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By Madu Obi
Controversy has trailed the nomination of Mr. Chris Obiora as the chairman of Nnewi North local government area by the ruling All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) as directed by the Anambra State governor, Professor Chukwuma Soludo.
Five candidates indicated interest in the TC chairmanship position, including the immediate past chairman, Obiora, but two allegedly stepped down before the voting that was conducted.
When the nominations were put to vote, Engr Obiora polled 62 votes; Dennis Obi polled 4 votes while Ebere Anonuba had 7 votes. Obiorah was subsequently recommended to the governor for appointment.
However, Governor Soludo was said to have rejected the nomination of Obiora and redirected the party in the area to submit three nominees which should include a woman as earlier directed.
But the APGA chairman in Nnewi, Mr Anthony Muodelo dismissed the allegation that the nomination of Chris Obiora to continue as the TC chairman did not follow due process, arguing that those who were complaining did not understand the process and guidelines as stipulated by the state government.
According to the party chairman, the state government spelt out the caliber of stakeholders that would be in the meeting during the nomination process.
He said: “There are many stakeholders in the wards but the ones to take part in that nomination exercise are government appointees, from Senior Special Assistant upwards; current local government party executive members; current transition councilors and one major stakeholder from each ward.
Government wants a limited number of people to participate in the nomination process. Other stakeholders may think they are left out, but not all will be there in order to limit excesses.
Therefore, government did not reject the list that had Engr Obiora as the one nominated as TC Chairman for Nnewi North local government area."
He said the stakeholders came back and called an emergency meeting and made the corrections strictly according to the guidelines and returned the list to the governor for his approval.
Explaining the modality adopted during the nomination, Muodelo said four quarters were given the consideration to produce the TC Chairman, noting that Uruagu and Nnewichi quarters were the least in terms of the number of chairmen produced in the local government either as elected or appointed.
He said that Uruagu was further considered for the TC chairmanship slot because the current serving state Commissioner for Commerce and Industry, Hon Christian Udechukwu, is from Nnewichi.
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