Governorship election is scheduled to hold in Imo on November 11, 2023 and the governor is also seeking his reelection under the All Progressives Congress (APC) ticket.
The Imo state governorship candidate of the New Nigeria People's Party (NNPP), Uche Ben Odunzeh has condemned the state governor, Senator Hope Uzodinma's administration for demanding N54,000,000 before a political billboard can be put up anywhere in the state ahead of the state governorship election in November.
Governorship election is scheduled to hold in Imo on November 11, 2023 and the governor is also seeking his reelection under the All Progressives Congress (APC) ticket.
Hence, the state government had demanded the sum of N54 million from candidates of opposition parties before they could put up their billboards in the state, the NNPP candidate said.
Odunzeh in a statement made available to SaharaReproters on Tuesday described it as outrageous and anti-democratic.
According to the statement, Odunzeh, who spoke through the Director General of his Campaign Organisation, Senator Jude Iroegbu, in a monitored television programme, said the demand demonstrated that the ruling party, APC, has failed to serve the people of the state well.
He added that the state government has not attracted any investment there for the past four years, claiming that the actions of the government are suffocating the state's economy.
He said, "Imo state attracted zero investment in Nigeria. You are stifling the economy because you are not expanding the base.
"The government of the day is not committed to the economic development of the state. Chief Uche Ben Odunzeh and NNPP stand for a government that works the people and that is what he will bring on board.
"When you create a government that doesn't work for the people, it is anti-democratic."
"The governorship candidate of NNPP stands for paradigm shift,” the statement added.