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As Nigeria celebrates its 26th Democracy Day, the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Imo State Chapter has urged State Governor Hope Uzodinma to rebuild public trust in democratic administration, claiming that the State Government he oversees is dishonest and opaque.

The Publicity Secretary of the party, Lancelot Obiaku said in a news release to commemorate this year’s Democracy Day that the Uzodinma dictatorship can still make amends with less than three years left, despite its lack of democratic principles.

The state’s lack of accountability, transparency, respect for the rule of law, and massive corruption are among the realities that make Uzodinma’s administration uncivil, according to the Imo PDP, which stressed that there is little to nothing in the state to make the typical Imo citizen happy during the celebration of democracy.

Noting that citizens are now tired of what it described as prevailing human rights abuses, extrajudicial killings, administrative recklessness, abuse of power, and lack of power separation that signpost his regime, the party accused Uzodinma of undermining the roles of the legislature and the judiciary and effectively leading a government where the executive runs without recourse to other arms of government.

According to the PDP, Uzodinma’s style of governance undermines democratic principles, has stunted the state’s growth, and is to blame for the reversal of important economic sectors in the state.

“For instance, how can people really celebrate democracy in a state that is without a Chief Judge for close to a year because of the Governor’s greed and undemocratic nature? This is the first of its kind in the history of Imo State. When the post became vacant on November 16, 2024, it was incumbent on the Governor to request from the National Judicial Council recommendation for the appointment of the most senior judicial officer as Chief Judge in accordance with Section 271 (4) of the Nigerian Constitution.

“Instead, the Governor went ahead to appoint and even swear in Hon. Justice Theophilus Nnamdi Nzeukwu, who is not qualified, as the Acting Chief Judge without recourse to the judicial process, which prompted the NJC to declare the appointment of Nzeukwu as Acting Chief Judge of the State void. This development has brought the state to public opprobrium. The absence of a Chief Judge for 8 months means cases are not being assigned because only the Chief Judge can do so, as well as many other functions only a Chief Judge can perform in a democracy,” the release stated.

Obiaku claims that the governor has closed the Public Procurement Bureau and that government contracts are not publicly advertised in the state these days.

He claims that no one, not even the State Assembly, has any voice in the contract award process, which is kept confidential.

He claimed that the individuals who are typically at the center of governance in a democratic environment are not informed of the costs and other contract specifics.

“We have seen the government recently re-award the World Bank–Umuguma and the Nekede–Iheanwa roads in Owerri for construction. These are roads awarded in 2020 by the same administration for tens of billions without anything tangible happening on the roads. This is the height of theft and sleaze perpetrated by an administration with a morbid inclination to fraud.

“Uzodinma has refused to conduct a democratic LGA election, and having appointed sole administrators in the name of LGA Chairmen, has continued to starve the people of dividends of democracy by depriving them the government that should ordinarily be the closest to them,” the press statement further stated.

According to a PDP spokesperson, Imo residents have witnessed more than N500 billion in LGA allocations since the start of the current administration go to waste with no results, not in the form of improvements to rural infrastructure, business and industry, education, minimum wage payments, pensions, or gratuities.

He explained that during Uzodinma’s rule in 2022, a group of militiamen known to witnesses as the government’s feared strike force, or Ebubeagu, allegedly killed at least fourteen young men who had attended a traditional marriage ceremony from Otulu Community in Oru West LGA to Awo-Omamma in Oru East LGA, both in Imo State, in broad daylight.

According to him, the State Government falsely stated that the young people who were killed were bandits and terrorists and that the DSS had killed them in a gunfight in the criminals’ camp in the bush.

“This is despite the plethora of testimonies, cries and hues by members of the community and families of the victims, pleading their innocence and calling for justice. This and many other cases of human rights abuses and abuse of power are what the Uzodinma administration has been known for over five years.

“Recently, the Agwa Community in Oguta LGA of the state decried the reckless killing of over 100 of its members by suspected Fulani herdsmen. In the face of this, and so many cases of killings, kidnapping and organ harvesting witnessed in the state, the Uzodinma administration remains silent, never showing empathy to those affected nor providing a lasting solution. This is not democracy,” he maintained.

However, Imo PDP used the platform to reassure the public that the current APC regime’s rule in the state will only last temporarily and to encourage them to continue taking part in the democratic process and to maintain their faith in democratic governance.

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