The Imo State chapter of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) has threatened to drag the state government and its electoral body to court over what it described as prohibitive campaign billboard charges and constitutional irregularities surrounding the local government council elections slated for Saturday, November 14, 2026.
Addressing journalists during a press briefing in Owerri on Thursday afternoon, November 12, 2026, the party’s Director of Legal Services, Barrister Eze Eluchie, condemned the advertising rates imposed by the Imo State Signage and Advertisement Agency (IMSAA). According to Eluchie, the fees are deliberately designed to stifle opposition voices and cripple political campaigns ahead of upcoming elections.
”The National Democratic Congress (NDC) intends to challenge this obnoxious policy in court,” Barr. Eluchie stated during the briefing. “The state government cannot use arbitrary and exorbitant signage fees as a weapon to disenfranchise opposition parties and deny the electorate access to alternative political messages.”
The party criticised the multi-million-naira billboard permit fees enforced by IMSAA, arguing that such levies violate citizens’ constitutional rights to freedom of expression and fair political participation. (State regulatory schedules require candidates to pay tens of millions of naira for governorship and presidential billboards, alongside millions for legislative seats).
Barr. Eluchie further faulted Governor Hope Uzodimma’s administration and the Imo State Independent Electoral Commission (ISIEC) over the scheduled Saturday, November 14 local government elections, characterizing the exercise as unconstitutional and a “kangaroo” process.
Expressing disappointment over the state of local government administration in Imo State, the NDC legal director demanded an immediate halt to federal allocations accruing to the state’s local government councils until democratically valid and legally compliant processes are established.
The NDC maintained that its legal team has been instructed to file formal processes at the court to seek injunctions restraining both IMSAA from enforcing the disputed advertising rates and ISIEC from proceeding with the November 14 polls pending the determination of the substantive suit.
As of press time on Thursday evening, neither the Imo State Government nor officials of IMSAA and ISIEC had issued an official response to the NDC’s legal threat.
