Governor Hope Uzodimma of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidate, Samuel Anyanwu, on Saturday expressed diverse views on the conduct of the governorship election in Imo.

The candidates spoke shortly after casting their votes at their various polling units amidst low voter turnout.

Mr Uzodimma, who voted at 11:35 a.m. at Polling Unit 032, Ekwenja Ukwu-Ozu ward, Omuma community, Oru East Local Government Area, said reports he received showed that the election was peaceful in most parts of the state.

“You can see how freely I have gone out to cast my votes and also how INEC was able to process my accreditation under a few minutes,” he said.

The governor, who said the election was peaceful contrary to reports on social media, urged those in the opposition allegedly sponsoring mischief and other forms of criminality to repent.

“Some are out to confuse the populace. They just go to social media and fabricate stories and publish,” he said. “But when you visit the polling units, you will now see that there is peace there.”

Mr Uzodimma commended INEC and security agencies for ensuring proper deployment of material and personnel for the election.

But Mr Anyanwu expressed worries over reports of alleged ballot box snatching in some areas of the state.

”Though they started very late, which was the problem we had here where others started by 8:00 a.m., I just cast my vote at about 10:25 a.m.

”This is my home town, and my people are excited to cast their votes because one of their own is coming out for election”, he said.

He alleged that materials and votes were carted away at about seven wards in Orlu. The PDP candidate said similar incidents were reported at Orsu and parts of Oru West, wondering why opposition parties would not allow free and fair elections in the state.

“We should not encourage hooliganism when you bring people like that to help you win.

“That is not the type of society we want, and a responsible government should not encourage such.

“Some people are desirous of change, but some people are trying to truncate it. It will never work,” he stated. 

(NAN)