ONWUASOANYA FCC JONES
The long awaited and much talked about local government election in Imo State has come and gone, and true to expectations and permutations, the All Progressives Congress, won overwhelmingly across all the constituencies. That is to say 27/27 LGAs and 305/305 wards. Nothing less would have been acceptable.
Coincidentally, the Imo State election took place the same day as the Enugu State LGA election, and in the past weeks and coming weeks, the same local election will hold across various States in the country, as these States rush to meet up with the deadline for the third tier government to be governed by democratically elected officials, as ordered by the Supreme Court. Enugu, ruled by the PDP, also returned 100% of PDP candidates as winners of their own election.
Because it has almost become normal that Parties in power always tend to manipulate local elections to favour their Party, some people have insinuated or even claimed authoritatively that the APC in Imo State did the same thing. But, this is not absolutely correct. In Imo State, the APC worked to earn its victory and didn’t need to manipulate the election in order to win. We must come to terms with the reality that the APC under His Excellency Distinguished Senator Hope Uzodimma, CON, is the most dominant Party in Imo State. Even in the most advanced democracies of the world, local elections are always dominated by the most popular Party in that area, that is why we have Blue States and Red States in the United States, and Tories dominated counties and constituencies and Labour dominated areas in the United Kingdom. Imo would be a Blue State, if we were in the United States of America, because, the APC, shares strong ideological and progressive affinity with the Democratic Party of the United States.
Now, let’s get to the point of this communication; how and why the APC deserves its victory in the LGA election.
1. The APC held one of the most competitive nomination process, yet, has been able to sustain the cohesion in the Party, ensuring that unsuccessful aspirants drive the campaigns of the Party’s nominees.
2. APC boasts of the most charismatic leadership in the State. It invested clear efforts in promoting the Party before the Imo populace.
3. While all the other Parties literally imported unknown individuals who rarely have any connection with their people, APC candidates are regular faces in their various councils and wards and wield a lot of influence with the people.
4. APC candidates are the only ones that campaigned vigorously across the wards in the State.
5. APC is the only Party that held a grand finale rally, where governors from other States came together to campaign for our candidates.
6. The PDP and other mushroom Parties are ruffled with internal complications and crisis. The APC is the only one among all the participating political Parties that is free of crisis.
7. The highly rated performance of the “Shared Prosperity” administration of His Excellency Distinguished Senator Hope Uzodimma, CON, is enough campaign for the APC candidates.
8. Members of the National and State Assembly elected on the platform of the APC are clearly performing better than the few who were elected on the platform of opposition Parties. This enhances the popularity of the APC at the grassroots.
9. APC has the most complete grassroots structure of any other political Party in the State. This includes a booth structure, which galvanises voters in the communities and villages.
10. All of the opposition Parties that participated in this election could hardly articulate a manifesto that appeals to the people, unlike the APC which has the most people-oriented manifesto in the country.
Congratulations to all the winners.
IMO HAS WON!