Some youths reportedly acting on the directive of Hon. Shedrack Azubuike, the Mayor of Orumba South Local Council of Anambra State, on Wednesday morning, dismantled several canopies and chairs, as well as the podium erected at the Ugwuaro Primary School field in Umunze, the headquarters of the council area, said to have been set up by the All Progressives Congress (APC) members in the locality.

The canopies and chairs were set up by the council area APC campaign organization which was to receive Prince Nicholas Ukachukwu, the party’s candidate in Anambra’s November 8, off-cycle governorship election in the state.

Ukachukwu was billed to address his supporters there later in the evening in continuation of his campaign in the council prior to the elections on November 8. As politically inspired as the action looked, Azubuike, the council Mayor who was physically present with some police security personnel to supervise the exercise, said it was not politically motivated.

According to the Mayor, who spoke to Daily Independent on the spot, said the erection of the canopies and chairs contravenes an August 14, 2025, directive from his office which barred political parties or religious and other social organizations from gathering within the premises of any public or private school within the council area during official school hours.

According to him, the noise from the rallies and or church crusades exerts a disruptive influence on conducive learning, adding that the APC didn’t obtain a written clearance from his office to hold the rally there.

Brandishing the August 14 circular Referenced: OSLG/ADM, with the heading:” Restriction On Political, Religious, Social Gatherings In Schools During School Hours”, Hon Azubuike said it contained provisions banning the use of public and private schools’ premises within the council area for political rallies, religious programmes and other non-academic programs during school official school hours.

He said in the circular he personally signed and copied school heads in the area that “any individual or group or organizations wishing to hold a programme or event in any school premises must obtain prior written clearance from the office of the Mayor, Orumba South Local Government Council”.

The circular directed school heads and proprietors to ensure strict compliance with the directive or face appropriate administrative and legal sanctions.

“Now, they have no such clearance permit and can go to any other place in Orumba South to have their rally, but not here. I am not against them”, he said before a call, Daily Independent learnt from the Divisional Police Command in the area invited him over ostensibly for an amicable resolution of the matter.

But Dr. Chuka Onyema, Coordinator, Orumba South chapter of Ikukuoma/Iyom campaign organization putting together the rally disagreed that the action of the Mayor, who was elected on the APGA platform, was not politically-motivated.

“This is politics. This country and Anambra belong to all of us. What you have seen happening here today is politically-motivated because something similar had been going on. In my own town, Isulo, ADC had a rally there on Tuesday in a school field, and nobody disturbed them. It was peaceful. Why were they not stopped by the local government administration here?

“Now, I have information that in different towns in Orumba South, different political parties have had their rallies. So, why the APC? Besides, what is happening here today, banners and posters that we pasted in different communities in Isulo, Umunze, and Ihite communities in this local government were pulled down and burnt. Is it the APC people who burnt their own posters and banners?

“So why the APC? This is a campaign of calumny and intimidation. They came with thugs and the police and ordered that everything we erected should be pulled down. It was down, and we didn’t challenge them or challenge problems. I think that they are panicking that the APC has grown in influence and strength all over the state beyond their imagination”, he said. (Daily Independent)