The Inter Party Advisory Council (IPAC) has called for a credible, free, fair and transparent election in the forthcoming Local Government poll scheduled to hold in Ebonyi in July.

Ernest Nwaze, chairman of IPAC in Ebonyi, made the call on Monday while briefing journalists in Abakaliki on the outcome of their meeting held on Monday.

Mr Nwaze said that the group assessed the preparations of the Ebonyi State Independent Electoral Commission (EBSIEC) ahead of the chairmanship and councillorship polls and was satisfied with the level of preparation.

He said that statistics from EBSIEC showed that 16 out of the 17 registered political parties in Ebonyi would be participating in the July election.

“We have just ended our meeting which was to assess the performance of EBSIEC ahead of the July council polls in the state, and after our analysis, we came to the conclusion that the commission has performed above 80 per cent.

“We resolved that all the registered political parties in Ebonyi will participate in the election.

“We have also resolved that if EBSIEC continues to abide by the processes it has rolled out for the conduct of the election, then, IPAC will play according to the rules and participate fully.

“EBSIEC must ensure that the exercise is free, fair, transparent, and every political party should be treated equally by providing a level playing field,” Nwaze said.

He said that the recent comment by one Splendor Oko-Eze, a chieftain of the Labour Party (LP) in Ebonyi, alleging that the party would not participate in 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 a party in an election does not confer leadership position on you.

‘Today, there is no faction in the Labour Party, and the only chairman recognised by the 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 state 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, Sunday Nwambam, special assistant to Gov. Francis Nwifuru on inter-party affairs, applauded the state government for providing an 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 their 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.

The All Progressives Congress (APC), Zenith Labour Party, Accord Party, Action Alliance, and All Progressives Grand Alliance, among others, attended the meeting.

IPAC is an umbrella body of all the registered political parties in the country.

(NAN)