There is confusion in the All Progressives Congress, APC, in Imo State after a list circulating online revealed the names of chairmanship and councillorship candidates of the party in the 27 local governments and 305 wards across the state.
The list emerged online on Friday morning, sparking a wave of confusion among aspirants, especially those who did not find their names as candidates and grumbled over the primary election process.
This newspaper had consistently reported that handpicking of candidates under the guise of consensus was used to select party candidates for chairmanship and councillorship across the State.
Another source however claimed that the list of successful candidates has been forwarded to the Imo State Independent Electorial Commission, ISIEC, to beat the deadline set by the commission for political parties to submit list of candidates ahead of the September 21 LG election.
However, the party is yet to officially react to the development, but a terse statement signed by Julian Chijioke, Special Adviser (Media), to the State Party Chairman, said the list of candidates circulating online is fake.
“Please disregard any information coming from unauthorised or unscrupulous sources at this time.
“Authentic information regarding the outcome of the APC Chairmanship and Councillorship primaries in Imo State will be communicated through a signed notice from the official media handles of either the office of the State Party Chairman, Imo APC, or the State Publicity Secretary of the party.
“The list currently disseminated online is fake and should be disregarded.” the statement stated.