Flagbearer of Labour Party (LP) in the November governorship election in Imo State, Sen. Athan Nneji Achonu, otherwise called SANA, has lampooned Governor Hope Uzodinma for planning to hold council election in the state at the twilight of his four-year tenure.
Sen. Achonu accused Governor Uzodinma of desperation and plotting to use the council poll to select soldiers to rig him back into power.
Speaking through the Director General of the Senator Athan Achonu (SANA) Campaign Organisation, Chief Chime Nzeribe, who addressed a press conference, in Owerri, the state capital, Sen. Achonu wondered at the governor’s desperation to cling to power by all means and accused him of a plot to deceive and suppress the people’s will.
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Full text of the statement reads:
“The attention of the ‘Take Back Imo Campaign Organization’ of Distinguished Senator Athan Achonu has been drawn to media reports, purporting that the outgoing Governor of Imo State, Senator Hope Uzodinma, plans to conduct local government election in the state.
“It was reported that the governor made this public in Owerri, the state capital during the inauguration of members of the board of Imo State Independent Electoral Commission, ISIEC.
“We leave it to Ndi Imo to ask how truly ‘independent’ that commission made up of known associates of the ruling party in the state is?
“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 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 local government election underscores the fact that it’s being motivated by second reelection desperation, and not the collective welfare and well-being of Imo electorate, especially the millions of rural dwellers.
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“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.
“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 lives and properties of the citizens of the state.
“It is pertinent to state that Gov. Uzodimma takes home four billion naira yearly as 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.
“To any close watcher of Imo affairs, particularly the governance trajectory of failed All Progressives Congress, APC, government in the state, it is not hard knowing why Imo people have not only rejected it but vowed openly to vote out from power come the November 11 governorship election.
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“In the almost four years it has been in the saddle, it has received local government allocation in excess of N200 billion 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 N700 billion state own allocation received over the same period.
“Having weighed the mood and opinion of the people, which is heavily skewed against it due to its historic flop, we are not surprised that the administration in its desperation for a second term in office, is resorting to all manners of desperate manoeuvre in its attempt to force itself back into power against the popular will of the people.
“The purported local government election, which will ultimately turn into a “selection”, from every indication must to be one of the planks, which it’s banking on to actualise that devious anti-people and anti-democracy gambit.
“As a government, which is tailor-made for election manipulation and mandate-stealing, as it shamelessly 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.
“That being the only reason for the proposed “selection” exercise, and not the advancement of the public good, we hereby call on the good people of the state, to in the same way they have openly rejected the governor, also vehemently reject his desperate sinister plot to perpetuate himself in power.
“We are calling on them to distance themselves from the Uzodinma poisoned “selection” hemlock, neither accepting the cup nor drinking from it, but rather to vehemently reject the planned “selection” scam, which is being planned to be used to fraudulently subvert their will and steal their mandate.
“The truth is that Senator Athan Achonu has been the undisputed advocate for true local government autonomy. He has continued to preach for over a decade that independent and autonomous local government administration is sine qua non to true democracy and genuine grassroots development in Imo State.
“Distinguished Senator Athan Achonu has consistently promised that he will not only grant full and total financial autonomy to the twenty seven councils of the state when elected, but also “conduct the freest and fairest local government election in the history of the state.” He has also vowed not to touch a dime of local government
allocation.
“We urge Imo voters to continue supporting the Labour Party, the candidacy of Senator Athan Achonu and massively vote for him.
“Together we can take back Imo. It’s ‘Athanable'”