Governor of Enugu State, Dr. Peter Mbah has described the Enugu Local Government Council election as democracy in action, lauding both the electoral process and massive voter turnout.
The governor gave the commendation after casting his ballots at Owo Ward in Nkanu East Local Government Area, in the Saturday council election.
“This is a major milestone for us to be conducting the first local government elections under this administration across the state.
“Before I came here, I have been able to get reports on what is going on across the state, and I am very happy to report that the exercise across the state has been peaceful. I haven’t received any adverse report.
“It started on time and people are exercising their franchise, and that is essentially what we want to see. I can also tell from what I have seen here that the exercise is peaceful here. People have queued to vote. This is democracy in action. This is exactly what we mean when we say that power belongs to the people.
“This is a very important exercise because we are trying to give our mandate to those that will lead us, that would carry out programmes and projects that will empower the grassroots. This is impressive for me,” he said.
Mbah described the local government as a critical arm of government, which must continue to enjoy autonomy in the state.
He said the Supreme Court ruling on local government autonomy only affirmed his government’s financial support to the council areas and the execution of major infrastructural projects across the 260 wards of the state.
“Frankly we have never had the local government operating as an appendage of the state in Enugu State. The local government in Enugu State under us has always operated as an autonomous arm of government.
“What we have done in Enugu largely is boosting their operations by supporting them with finance, and we do not see that stopping because, as a government, our mandate is to ensure that the people are lifted out of the pit of poverty, and grow the economy of this state; and we cannot do that without taking care of our weakest link, which is the local government.
“We are going to continue to support them to make sure they actualise their programmes and pledge to the people,” he said.
In commending the high voter turnout, Mbah said that it was not only a show of faith in the process, but also an indication of rising political awareness.
“This is people understanding that government policies and decisions will touch their lives. I think that is essentially what is getting them up to participate.
“They know that if they sit on the fence or do nothing, a government may come that may not be able to carry out programmes that will touch their lives.
“So, they are becoming increasingly aware, and that is why we can see this huge turnout of people coming to exercise their franchise,” he concluded.