The Imo State Government has attributed the electoral defeat of the Labour Party and Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the recently held governorship elections to the internal conflicts that plagued both parties. According to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), the incumbent and All Progressives Congress (APC) candidate, Hope Uzodimma, emerged as the winner of the November 11 governorship poll.
The APC candidate polled 540, 308 votes to defeat his closest rivals, PDP’s Samuel Anyanwu, who scored 71,503 votes and LP’s Athan Achonu, who got 64,081.
Speaking on Channels Television’s Sunrise Daily on Monday, the State Commissioner for Information, Declan Emelumba, said the opposition parties were not prepared for the governorship poll.
He explained that he was surprised both camps were able to secure some votes despite the internal wranglings.
“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.”