Hon. Ernest Nwaze, Chairman, Inter Party Advisory Council (IPAC), Ebonyi State.p
The Inter Party Advisory Council (IPAC) says 16 out of the 17 registered political parties operating in Ebonyi will be participating in the July Local Government Area election.
Mr Ernest Nwaze, chairman of IPAC in Ebonyi disclosed this while briefing newsmen on Monday in Abakaliki on the outcome of the council’s meeting held on Monday.
Nwaze said that the group assessed the preparations of the Ebonyi State Independent Electoral Commission (EBSIEC) ahead of the July chairmanship and Councillorship polls and was very satisfied at the level of its preparedness.
“We have just ended our meeting which we called to assess the performance of EBSIEC so far with regard to the preparations for the July council polls in the state and after our analysis, we came to the conclusion that EBSIEC has performed above 80 per cent which is a good one.
“We resolved that all the registered political parties in Ebonyi will participate in the election and we have also resolved that if EBSIEC continues to abide by the processes it has rolled out for the conduct of the election, that IPAC will play according to the rules and participate fully.
“EBSIEC must ensure that the exercise is free, fair , transparent and treat every political party should be treated equal by providing a level playing field,” Nwaze said.
He said that the recent interview granted by one Mr Splendor Oko-Eze, a chieftain of the Labour Party (LP) in Ebonyi alleging that the party would boycott the coming council poll should be disregarded and discountenanced.
He said: “In every political party, the chief spokesperson is the chairman of the party; that you were a candidate of the party does not confer leadership on you.
‘Today, there is no faction in Labour Party and the only chairman recognized by law and the national leadership of LP is Mr Godwin Jioke and his led executive.
“The party rolled out nomination forms for aspirants and the party has indeed conducted its primaries and have submitted names of candidates for the election to EBSIEC.”
According to him, the only registered political party not participating in the election and which did not attend the meeting was the People’s Democratic Party (PDP).
He explained that the party was not invited to the meeting because of a subsisting circular from the national leadership of the party stating that the party was yet to resolve issues of leadership tussle in the Ebonyi chapter of the party.
“So, we did not know who to invite in particular and that’s why we did not invite the PDP and that’s why the party won’t be participating in the forthcoming polls,” he added.
Meanwhile, Mr Sunday Nwambam, Special Assistant to Gov. Francis Nwifuru on Inter Party Affairs has applauded the the state government for providing enabling environment for opposition parties to thrive in the state.
He assured that the forthcoming council election would be free, fair , transparent and would be conducted in line with best practices.
He commended the state electoral umpire for there level of preparedness and enjoined the electoral body to stick by its rules, regulations and guidelines for the exercise.
“Government has already assured all the participating political parties and their candidates of a level playing field and our governor is committed to deepening grassroots democratic governance,” Nwambam said.
