The Cross River State Inter-Party Advisory Council, or IPAC, has given Governor Bassey Otu a three-month deadline to hold the state’s postponed local government elections.
The state government started the process of holding local council elections in May 2022, however the procedure was delayed due to the general elections held in February and March 2023.
Elections for the state’s local government were last scheduled for October 21, 2023.
But IPAC expressed concerns in a statement signed by the state chairman and secretary, Comrade Anthony Attah and Pastor Ntami Esege, that the governor had shied away from mentioning the upcoming local council elections in a recent speech to honour his 100 days in office.
“We had declared the new administration to be on a well-deserved honeymoon, but we were astonished to see that during his press conference last week to celebrate his 100 days in office, nothing concerning the administrative gap in our Local Government Councils was mentioned.
The statement read, “This blatantly demonstrates that the governor is yet to prioritise Local Government administration.”
The Cross River State IPAC stated that the governor should set an example because he was a former member of both the upper and lower chambers of Congress.
According to the outfit, the state’s citizens can no longer accept the imposition of unlawful local government administrators.
The Cross River IPAC branch reports that while some states in the nation have already had their local council elections, others are preparing to do so.
In addition, Taraba State, which also has a new governor like us, has scheduled its local government election for November 18, 2023.
“Around the same time as Cross River State, these states started the procedure. Government is a continuum, which is why these states are holding elections that have previously been postponed.
The Cross Riverians can no longer tolerate the illegal and unconstitutional imposition of Heads of Local Government Administration, HOLGA, so we have decided to call on the governor to order the Cross River State Independent Electoral Commission, CROSIEC, to resume operations immediately.
