opposition, as the party cleared all the 21 chairmanship positions and 326 wards.

In Akwa Ibom State, Governor Umo Eno’s PDP won 30 of the 31 local government chairmanship seats, leaving only one for the APC in the Senate President Godswill Akpabio’s domain. The election was held on Saturday October 5, 2024.

It was not a different story in Benue State as Governor Hyacinth Alia yielded no ground to any opposition as he led his party, APC, to clinch all the chairmanship and councillorship positions in the election.

In Kogi State, the state independent electoral commission declared that the APC won all the 21 chairmanship seats and 239 councillorship positions.

Truth be told, the last may not have been heard about the real reason APP demystified the PDP in Rivers, and why the ZLP was more potent and popular in Abia than the party of a sitting governor.