– Failure To Release Names Of Those Screened
The All Progressive Congress APC in Imo State, is currently under severe pressure following the indefinite suspension of primaries for the Chairmanship and Councillorship election earlier scheduled to hold on Saturday, August, 26.
The party is also being lambasted in several quarters for not releasing the names of those who scaled through the screening exercise it conducted some weeks ago, thereby creating anxiety in the minds of chairmanship and councillorship aspirants who #3m and #1m each respectively.
Some of the aspirants who expressed their displeasure over the way thing are going said, they were told that the primaries would hold on Saturday, and uptill now list of those who scaled through the screening exercise is yet to be made public.
“As if that is not enough, we just heard yesterday morning that the primaries have been postponed indefinitely after all the money we paid for the forms and on other logistics.
Others who bared their minds on the development which they described as devastating, said “could it be that the sale of forms and the screening exercise were mere smoke screen to hoodwink and swindle us as in previous circumstances the conduct of local government election was orchestrated and yet nothing happened after a lot of people had spent huge amounts to prepare in vain.
“Another chairmanship aspirant from Okigwe zone described the situation as “ominous and dangerous”, saying it could lead to a repeat of the party’s experience in the House of Assembly primary elections where imposed candidates struggled to win. We can’t afford to go through that again.
“The party leadership must come clean and release the list of screened aspirants immediately before the party primary,” he said.
Other aspirants, who do not want their names in print, poured invectives on the state government and the leadership of the All Progressive Congress APC in the state for raising their hopes falsely and making them to spend money preparing the primaries, only to postpone it indefinite at the last minute thereby nullifying all their efforts at enormous cost to them their families and supporters.
“This delay is not only unacceptable but also suspicious,” said another chairmanship aspirant who preferred to remain anonymous.
“We don’t know who has been cleared to contest and who has not. Aspirants are calling on Governor Hope Uzodinma to intervene and ensure that the party’s selection process is transparent and fair.
However, Sate Chairman of the party, Mac Donald Ebere, has consistently assured aspirants that the party Primary to elect Chairmanship and Councillorship candidates would be transparent and credible.
He said the party would never resort to Imposition of candidates.
The APC in Imo State had collected N3 million from chairmanship aspirants and N1 million from councillorship aspirants for nomination and expression of interest forms, a move that was widely criticized as exorbitant.
The party’s primaries were originally scheduled to hold on August 22, 2024. Another report claimed that it has been shifted to Saturday, August 24, adding to the apprehension among aspirants”.
