In advance of the upcoming general elections, the Imo State government has refuted a claim that the opposition Peoples Democratic Party bought votes.
The PDP had earlier claimed that the state administration had given cash gifts to voters in order to win their support in the poll on February 25.
Declan Emelumba, the state’s commissioner of information and strategy, was quoted as saying on Saturday in a press release made available to journalists in Owerri, the state’s capital, by Oguwike Nwachuku, the governor’s chief press secretary and media adviser. He said that the Imo State chapter of the PDP, which made the allegation, “is only displaying the gasps of a drowning man desperate to drag everyone to his doom.”
“You are displaying gasps of a drowning man, Imo State,” reads the statement.
The government tells PDP that it denounces the party’s behavior and says that the party is too split to be competitive in the election.
He noted that not too long ago, the same PDP lamented that it can no longer campaign because of insecurity, and now it is talking of vote buying.
“It is now obvious that the PDP is not ready for the election, hence it is crying a wolf.
“Currently they don’t even have candidates in some constituencies, including that of Emeka Ihedioha because of faction.
“Instead of addressing their self-inflicted problem, they are busy accusing the state government of all manner of plots.”
Continuing, Emelumba said the national secretary of the party, Senator Samuel Anyanwu was absent a few days ago when the PDP went on a campaign in his home local government of Ikeduru.
“The party is in disarray and seeing that they cannot defeat the APC, they have resorted to blackmail and whipping up sentiments against the state government.
“But that is to be expected of a drowning man, gasping for breath and desperate to drag everyone around him to the sea,” he maintained.
Emelumba further noted that the PDP was “delusional” by saying that the APC is unfit to face the electorate when in actual fact, the APC had roundly defeated the PDP and won all bye-elections conducted in the state since it assumed office in 2020.
“At any rate, the PDP cannot speak on behalf of the Imo electorate which had severally rejected them. Unlike the PDP, the APC has its achievements as a validation of its acceptance in the state.”
The commissioner regretted that the PDP has made itself a laughing stock before well-meaning people of the state and the security agencies because of “its frequent, childish and unsubstantiated allegations against the state government.”
