The Imo State chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party, (PDP), has declared readiness to participate in the Saturday, September 21 local council election across the 27 local government areas in the state.
The party, however, vowed to resist any attempt to rig the election by the ruling All Progressives Congress, (APC) in the state.
PDP, in a statement issued by its Publicity Secretary, Lancelot Obiaku, also rejected what it described as a disregard for its own guidelines by the Imo State Independent Electoral Commission (ISIEC) just days before the election.
The party claimed that the alleged disregard for rules is a clear indication of what he described as an unscrupulous plot by the Governor Hope Uzodinma-led APC government to rig the election.
The publicity secretary reaffirmed the party’s readiness to participate in the election but insisted that ISIEC must adhere to its own guidelines and conduct a credible local government election.
According to the statement, the PDP Chairman in the state, Hon. Austin Nwachukwu, also condemned ISIEC for not publishing the list of voters in the wards as required by law, alleging instead that the commission invited the PDP’s Councillorship and Chairmanship candidates to its State headquarters demanding N50,000 and N200,000 respectively.
“Today, we wish to alert Nigerians, especially the people of Imo, to the illegalities and foul play being perpetrated by the Uzodinma administration and the electoral commission.
“The issues are these, “In our last meeting with the leadership of ISIEC on August 8, 2024, the Chairman, Chief Charles Ejiogu, along with his full complement of Commissioners, informed stakeholders that he had been invited by the State’s security heads to discuss security concerns regarding the election.
“In that meeting, held in Oguta, the ISIEC Chairman told us that security chiefs had expressed doubts about the safety of lives and property on election day, especially given the recent violent attacks and security breaches that left no fewer than 20 innocent citizens dead and properties worth over 1 billion Naira destroyed,” he said.
PDP said the ISIEC Chairman neither briefed the political parties on the outcome of his meeting with the State security heads nor provided any further information on the conduct of the election based on the discussions with the political parties.
“In that same meeting, we discussed the fees for DF001 and DF002 for Chairmanship and Councillorship candidates, but no agreement was reached.
“We also talked about the recruitment of ad-hoc staff to ensure they are not card-carrying members of any political party, particularly the Returning and Collation Officers, to ensure fairness,” the release stated.
The Publicity Secretary further stated that the party did not reach any conclusion on the date or deadline for the submission of party agents’ names to the commission, saying ISIEC has since failed to reconvene with the parties to brief them on the issues.
“However, to our shock, on the night of September 16, 2024, we were alerted to a document circulating on social media purportedly from ISIEC, signed by the Chairman, inviting candidates to its office on Orlu Road for validation.
“When we went to investigate this morning, we were surprised to find ISIEC was only demanding N50,000 from Councillorship candidates and N200,000 from Chairmanship candidates in place of the purported validation.
“We are appalled that ISIEC has yet to officially brief political parties as required by law or release any information regarding these matters.
“Where in the world does an electoral commission engage with candidates without involving the parties that nominated and sponsored them? This is illegal and has no basis in law. Even more troubling is that these actions violate ISIEC’s own guidelines,” the opposition party stated.
It accused the commission of not prepared for the election but only interested in rigging it, adding however, “But Imo people will not allow this to happen. The government is known for falsifying results, hijacking electoral materials, violating electoral guidelines, and intimidating the people of Imo. But this time, it will not stand. Enough is enough.”
PDP said all necessary processes for nominating its candidates in accordance with ISIEC’s guidelines and names submission were all followed in good time to meet all the requirements set by the Electoral Act.
“We insist that the right thing must be done, and it must be done without further delay before the APC government sets the state on fire once again,” the PDP cautioned.