There are strong indications that the proposed July 14, 2018 local government election in Imo State may hold in the 667 autonomous communities in the State rather than the 305 wards. This newspaper gathered that there are moves by the Executive arm of government to push to the House of Assembly a bill to effect the change.
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It was unconfirmed as at last week if the House had received such a bill as no lawmaker agreed to speak to this newspaper about it. But a source revealed the House had received such proposal.
The Imo State Independent Electoral Commission, ISIEC had recently announced plans to hold the Local Government polls on July 14. It went further to release guidelines for the polls.
It was unclear if the guidelines are being followed by the aspirants seeking to be either Chairmen and Councillors in various local governments in the State.
When contacted for comments, the Chief Press Secretary to the Speaker, Imo State House of Assembly, Marcel Ekwezuo promised to get back to innonews.com.ng if the House had received such a bill fromm . When contacted again, his phone rang without reply.
The local Government election has been a source of controversy in the State lately. A report had circulated on the social media that the Supreme Court had directed the State Government not to go ahead with the polls.
This was denied by the Imo State government who vowed that the polls will go on as scheduled.
Meanwhile, the opposition political party in Imo State, the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP yesterday said it will abide by the advice of the Supreme Court on the Local Government election.
In a statement by Damian Opara, State Publicity Secretary of the Party, it accused the All Progressive Congress, APC government of Governor Rochas Okorocha of disobeying the nation’s apex court directive.
It described the planned polls as “Kangaroo Local Government election being packaged to defraud unsuspecting political parties and their candidates in Imo State put on hold until the Supreme Court determines the case between the Association of Local Governments of Nigeria (ALGON), Imo State and the Imo State Government”
It vowed never to take part in the elections.
