The Imo State Government has attributed the Labour Party and Peoples Democratic Party’s (PDP) defeat in the recent governorship election to their internal conflicts.
On Sunday, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) announced Hope Uzodimma, the incumbent and candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), as the winner of the governorship election held on November 11.
Uzodimma, representing the APC, garnered 540,308 votes, surpassing his closest competitors, Samuel Anyanwu of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) with 71,503 votes, and Athan Achonu of the Labour Party (LP) with 64,081 votes.
The day following Uzodimma’s triumph, Declan Emelumba, the State Commissioner for Information, appeared on Channels Television’s Sunrise Daily. During the interview, he expressed his astonishment that the opposition parties were not adequately prepared for the governorship election.
Emelumba elaborated on his surprise that both political camps managed to secure votes despite facing internal conflicts.
“Before this election, any discerning observer would have seen that virtually the whole of Imo State emptied in APC. The APC is the only party where there was no faction, no defection, no problem,” he said.
“Every other party that contested this election, had internal crisis, internal problems, a lot of mass defections. So there was no way they could have won. There was no way they could have even performed better than they did.”
“I am even surprised they managed to gather the votes they gathered because they were not prepared for the election. They did not campaign, people were leaving them.”
During the interview, the commissioner also weighed in on the recent protest embarked upon by the Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC).
He said despite the protest, Governor Uzodimma was overwhelmingly re-elected for a second term in office by the people of Imo State.
The government’s spokesman also commended the electoral body for the smooth conduct of the election, stressing that despite initial fears, the exercise was generally considered peaceful.