Some of the governorship candidates vying for the November 11 governorship election in Imo State have been accused of “downplaying issues affecting the state and rather resorted to casting aspersions on each other.”
In its preliminary report on the forthcoming 2023 Imo governorship election, a socio-political group, the Imo Awareness Coalition (IAC), claimed that most of the candidates are focused on “throwing tantrums on each other and have failed to highlight the core objectives of their manifestos.
“We have observed a pattern adopted by some of the governorship candidates.
“They heap insults on their co contestants and focus on one item, insecurity.
“Other issues such as education, health, social welfare, infrastructure development, local government administration, ecology, etc. seem not to be at the front burner of their campaign message,” part of the report sent to INNONEWS and signed by IAC President, Emmanuel Okwu, stated.
“Some of the candidates have no coherent approach to issues affecting the state.
“The manifestos of the candidates and their political parties are shrouded in secrecy, aside from a tiny few who have uploaded theirs on the internet.
“This has reduced the intensity of the contest and made nonsense of the intellectual discourse expected to shape the campaigns.
“As the election approaches, we foresee less idea-driven campaigns and more smear campaigns by candidates against each other.
“This will deny voters the opportunity to assess the candidates and ascertain their competence to govern the state.”
The group called on the media, civil society organizations, and the church in the state to compel the candidates to engage in “constructive and robust debates to enable the people of the state to asses their character, manifesto, and comportment ahead of the November 11 governorship election”