By Vincent Ujumadu, Awka

THE Anambra State leadership of the Inter-party Advisory Council, IPAD, has called on Governor Willie Obiano to begin the process for the conduct of local government election in the state. The tenure of the elected local government officials would expire in January next year.

The new assistant chairman of IPAD, Prince Isaac Onuka and secretary, Comrade Peter Okala, who spoke with Saturday Vanguard in Awka said the various political parties operating in the state were prepared for the election and urged the governor not to disappoint them by delaying the exercise.

They argued that there was no justification to revert to the use of caretaker committees for the local governments when the Anambra State Independent Electoral Commission, ANSIEC, can be funded to conduct the election when it is due so as to sustain the development at the grass root leve.

Meanwhile, the Anambra State chairman of All Progressives Grand Alliance, APGA, Chief Norbert Obi has emerged the chairman of the seven-man caretaker committee of IPAD in the state.

Others elected were Prince Isaac Onuka of Peoples Democratic Congress, PDC, as assistant chairman, Comrade Peter Okala of National Conscience Party, NCP, as secretary and Chief Matthias Ameke of Progressive Peoples Alliance, PPA, as assistant secretary, among others.

The selection of the new leadership follows the expiration of the tenure of the executive headed by Mr. Bartho Igwedibia of the Accord Party.

Accepting the mandate from his colleagues, the new IPAD chairman, Obi, promised to carry all the political parties along and urged them to support Governor Obiano in his second term bid.

In a statement issued after their meeting in Awka, officials of IPAD also advised Obiano to rehabilitate the federal roads in the state and approach the federal government for refund, rather than leaving such roads in deplorable conditions.

According to the statement, the ongoing flyover projects in Awka would not make much meaning if parts of the Enugu –Onitsha expressway remained in deplorable condition.