Save Imo, a civic advocacy group, has criticised the Imo State Independent Electoral Commission (ISIEC) over its decision to hold the state’s rescheduled local government elections on November 7, 2026. The group accuses the commission of failing to provide political parties with a timeline for conducting primaries to select chairmanship and councillorship candidates.
In an open letter dated October 5 and addressed to the ISIEC chairman at the commission’s headquarters on Okigwe Road, Owerri, the group’s lead activist, Ebubeagu Ekenulo, said the commission had repeated the procedural lapse that marked its earlier announcement of September 26 as the election date.
According to Ekenulo, ISIEC announced the September 26 date in August without making provision for political parties to hold primaries and field candidates for the various chairmanship and councillorship positions. He said the commission has now fixed November 7 for the postponed elections, barely four weeks away, yet has again failed to publish a timetable for party primaries.
“The good and discerning people of Imo State are aware of this drama,” Ekenulo said, accusing the commission of announcing an election date without adequate arrangements for the emergence of candidates.
He argued that the September 26 date appeared to have been set without a realistic plan for conducting the poll, stressing that credible local government elections cannot be organised without candidates nominated through party primaries.
“The drama started in August 2026 when you suddenly announced elections for September 26, 2026, whereas you had no real plan to conduct the said elections,” the letter stated.
Save Imo urged ISIEC to end what it described as a “drama” and to comply with the constitutional procedures required for credible local government elections. “There is no way your Commission can credibly conduct elections without candidates emerging from primaries duly conducted by political parties,” Ekenulo said.
The group called on the ISIEC chairman to ensure that political parties are given sufficient time and a clear timetable to conduct their primaries before the November 7 election, warning that the process must be transparent and procedurally credible.
