Faced with panic on the disappointment of segments of Anambra State people on the performance of his government, Governor Charles Chukwuma Soludo has sacked all the 21 Local Government Area Transition Committee Chairmen.
In a letter signed by the Commissioner for Local Government, Chieftaincy and Community Affairs, Collins Nwabunwanne, dated May 17, the Governor also asked the sacked chairmen to hand over the affairs of the councils to the Heads of Local Government Administrations (HLGAs) latest on Monday, May 20.
According to the letter: “Following the expiration of your tenure as Transition Committee Chairman, you are hereby directed to handover the affairs of your Local Government Council to the Head of Local Government Administration (HLGA), in your respective Local Government Councils.
“This directive takes effect from Monday, 20th day of May, 2024. Thank you for your service to the state.
“All replies to be addressed to the Honourable Commissioner.”
Soludo has been having pushback from the citizens on the implementation of some of his policies, putting his reelection in jeopardy.
The Governor had initially promised to conduct LG elections six months into his taking office in March 2023 and there were expectations that he would do so now based on public outcry.
But last week, Governor Soludo directed All Progressive Grand Alliance (APGA) party stakeholders to nominate candidates in their Local Government Areas for membership of the Transition Committees, stating that out of the three, one must be a woman from party stakeholders.
The directive on the constitution of new members of the Transition Committees was conveyed to all the Transition Committee Chairmen by the Special Adviser to the Governor on Political matters, Dr. Alex Obiogbolu.
According to the directive: “The party stakeholders in each Local Government are expected to meet on May 18th or 19th 2024, to consider and recommend for his consideration, three persons for the position of TC Chairman and three persons for Local Government Education Secretaries.
“The three recommendations for Transition Committee Chairmen shall include at least one woman; while the three recommendations for Education Secretary shall be two women and one man.”
Anambra State is one of the States in Nigeria where Transition Committees had become the rule as the last Local Government election was held by the former Governor and Labour Party (LP) Presidential candidate in the 2023 election, Mr Peter Obi. This was conducted few weeks before the expiration of his exit from office.
There has been clamour by opposition parties and major stakeholders for the conduct of Local Government elections, arguing that the Local Government system has been stifled in the State through the perennial appointment of Transition Committee Chairmen and Councillors.
