IPAC Hands Gov. Otu 90-Day Ultimatum To Conduct LG Elections
Mark IDRAH
The join leadership of the Inter-Party Advisory Council (IPAC),Cross River State Chapter, has given the Governor of Cross River State , Sen. Bassey Otu a 90 days ultimatum to conduct the earlier suspended local government elections in the state.
IPAC, an umbrella body for 19 political parties recognized by INEC gave the threat on Tuesday September 12th, in Calabar the state capital at a Press briefing.
Recall the process leading to the conduct of the local government elections had commenced in May last year, but was understandably postponed with reasons to give enough room for the conduct of the last general elections and was fixed for October 21, 2023.
According to IPAC, they had resolved to allow the new administration time to settle down and hit the ground running.
However, IPAC said they were shocked to note that the Governor never said anything about the administrative lacuna at the local government council in the press conference held with journalists last week to mark 100 days in office.
These decision they lamented clearly shows that the Governor is yet to prioritize issues tourching on local government administration in Cross River State.
IPAC said they expected Gov. Otu who was a former federal lawmaker at both the lower and upper Chambers, to have led by example.
"We are aware that Edo State conducted their Local Government Elections barely a week ago, and that elections was postponed just like ours. Taraba State which has a new governor like us have fixed theirs to hold on the 18th of November, 2023. These are states that commenced the process about the same time with Cross River State, and the reason these states are conducting their hitherto postponed elections is because government is a continuum." Said IPAC.
It is against this background that we have resolved to call on Gov. Otu to mandate the Cross River State Independent Electoral Commission (CROSIEC) to immediately commence work, as Crossrivarians can no longer tolerate the illegal and unconstitutional imposition of Heads of Local Government Administration in the Councils. Said Comrade Anthony Bisong Attah, Chairman IPAC Cross River State.
