Governor Hope Uzodimma’s administration has ordered all owners and managers of hotels in the Owerri metropolis to make their rooms available only to the government, before the forthcoming gubernatorial election in Imo State.
The latest development was disclosed in a memo issued by the Commissioner for State Ministry of Tourism, Jerry Egbule Egemba.
The memo revealed the government was planning to rent and occupy all the hotel rooms, no matter their size or classification, in the state from Saturday, November 4, to Saturday, November 11, 2023, thus shutting out election observers and other political parties.
Egemba requested that details of accommodation bills for all the rooms covering the period for settlement be submitted to his office.
The development has raised suspicion in the various camps of other political parties and civil society organisations, alleging it is an attempt to rig the election and shut out election observers from monitoring the electoral process.
In an interview with DAILY POST, the president of the Civil Rights Realisation and Advancement Network (CRRAN), Olu Omotayo, stated that the action was wrong because it would affect the election’s credibility.
He said: “This is wrong because we are in a free society, in a democracy. Hotel business is like any other business; you’re free to do your business. You’re free to sell to whoever you like. This is not a military regime; the business they are doing is a legal business. Government can’t control how someone runs his private business. It’s very wrong. There’s no compulsion on how somebody should run his business. It’s highly condemnable and undemocratic.”
“Election observers would be coming into the state for election monitoring; when government takes over all the hotels, how are they going to operate? Definitely, it will affect the credibility of the election because you have stopped the people who are coming to be able to get hotel accommodation so they can operate successfully. It’s a plan to hijack the process, which is not good for a transparent election.
“If they are taking that step, that’s a wrong step. Hotel owners have the right to approach the court if they feel there’s an infringement on their rights to carry out their lawful business. That’s why the court is there.”
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