The National Democratic Congress (NDC) in Imo State has threatened legal action against the state government’s campaign billboard fees and challenged the constitutional basis of the local government elections scheduled for Saturday, November 14.
Eze Eluchie, the party’s Director of Legal Services, told journalists in Owerri on Thursday that the Imo State Signage and Advertising Agency (ISAA) had imposed “obnoxious, undemocratic, offensive and prohibitive” advertisement rates that risked restricting opposition parties’ activities ahead of the 2027 general elections.
The NDC has already submitted a Freedom of Information request to the ISAA General Manager seeking evidence of payments made by political parties for campaign billboards and posters. Eluchie said the request was intended to determine whether the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) had paid the prescribed rates for the numerous billboards and posters displayed across the state.
“If it is established that the adverts being placed by the APC have not been paid for in line with the rates demanded by the ISAA,” he said, the party would challenge the practice in court. He argued that the fees infringed on constitutionally guaranteed freedoms of expression and association and the right of citizens to participate in governance, and called for a level playing field for all parties.
On the November 14 local government elections, Eluchie questioned their legality. He said the tenure of the previous local government executive committees expired in September 2026 and that, instead of conducting fresh elections, the governor appointed Development Area Governors to run the councils. The arrangement, he claimed, has continued and undermines the constitutional requirement for democratic local government under Section 7 of the 1999 Constitution.
He described the planned exercise by the Imo State Independent Electoral Commission as a “coronation of selected persons as chairmen and councillors” rather than a genuine election. Anyone who emerges from the process, he said, would occupy the offices of chairmen and councillors in the state’s 27 local government areas and 305 wards through a process inconsistent with the Constitution.
Eluchie urged the Federal Government to withhold funds due to the 27 councils from those who emerge on November 14 and instead place the money in interest-yielding accounts at the Central Bank of Nigeria until proper democratic elections are held.
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