The Imo State Independent Electoral Commission has announced that the All Progressives Congress (APC) won every one of the 27 local government chairmanship seats and 305 wards and councillorship seats in the just-concluded local government polls in the state.
The Chairman of the Commission, Charles Ejiogu, made this declaration at the commission’s headquarters in Owerri, the Imo State capital, on Monday.
As indicated by him, the poll, which he said was carried out in line with the state electoral laws and guidelines, was credible, free and fair.
In a swift reaction, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the state portrayed the poll as a fraudulent exercise and assault on democratic principles.
While the APC chairman in the state, Macdonald Ebere, praised all the APC candidates for emerging triumphant, he portrayed allegations by opposition PDP as unjustifiable.
It is a norm that the 27 LG chairmen and 305 councillors would receive their certificates of return and would be sworn in. Imo State has an APC Lead Representative, Hope Uzodimma in office.
Over 15 states have declared or held local government elections in the last two months since the Supreme Court conceded financial autonomy to the third tier of government, ordering the Federal Government to pay the 20.60% monthly allocation of the 774 LGs in the nation directly to their respective accounts and not to accounts constrained by Lead Representatives.
The apex court in the landmark judgement in July additionally abolished power-drunk Lead Representatives from dissolving democratically elected local government councils.
