IMO LOCAL GOVERNMENT ELECTION, PDP, APGA AND RE-APC BOYCOTT POLL

UGOCHUKWU EKE, OWERRI

The much anticipated Imo State chairmanship and councilorship election was held in the state over the weekend and witnessed low turnout of voters as almost all the  major political parties such as the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) and RE-APC coalition members boycotted the election.

The exercise held in all the 645 electoral wards, 3,523 polling units and 44 voting units did not commence till mid day when officials of the Imo State Independent  Electoral Commission (ISIEC) were seen distributing some of the sensitive materials across the various polling centres .

The normal restriction of vehicular movement during elections were observed except those on essential duties to allow forma hitch free polls from 8:am to 4:pm, when the voting was supposed to take place.

However our correspondent observed that motorists, committers and the general public ignored the order, went about their daily business while commercial activities went on unhindered during the said period.

At the ISIEC office along the Owerri/Orlu Road, officials of the state electoral commission were seen moving in and out of the premises with their vehicles loaded with electoral materials.

Expectedly, armed mobile policemen, with their hilux vans took over strategic locations around the various voting units, centers and wards to ensure that life and property were secured during and after the election.

In virtually all the voting centres visited by our correspondent especially those in the Owerri North, Owerri west, Ngor Okpala Mbaitoli Ikeduru and Isiala Mbano council areas, a negligible number of voters were seen in groups, after casting their votes.

A commercial bus driver who spoke on the condition of anonymity dismissed the polls as a charade and an exercise in futility, adding that the present administration was wasting public funds in their so called council election.

He said, “Why should I bother myself going to vote when they have already chosen the people they want?  Let them go and die my business is more important to me, as I must put food on the table today for my family”.

As at the time of filing this report, it was gathered that the PDP, APGA and the opposition Coalition Alliance within the APC in the State all distanced themselves from the polls, saying that they are not interested in the charade.