The Imo State chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has claimed to have uncovered an alleged move by the APC-led government of Hope Uzodinma to smuggle what it described as doctored lists to the Independent State Electoral Commission (ISIEC) ahead of the forthcoming LGA elections scheduled for September 21.
The allegation was made by the PDP through its State Publicity Secretary, Lancelot Obiaku, who accused Uzodinma’s administration of preparing to submit pre-written results of the yet-to-hold LGA elections to ISIEC.
“Credible information available shows that Uzodinma, a known election rigger, not only compiled names of his loyalists as candidates across the 27 LGAs but also included unqualified Vice Chairmen and Councillors, with an agreement that after rigging them into office, they would return the local government allocations to him for the continued misappropriation and embezzlement of Imo’s commonwealth,” Obiaku stated in a statement on Monday.
The statement further alleged that Uzodinma’s move is intended to disrupt the forthcoming local government poll by imposing candidates who neither purchased expression of interest and nomination forms nor participated in the screening and primary elections of the APC.
The statement called this action a violation of the Electoral Act and the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (as amended).
The PDP Publicity Secretary also revealed that Uzodinma is allegedly collaborating with ISIEC Chairman Charles Ejiogu and other senior officials of the Commission to perfect the deal.
“Uzodinma is aware that Imo people do not believe in the credibility of the APC to offer genuine dividends of democracy, and the only way he could mortgage our local government areas is through falsification of results, hijacking electoral materials, intimidation, harassment, violation of people’s rights, vote-buying, and the criminal inducement of electoral officers,” the release added.
The allegation comes just a few days after ISIEC Chairman Charles Ejiogu, in a press statement, denied knowledge of any list of candidates when the allegation was first published in a local tabloid.
Despite the ISIEC Chairman debunking the story as false, the PDP insisted that information from an insider revealed that ISIEC had accepted the doctored list and assembled it for announcement after the LGA elections.
“The Peoples Democratic Party, as a credible political platform, urges the Commissioner of Police, Director of the State Security Service, other relevant security agencies, and Civil Society Organizations to immediately investigate this development and ensure that Uzodinma and the ISIEC Chairman do not throw Imo State into another round of political crisis, which he has always benefited from,” the release declared.
Obiaku, in the press statement, urged the party’s Chairmanship and Councillor candidates, along with party members, to remain calm and law-abiding, assuring them that the PDP would do everything possible to prevent what he described as an evil intention to deny them victory in the election.