The Inter-Party Advisory Council (IPAC) on Tuesday declared that political parties that make up the body will boycott Saturday’s upcoming local government elections in Imo.

The state chairman of IPAC, Ichie Levi Ekeh, told reporters in Owerri that the group was disappointed in the Imo State Independent Electoral Commission (ISIEC) preparations for the election.

“As IPAC, we have decided to boycott the election to show our grievances and to show that ISIEC has not done what it should do by following the guidelines,” he said.

The state government had scheduled September 21 to conduct the council polls.

However, Mr Ekeh, also the state chairman of Zenith Labour Party (ZLP), alleged that ISIEC failed to comply with some of the state’s 2024 local government election guidelines.

“We have been following the process, but in recent times, it appears that the commission has derailed from the election guideline.

“We expected that candidates would have been given forms to fill and return for validation, but four days to the election, names of candidates and voters have not been published.

“Page 9, paragraph 5 (8) of the guideline, says that all nomination forms shall be delivered at the place or places appointed by the commission at least 20 days before the date of the election.

“Today is September 17, which is four days to the election, nothing has been done,” he said.

He also expressed displeasure that the commission declined its inquiry to clarify certain payments of non-refundable fees in the guideline.

“Instead, what they did was to send invitations to candidates to visit their office for the forms and validation.

“When these candidates got there, they were asked to pay N200,000 for the chairmanship position and N51,000 for the councillorship positions without the consent of the political parties that presented the candidates.

“It is up to the political parties to protect the interest of candidates,” he said.

Mr Ekeh said ISIEC had not been fair to political parties and added that the body was worried that candidates would not be given a level playing ground to participate in the election.

However, in his reaction, the chairman of ISIEC, Charles Ejiogu, said contrary to claims by IPAC, the commission followed the prescribed guidelines for the conduct of the election.

“I do not see any reason why the election will not hold on Saturday. The commission is fully prepared, adequately, sufficiently prepared for the election,” Mr Ejiogu said.

The commission’s chairman also said electoral officers and ad hoc staff training would be concluded before the elections.

He said 15,000 ad hoc staff had been recruited for the exercise in 305 wards and 4,758 polling units across the state.

Mr Ejiogu said the money paid for validation by candidates at the commission’s office was lawful.

(NAN)