By Onyekachi Eze
The lingering case on who represents Ideato South State Constituency in the Imo State House of Assembly has been laid to rest with the inauguration of Hon Iheonukara Duru Johnson of the All Progressives Congress, APC, into the 10th House by the State Legislature.
Duru was inaugurated on Wednesday, January 17, 2024 by the House during its plenary session.
The decision of the House followed the Appeal Court’s judgement on the matter which ruled that APC duly won the Ideato South Assembly seat as against the Accord Party earlier declared.
INEC had declared and issued Certificate of Return to the Accord Party Candidate, Hon. Vitalis Azodo who was inaugurated alongside the other elected Lawmakers in June 2023.
Unfortunately, the Appeal Court ruled in Favour of Hon. Duru and ordered that the COR earlier issued to Azodo be withdrawn immediately and same issued to APC’s Johnson.
It would be recalled that Hon Iheonukara Duru Johnson represented his constituency in the 9th House (2019-2023), and is back for the second term journey.
In his address to his constituents, Duru said, “With your massive support and my second legislative inauguration, I have been authorised to give our collective interests a greater attention at the Imo State House of assembly, and I’m always set to seal my collaboration with essential ministries, departments and agencies to ensure that I deliver my campaign promises to my people.
“Also, many thanks to my boss, my political mentor, Senator Hope Uzodimma, the executive governor of Imo state, for his overwhelming support in my legislative journey. I will not forget to thank the sole administrator of Ideato South LGA, Hon. Pastor Bede Ikeaka and others who, in one way or the other, contributed to the success of this course.
“My beloved constituents, my number one task in the tenth Assembly, is to attract more developmental programmes to our constituency and be rest assured that my office shall often promote our collective interests, in areas like youth empowerment, and education scholarship for our indigent children especially those who intend to further their education after secondary school. I am happy to inform you that we shall be sponsoring the JAMB and SSCE registration of some of our children. Those who perform excellently in these examinations shall be aided in securing admission in any institution of their choice in Imo state with free tuition. This project shall commence with immediate effect.
“I am also happy to inform you that some of those empowerment programmes that I facilitated in the 9th assembly for my beloved people of Ideato South will soon be perfected. Some of the people-centered bills I sponsored in the 9th assembly will receive an urgent boost.
“I shall also put in more effort to ensure that our ongoing projects, such as the security pilot scheme and the economic, social, and political programmes, are properly executed in strategic and major locations in our constituency”.
He continued, “I am glad that two of my bills that are aimed at establishing tertiary education assessment and monitoring agency, and Imo state agency for anti violence against women, girls, and vulnerable groups scaled through public hearing in the 9th assembly and I will leave no stone unturned to make sure that they passed through 3rd reading in the 10th assembly and signed into law by the governor in order to forster a robust tertiary education in our state, and the second bill will reduce the ugly act of abuse against our women and the vulnerable groups.
“Umu nnem!, my constituency activities in the 10th assembly shall focus on partnering and engaging the relevant authorities to consolidate my efforts in the development of various sectors of the economy in our constituency such as security, education, health and commerce. We shall continue with our kind gesture in providing, conducive, and comfortable homes for the displaced, vulnerable, and indigent people in our various communities”.
