BY GRACE IGWE, NNAMDI AZUOMA & ANTHONY OKERE
The All Progressives Congress (APC) in Imo State has been embroiled in a controversy surrounding its primary election for the September 21, 2024, local government election.
Governor Hope Uzodimma had initiated the process by announcing consensus as his preferred method for electing candidates during the primary.
However, the State Party leadership announced on Monday that primary elections were taking place.
Cajethan Duke, State Publicity Secretary, said the primary exercise was ongoing simultaneously across the wards and LGAs in the State.
Despite the claim of a free, fair, and transparent process, reports emerged from most local governments that candidates were being handpicked under the guise of consensus as approved by the party’s constitution.
The APC constitution approves Direct and Indirect Primary and Consensus as methods to elect candidates.
Some aspirants opposed to the handpicking process took to social media to announce themselves as winners, prompting the State party leadership to swiftly deny releasing an official list of victorious chairmanship candidates.
State Chairman, Mac Donald Ebere was quoted in a statement to have said that primary elections were held across the LGAs, and results were still trickling in.
He said the party is yet to officially announce anyone as elected chairmanship candidate(s)
Ebere stated, “As I’m talking to you, we are just coming in. We are waiting for the results. The results are trickling in one after the other.”
He had assured that the process had been free, fair, and peaceful, with security personnel and electoral officials present at all 305 wards and 27 local government areas.
Another party official at the State party headquaters had told this newspaper that the list of successful candidates would be announced on Wednesday (yesterday).
The names has not surfaced as at the time of writing this report.
Engr Onwubuiko Kingsley, a Chairmanship aspirant in Ezinihitte Mbaise LGA, had posted on a Whatsapp platform that he conceded to the consensus option of selecting candidates in his LGA, to the Sole Administrator, one Mr.Chinedu.
This assertion by the aspirant gives credence to widespread reports of handpicking of candidates preferred and adopted by most party leaders in most local governments.
An anonymous aspirant in one of the local governments in Owerri zone expressed frustration, stating that party leaders met at a location and nominated a former local government Chairman as the party’s chairmanship candidate.
This newspaper had exclusively reported that majority of the Sole Administrators of the 27 local governments allegedly emerged as Chairmanship candidates.
The SOLADS are known close allies of Governor Hope Uzodimma and had served as election monitors in the November 11, 2023, governorship election.
“This is a clear case of favouritism. The only way to avoid implosion in the party after the primary exercise, is for the party leadership to refund those aspirants who did not get nominated as candidates” said a frustrated aspirant who spoke on condition of anonymity.
Governor Hope Uzodimma had assured aspirants at a stakeholders meeting held at the State headquarters, Owerri, before the primary, that unsuccessful aspirants would be refunded monies they used to purchase Expression of Interest and Nomination Forms.
Chairmanship and Councillorship aspirants had paid a whopping sum of N3m and N1m respectively for Nomination forms, with many of them financially drained after running an exhaustive and money sapping campaigns.