The Labour Party gubernatorial candidate, Sen Athan Achonu, has kicked has said that the Imo State governor, Sen Hope Uzodinma, does not have the capacity of conducting credible council polls in the state.

He also said that the sudden plan by the Imo State governor to hold local government council polls four months ahead of the Imo State governorship polls is to foist his stooges as council chairmen a desperate bid ahead of the 11 November gubernatorial polls .

Sen Achonu also noted that the Principal Officers of the Imo State Independent Electoral Commission (ISIEC) who were recently inaugurated by the governor were all members of the Imo State All Progressives Congress (APC).

The LP gubernatorial candidate who spoke Engr Chime Nzeribe, Director-General of his campaign organisation at a press conference in Owerri, the Imo state capital on Wednesday said that as a true Democrat who has been an advocate for the autonomy of the local government councils in Nigeria has nothing against conducting of council polls in the state, but is at a loss that a government who has almost exhausted its tenure is desperate to conduct council polls.

The statement reads: “For the avoidance doubts our principal and governorship candidate of the fastest growing party in Nigeria today the Labour Party, as a true democrat and a firm advocate of local government autonomy and total freedom, will never under clear circumstances pick issues with any action, including election geared towards enthroning the independence and unencumbered operations of the third tier system in the state.

However, we are at a loss why a government that has almost exhausted its constitutionally guaranteed four years in office, has woken up on the eve of its exit, to perform a very crucial task it bluntly ignored when it had all the time in the world to do so.

The choice of this seeming odd hour to conduct a local government election underscores the fact that it’s being motivated by second reelection desperation, and not the collective welfare and well-being of the Imo electorate, especially the millions of rural dwellers.

The reasons put forward by the governor for not conducting local government elections after nearly four years in power couldn’t be any less tenable.

Continuing, “To be fair, the COVID-19 pandemic caused a lockdown and disruptions for the greater part of 2020, but there is absolutely no excuse that can be given or accepted for not conducting local government elections up till July 2023. Except that there was no real and sincere intention to do so. Could it be that the emergence of Senator Athan Nnejilenanim Achonu, the leading candidate in the November 2023 election has sent shivers down the spine of the emperor rooming within the shields of Douglas House?

“The excuse of insecurity is equally not tenable if one considers the fact that the governor is the Chief Security Officer of the state whose most important constitutional duty is to provide security and protect the lives and properties of the citizens of the state. It is pertinent to state that Gov Uzodinma takes home 4 billion naira yearly as a security vote, yet he could not secure the state to conduct LG elections. Is this not a clear acceptance that his government has woefully failed in this primary assignment and totally abandoned the most critical tier of government?

“Gov Uzodinma seems to have come face to face with the stark reality that his administration has completely lost the confidence and trust of the vast majority of Imo citizens owing to its gross misgovernance and as a result has become very unpopular.

“In the almost four years it has been in the saddle it has received local government allocation in excess of N200b but as we speak it has not dropped a trip of sand in any of the twenty-seven councils of Imo State. As if that is not enough they can’t also account for over N700b state own allocation received over the same period.

“The purported local government election which, will ultimately turn into a “selection”, from every indication must be one of the planks which it’s banking on to actualize that devious anti-people and anti-democracy gambit.

“As a government which is tailor-made for election manipulation and mandate stealing, as it did in the February/March elections, the indecent haste to “select” their followers as Local Government Officials, is nothing but a ploy to recruit foot soldiers who will orchestrate the rigging of the governorship poll.” (Daily Sun)