Political activities have resumed in Abia state, in preparation for the December 17 local council elections.
It was good news to the people of Abia state, especially those at the grassroots when the state executive council ordered the Abia state Independent electoral commission, ABSIEC to commence preparations and fix a date to conduct the Local Government election which was last conducted in the state in 2008.
Since then, the political atmosphere has changed. Meetings, alignments and realignments became the order of the day among political actors in the state.
From the ruling party in the state, PDP to the number one opposition party, APGA and to APC, serious politicking has commenced. The party secretariats which since after the 2015 general elections had been quiet are bubbling once again.
The streets are not left out as every space now has either billboards or posters of aspirants of the various contending parties.
APC and APGA have their reservations. They are not comfortable with some of the modalities adopted by ABSIEC.
Apart from this area of disagreement, they have a common area of agreement. The exorbitant levy placed on the parties and their candidates by ABSIEC.
In all of these, the Chairman of the state electoral umpire, Justice Akomas is upbeat that his commission is prepared to conduct a credible election.
Political observers are of the view that despite the large number of registered political parties in the country which also exist in the state, the December 17th election is a 3 horse race between the PDP, APGA and the APC.
