The Peoples Democratic Party, Imo State chapter has called on the Accountant-General of the Federation and the Federal Ministry of Finance not to credit any account in the name of the LGAs in Imo State in line with the Supreme Court verdict until a legally acceptable LG poll is conducted in the state.
In a statement issued Tuesday in Owerri by the PDP State Publicity Secretary Lancelot Obiaku, the party insisted that there was nothing resembling an election on September 21, 2024.
He said that the purportedly elected 27 local government chairmen and 305 councillors are mere impostors and wannabes, bizarrely imposed on the people of Imo by the Hope Uzodimma-led state government.
He said, “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 traumatised people of Imo by syphoning local government allocations.”.
He said, “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 per cent of the local government allocations accruing to their LGAs to the state government’s coffers.”
The party observed that 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.
He said: “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.”
According to the party, 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 materialise, adding that 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 judgement earlier this year.
The party called 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, insisting that these financial crimes must not go unpunished.
They equally alerted the agencies, and 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.
PDP said, “In blatant violation of the Electoral Act, the ISIEC allowed the APC to submit its candidates just two days before the election.”
He pointed out that this is credible evidence that the so-called election was null and void, adding that if any party and candidates were qualified to be declared winners under any circumstances, it must be the PDP and its candidates because they met all the requirements and submitted their nominations within the legal timeframe
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, adding that doing so is an insult to democracy and the intelligence of the people of Imo
Meanwhile, while reacting to the allegation, the All Progressives Congress-led administration of Hope Uzodinma has pointed accusing fingers at its major political rival, the People Democratic Party, PDP, alleging that the party is plotting means to discredit the present government.
Uzodinma’s Government made the allegation by insinuating that the PDP is planning a way of instigating violence in the state over the just concluded local government elections.
Making the position of the State Government known, the Commissioner for Information, Public Orientation and Strategy, Declan Emelumba, disclosed that credible information at its disposal indicated that the PDP wants to borrow a leaf from the recent violence in Rivers State against newly sworn-in local government chairmen and councillors.
Emelumba said that it was surprisingly unbelievable that just barely 24 hours after the Rivers violence broke out following the outcome of the local government elections in that State, the PDP Imo State in a statement on Tuesday allegedly warned elected local government chairmen in the state to steer clear of the council secretariats in the 27 LGAs.
The Commissioner argued that such a warning was ominous and portends danger and demanded that the security agencies should pay adequate attention to the statement allegedly credited to the PDP.
He said: “While PDP was free to rant and accuse the State of all unimaginable and unsubstantiated financial crimes, the threat of violence was not going to be tolerated”.
The Information Commissioner noted that it has been a while since the local government chairmen were sworn in after a successful election and wondered why the PDP was threatening them just 24 hours after the violence in Rivers State.
He said: “If you went through their incoherent and contradictory statement of Tuesday, October 8, 2024, you will come out with the impression that they want to employ self-help in addressing their colossal loss during the local government elections.
“They said their candidates ought to be declared winners and in the same breath, they alleged there was no election,” the commissioner pointed out.
He used the opportunity to debunk the allegation by the PDP that the elected chairmen were forced to submit resignation letters in case they failed to do the bidding of the governor
He also faulted PDP for claiming that Uzodinma had taken 50 per cent of local government funds to finance the State electricity project, noting that all transactions regarding the project were transparent.
Describing the PDP as a sore loser that never prepared for the election, Emelumba urged the party to approach the court for whatever redress it may seek as advised by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
He warned them against resorting to any kind of violence against the chairmen and the councillors, who he said were democratically elected by their people in their respective local government areas.
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