The Peoples Democratic Party PDP, in Imo State has accused the Hope Uzodinma – led All Progressive Congress APC administration in Imo State of fraudulently manipulating the process and outcome of the Local Government Council election held in the State on September, 21, 2024, with a view to imposing his stooges with whom he would continue to siphon the billions of naira that accrue to the councils monthly.
The party, in a release signed by the State Publicity Secretary, Lancelot Obiaku, also described the LG elections results declared by the Imo State Independent Electoral Commission (ISIEC) as grossly falsified, hence all those who emerged on the basis of the election are impostors who should not be allowed to gain access to the council headquarters, pending when, a free, fair and credible election that will reflect the will of the people will be conducted.
The release reads in part, “the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Imo State categorically states once again that there was nothing resembling an election on September 21, 2024, and therefore, the purportedly elected 27 local government Chairmen and 305 Councillors are mere impostors, bizarrely imposed on the people of Imo by the Hope Uzodimma-led State Government.
The so-called Chairmen and Councillors remain an illegal assembly, being used by their paymaster to undermine our democracy and the rule of law, and to further oppress the already traumatized people of Imo by siphoning local government allocations.
We have already intercepted intelligence regarding a deal by the Uzodimma administration that will require each of the purported 27 LG Chairmen to return more than 70 percent of the local government allocations accruing to their LGAs to the State government’s coffers.
To completely bind these appointed Chairmen and leave no room for rebellion, the Governor has forced them to sign their resignation letters and other binding documents, which will be enforced against any Chairman who fails to comply.
The State Government is also said to have previously signed off two years’ worth of LGAs’ allocations to an Egyptian company for an alleged electrification project of the State under a Public Private Partnership (PPP) arrangement.
While less than 50% of the total sum taken from the LGAs for the period under review was reportedly approved for the company in a deal that has yet to materialize, more than 50% is likely to end up in private pockets, as the Governor has never accounted for the monies received into the joint State/LGA account, which he continues to illegally maintain in sheer defiance of the Supreme Court’s judgment earlier this year.
We call on anti-graft agencies, including the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), the Independent Corrupt Practices Commission (ICPC), and the Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit (NFIU), to investigate these fraudulent activities and initiate the prosecution of the complicit individuals under the full weight of the law. These financial crimes must not go unpunished.
We also alert these agencies, as well as the judiciary, to the failure of the State’s Chief Judge to constitute an election tribunal fourteen days before the agreed date for the LG election to receive pre- and post-election petitions. Furthermore, in blatant violation of the Electoral Act, the ISIEC allowed the APC to submit its candidates just two days before the election.
All of these are credible evidence that the so-called election was null and void. If any party and candidates were qualified to be declared winners under any circumstances, it must be the PDP and its candidates, who met all the requirements and submitted their nominations within the legal timeframe.
The Accountant-General of the Federation and the Federal Ministry of Finance must not credit any account in the name of the LGAs in the State in line with the Supreme Court verdict until a legally acceptable LG poll is conducted in the State.
The Imo PDP, therefore, insists that Uzodimma’s purportedly elected Chairmen and Councillors should not approach the LG Councils and must cease parading themselves as such, as doing so is an insult to democracy and the intelligence of the people of Imo”.
