* Ikpeazu 
  Abia Governor Okezie Ikpeazu has been accused of plotting to  unfold a hidden agenda by the manner and method the State Government is planning and executing the December 17,  2016 scheduled Local Government Areas, LGAs election.

 "All I can see are  plans by Governor Okezie Ikpeazu  to just write the result in the Government House, and put the same people they wanted to appoint as the transition chairmen. Forget what they are doing. They will just pick names and announce as the winners of the election and continue the same thing they are doing, which is diverting local government funds for their selfish interests. They just want to make it have some electoral coloration. That is the hidden agenda. If the election is to produce democratically elected chairmen and councillors who would be accountable to the people, from what I have said I don’t think we are close to that", said Chief Nwaka Inem, chieftain of the All Progressives Grand Alliance, APGA.

 Inem who  insists that Abians were robbed by the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP in the 2015 governorship election that produced Gov. Ikpeazu further took  the Abia State government to task over the manner it is hurrying to conduct the LGA  election when it is yet to put in place structures and strong mechanism for a credible poll.

 Inem, who served as  the Director of Special Duties, Abia First, the political organisation of Chief Alex Otti, APGA's candidate for Abia State 2015 gubernatorial election further added: "It is a pity that they can just wake up and think that they can legitimize or give electoral value to the illegality they have been practicing over the years".

 Inem concurs that indeed, the people seeks democratically elected LGA government as the  transition committees which the PDP government has been using  in Abia for nearly ten years  is not only illegal, and non-accountable, but  lacking in  transparency as well.

 He argued that if indeed the Ikpeazu administration is sincere about conducting the LGA polls, it must be done  according to laid down rules.

 "Statutorily, for you to conduct a local government election, there is a minimum period for the State Independent Electoral Commission to give notice to political parties in the state to get prepared. There are processes, notices, enlightenments, etc. it is not just to wake up and say that election holds in December.

 "The commissioner for Information made the first announcement of the date for the election. Is the Information commissioner part of the electoral commission?
That tells you that the State Independent Electoral Commission is not even in charge of that election, and they are going to use them to announce the result of a premeditated election.

 "If you look at Abia State budget as passed by the State House of Assembly, there was no provision for election for the state electoral body. So, how are they going to fund it? Is the governor going to use his security vote to fund it? As at today, there is no supplementary budget before the House of Assembly for the election".

  Inem argued that the date for the election  is too sudden. "Election involves voters’ education so that you reduce the level of apathy. It is only when the people are involved in election that you can guarantee a certain level of integrity, not when you line up your thugs and announce them as the democratically elected council chairmen.

 "The House of Assembly invited the head of the electoral commission, and he said that funding was not a problem. He thought he was talking to kindergartens. Who approved the fund, is he going to use his pocket money to do the election? We are saying that there is no statutory budgetary approval for the commission this year not to talk of conducting election", he maintained.

 Inem who insisted that Gov. Ikpeazu simply   wanted to fool the people and waste their times by passing off results already  written in Government House declaring transition chairmen as elected officials. He further pointed to the insistence of the Abia State electoral body that they are going to do the election  manually. 

 "If you produced the voters register and you insisted on using it manually, then it can make sense, but it was electronically produced with card reader and you insisted on manual, it doesn’t add up. This is why we are suspicious of the election", he declared.