It has come to the knowledge of the state Executive Committee and concerned stakeholders of the United Progressive Party (UPP), Imo state chapter, that the ruling APC government in the state, afraid of their imminent defeat in the2019 general election, has embarked on frantic measures to rig and manipulate the exercise to its advantage.
In this direction, a top government official recently recruited into the “familiocracy” system of continuity governance, has been engaged to use his office to coerce secondary school students from the 27 LGAs in the state, to massively register for the 2019 voting exercise even when most of them are below 18 years.
In line with this fraudulent act, such voters cards are immediately collected from the affected students, purportedly for safe keeping when in actual sense it is intended to manipulate the overall figure and expected outcome of the 2019 general election.
UPP now privy to this development, can no longer fold its hands and watch a government that has maliciously and callously impoverished our people, foist their preferred stooge or surrogate on the people, as governor in the name of Imo mandate or continuity for good governance, to enable them continue the reckless looting and misappropriation of our state’s treasury.
Our great party hereby alerts all Imo citizens of these evil plans to disenfranchise their children and wards and give the impression that despite the excessive depravity, malice, recklessness, hunger, and anger heartlessly unleashed on the people by Rochas Okorocha’s APC administration for eight years, the people still wish to support the style of administration beyond 2019.
No wonder the Governor, besides denying their parents and guardians regular payments of salaries and pensions, having continued to mismanage public funds available and accruing to the state and LGAs, including internally generated revenues, so that gullible, vulnerable and impoverished citizens can fall for peanuts in lieu of their voters cards in 2019, has continued to take our people for granted, claiming that he has achieved that which no past government did even when no single road built by this government since 2011, is motorable, unlike those constructed by previous administrations.
It is therefore our candid advice that those who have fallen victims of this voters cards mercantile charade can as well demand to have them back without further delay or make their case public to enable the party take it up with the INEC during the display of voter’s card and verification exercises. A stitch in time saves nine. Let us collectively take our destiny in our own hands to avoid had I known.
Finally, we call on Imo state resident, commissioner of INEC to investigate this allegation and punish the staff who are used to carry out this exercise as anything short of this will be understood to be conspiracy pointing to a compromised INEC in Imo.
Signed
State Publicity Secretary
Imo UPP chapter
