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The national
chairman of the All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP) and former governor of
Abia State, Ogbonnaya Onu, has given reasons why Nigerians should
prevail on officials of the Independent National Electoral Commission
(INEC), and members of the National Assembly to allow elections into
various elective positions to be conducted in one day.

Speaking in Benin
City at the weekend, at a rally organised by members of the party to
galvanise the state chapter of the party ahead of the 2011 elections,
Mr. Onu also expressed the readiness of his party to merge with any
other opposition parties to form a strong coalition.

“I am sure many of
you will remember that we have been in office just for six weeks, but
we are moving and I am very happy that many opposition parties are in
agreement that we have to pool our resources together in order to
ensure victory next year. For the sake of the country, this is very
important for our dear nation.

“We are working
with other opposition political parties to come up with a coalition of
opposition political parties that will make it easier for us to win in
next year’s elections. Discussions are still at very preliminary
levels, and we will notify you as soon as we make substantial
progress,” he said.

Reducing cost

He said the
challenges that go with the conduct of elections in Nigeria are such
that should be aimed at reducing the cost of conducting elections so
that more resources would be channeled to repairing decayed
infrastructure across the country.

“Our call for
election to be held in one day is because we want those who occupy
elective positions to be those who enjoy the will of their people. What
we now have is staggered election that would take place on three
different days. It is designed to have a bandwagon effect and once that
happens, then many things will come as a consequence. One is that some
may even lose interest and may not even want to vote again,” he said.

“If you want to
look at the cost element; if you hold elections on the same day it is
very cost effective. If you look at INEC, it will make a lot of saving
because they will be conducting one, instead of three different
elections. If you look at political parties, they will make a lot of
savings because they will now look after one polling agent as against
three,” he further said.

Mr. Onu said that there are so many things his leadership is doing to strengthen the party.

“We have set up
National Contact Committee at the national level; at the state level,
if they have not done so, they will soon do so. And the major
responsibility of that committee is to ensure that all those who left
our party come back. We are also asking you people to come and join the
party,” he said.