Sen. Athan Achonu, the Labour Party candidate in the November 11 governorship election in Imo State, has faulted plans by the State government to conduct council polls a few months before the guber election.
Achonu made his stance known while addressing newsmen in Owerri, on Wednesday.
VOP news gathered that the Imo Governor, Senator Hope Uzodimma had in a meeting with leaders of the All Progressives Congress last April, promised to conduct local government elections not later than July 2023.
The timetable for the elections has, however, not been announced, four days to the end of July.
Achonu, represented by the Director-General of his campaign organization, Mr Chime Nzeribe, argued that council polls should be conducted by governors upon their assumption of office rather than months to a governorship election.
He decried the delay in the conduct of the council polls, describing it as a “betrayal of the real motive” behind the election.
According to him, the timing of local government elections should reflect, not a desperate desire to groom supporters at the grassroots level for the ruling party, but a sincere desire to empower the local governments and make them work in the interest of the masses
