Steer clear of local govt HQ, Imo PDP warns new chairmen, councillors
Alerts EFCC, ICPC, NFIU over alleged plot to divert LG funds; PDP plotting violence - Imo government
From George Onyejiuwa, Owerri
The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Imo State is embroiled in a heated verbal dispute with the state government. The opposition party has issued a stern warning to newly appointed council leaders and councillors, urging them to steer clear of the local government headquarters. They assert that no elections were held on September 21, 2024, and contend that the local government chairpersons and councillors currently in office are impostors, unlawfully imposed by the APC State Government.
The Imo PDP party accuses the Chairmen and Councillors of functioning as an illegitimate assembly, manipulated by their paymaster to undermine democracy and the rule of law. They assert that this assembly is further oppressing the people of Imo by misappropriating local government funds.
The opposition PDP party has alleged that Governor Uzodimma’s administration has orchestrated an agreement compelling newly sworn-in local government chairmen to remit over 70% of their local government allocations back to the state government. Furthermore, the PDP claims that the governor is coercing these chairmen to sign their resignation letters in advance, should they refuse to adhere to this arrangement.
In a press statement on Tuesday Hon Lancelot Obiku, State Publicity Secretary of the party, said that it has also alerted the EFCC, ICPC and the NFIU to the alleged plot by the state governor to divert the local government allocations.
The statement reads: “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 materialise, 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.
“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.”
The statement further stated, ” 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 State.”
But in a swift reaction, the Imo state government has raised the alarm over the alleged plot by the opposition Peoples Democratic Party to instigate violence in the state on account of the just concluded local election. The state commissioner for Information, Public Orientation and Strategy, Hon Declan Mbadiwe, disclosed that credible information at its behest indicated that the PDP in the state wants to borrow a leaf from the recent violence in Rivers State against newly sworn-in local government chairmen and councillors.
Emelumba said it was too much of a coincidence that just 24 hours after the Rivers violence, PDP, in a statement on Tuesday, warned elected local government chairmen in Imo State to steer clear of the council secretariats in the 27 LGAs.
The Commissioner argued that such a warning was ominous and portended danger, and therefore demanded the immediate attention of the security agencies.
According to him, 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.
He 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.
” 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 election. 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 debunked 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 Governor Uzodimma has taken 50 per cent of local government funds to finance the state electricity project, noting that all transactions regarding the project were transparent.
Describing PDP as a sore loser that was never prepared for the election, Emelumba urged it to approach the court for whatever remedy it seeks as advised by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
He warned them against resorting to any kind of violence against the chairmen and councillors who were democratically elected by their people in their respective local government areas.