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Some stakeholders from five communities in Aninri Council Area of Enugu State have called on Gov. Peter Mbah to restore the long-standing rotational arrangement for the Council’s chairmanship in area.
The appeal is contained in a communiqué issued on Wednesday and signed by representatives of the five communities of Mpu, Ndeaboh, Nenwe, Oduma and Okpanku.
The group whose protest was based on the forthcoming Local Government election in the State, said the chairmanship position in Aninri had historically rotated among the five towns to promote inclusion, prevent domination and sustain peace.
According to the communiqué, the rotational understanding dates back to the creation of the local government and was agreed upon by elders and political leaders across the communities.
They noted that Oduma held the chairmanship for six consecutive years — first under a two-year transition arrangement and subsequently through two full tenures of an elected chairman.
By what they described as the “logic of rotation,” the position moved to Okpanku, which completed one tenure and was widely expected to complete a second term to maintain balance.
However, the endorsement of Mr Ugochukwu Nwanjoku from Oduma for the chairmanship after Okpanku’s first tenure was described as a disruption of the established zoning structure.
The stakeholders said that although they accepted the decision at the time in the interest of peace and loyalty to the governor, the development left what they termed “an injury to justice.”
“With another local government election approaching, the time has come to restore the sequential rotational understanding of Aninri,” the communiqué stated, insisting that Oduma should not retain the position again.
The group raised issues regarding what they described as deficiencies in leadership and public accountability under the current administration of Nwanjoku.
They alleged a lack of administrative and legal understanding of the statutory duties of a local government chairman, claiming that governance had been reduced to impulse rather than guided by law and institutional discipline.
The communiqué further accused the chairman of personalising public office, concentrating decision-making powers and suppressing dissent.
It also raised concerns about alleged mismanagement of public resources, claiming that no substantial public project had been completed across the local government during the administration.
They reminded Mbah of Aninri’s support for zoning and equity at the state level during the governorship contest, appealing to him to uphold similar principles within the local government.
“Peace in Aninri has historically rested on fairness. Where zoning is respected, there is harmony. Where it is violated, resentment brews,” it said.
The group appealed to the governor to intervene in the interest of justice, equity and stability, stressing their continued loyalty to his administration but affirming their resolve to demand fairness.
Reacting, Nwanjoku described the allegation of non performance by the protesters as baseless,insisting that his administration was replicating the policies and programmes of Mbah in the area.
He expressed the need to separate politics with governance, explaining that the overdraft obtained by his administration was to fence the 10 Smart Green Schools in the area, safeguarding them from vandals.
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