By CHARLES IWUOHA

About nine out of 17 political parties Chairmen in Ebonyi State have boycotted the election of the Inter-Party Advisory Council, IPAC, election billed to take place on Friday, in the state.

The Party Chairmen alleged negligence, misconduct, high-handedness by the current leadership of IPAC in the state, urging the National Secretariat of the IPAC to cancel the election.

According to them, “To make matters worse, the Special Assistant to the Executive Governor of Ebonyi State, Mrs Jennifer Adibe-Nwafor, who is also the State Chairman of NNPP (New Nigeria Peoples Party) convened a meeting at her office in Ebonyi State Old Government House, Abakaliki, on 29th of December, 2021 and informed the Chairmen of the various political parties in IPAC that in case of the change of the leadership of IPAC executive of Ebonyi State, that she does not want any person to stand against the incumbent executives who are outgoing, because she wants them back to the seats unchallenged as directed by His Excellency, the Executive Governor of Ebonyi State.

The nine Chairmen of political parties stated this in a document, titled, “Notification of boycott of IPAC election in Ebonyi State slated to hold on 4th day of February, 2022 and the need to reschedule the date for the IPAC election and extension for sales of forms”, signed by the Chairman of ADC, Comrade Nwogba Morgan; Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party, Mr Tochukwu Okorie; and Chairman of Accord Party, Hon. Ani Paschal, among others.

The document was obtained by News Express on Friday in Abakaliki.

They alleged that there was a grand plot by the current leadership of the IPAC in the state, superintended by the governor’s aide, to perpetuate the whims and caprices of the State Government, in IPAC.

They added: “That when most of the political parties protested against her directives, the Special Assistant shunned them, thereby making the purported scheduled IPAC election slated for 4th day of February, 2022 undemocratic, coercive, acrimonious and frivolous.

“That the undersigned political party Chairmen, who are nine in number, out of 17 political parties that are in existence, hereby disassociate themselves from the said purported intending Ebonyi State IPAC election and urge the National Secretariat/leadership of IPAC to disregard and discountenance the purported slated Ebonyi State IPAC election.”