You would think that the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP Ngor Okpala chapter will learn lessons from the poor results it posted during the last general election i 2011. But unfortunately, a Dog heading to its death hardly hears its owner’s whistle.
The Saturday, November 1, 2014 PDP’s Delegate election which took place across Imo state exposed the follies of those running PDP in Ngor Okpala. It was quite disturbing that Leaders of Ngor Okpala PDP believe that they would continue repeating the same mistakes and expect different results.
What happened that Saturday at a Hotel in Owerri, where the result sheets of the PDP election for Ngor Okpala was written would have been an epic movie for Nollywood.
Come and see where the Leaders of Ngor Okpala PDP, our Role Models, were scrabbling for the result sheets.
And this was happening in a hotel Owerri not in Ngor Okpala. The Hotel was converted to a venue where the rights of Ngor Okpala sons and daughters were subverted by a few citizens of the area.
Earlier on Thursday, Chief Clement Nwigwe the chairman of PDP in Ngor Okpala had summoned the Eleven Ward Chairmen to the PDP state office at Okigwe Road, Owerri.
At about 3.30pm he began inviting them one by one to a Hotel beside the PDP office where he glanced at a list he had earlier prepared and called out three names the Ward Chairmen must give the three forms he gave each of them.
Before midnight, Ngor Okpala was on fire after the Ward chairmen had handed the forms to the privileged “Delegates” penciled down by Nwigwe. How did these names come about? It was learnt that a three man panel headed by Emma Nwogu, comprising Hon Kizito Onuoha and Nwigwe himself had drawn the list. Who set up the panel? What was their term of reference? Who gave them the authority? Were other party Leaders aware of the “Committee”?
This was the situation in Ngor Okpala till Saturday morning when PDP members in the Area were told that there would still be an open election despite Nwigwe’s shenanigans.
Confident PDP members went home to mobilize their supporters, after they had gone to the “open market” to purchase forms at the PDP office, damning Nwigwe and his selective formula.
But Alas, after waiting from 8am to 6pm on Saturday without any sign of PDP officers at the election centres, everybody headed back to the PDP office from Ngor Okpala to find out what the problem was.
It was there one waited until the election materials and result sheets were handed over to Nwigwe, who took off and a convoy of vehicles pursued him from Owerri to Umuneke, headquarter, of Ngor Okpala LGA.
Sensing that the mammoth crowd that gathered at the Umuneke PDP office was surging forward, the convoy of vehicles headed back to Owerri. By this time, it was getting dark. So, the Nwigwe Cabal at Owerri sent a decoy as if they were heading back to the state party office but instead headed to New Owerri, at a Hotel behind NUT Secretariat.
But those with Eagle eyes and military sense could not buy that deceit, and trailed them to this Hotel, where they were entering the results.
Unfortunately for Nwigwe, Colonel Lambert Iheanacho an Prof Jude Njoku caught him when he was attempting to escape.
Yours truly was ashamed of Ngor Okpala. I stood a distance and watched the drama. Infact, if not for Prof Njoku who pleaded for Nwigwe, Col Iheanacho would have torn him to shreds, as the former military tactician was boiling with anger, asking why PDP members of the same LGA could treat its fellow leaders so treacherously even when the exercise was not against an opposition political party.
But I had wondered if harm had happened to Nwigwe that night. What would make a man at such a ripe age fight over a PDP Delegate election? A man who by the grace of God has trained all his children, who are today comfortable in their chosen careers.
All entreaties by Njoku and Iheanacho to Nwigwe to harmonize the list, at least to accommodate Prof Jude Njoku, a son of Ngor Okpala who has paid N11m Eleven Million Naira to contest the PDP primaries, could not make any impression on Nwigwe, the Ngor Okpala PDP chairman.
But the world is full of ironies. Sometime in 2009, the then governor of Imo state, Chief Ikedi Ohakim had instructed Ngor Okpala born Appointees in his administration to liaise with other Ngor Okpala Leaders and elect a new PDP chairman.
So, we converged in the premises of Hon Greg Egu, Leader in Ngor Okpala politics.
I was there, with Dr Ethelbert Okere, Mrs Ibari Egu, Hon Bede Eke, Chief Blyden Amajirionwu and a few others. Egu nominated Chief Ray Onuoha, and Prof Njoku nominated his kinsman, Clement Nwigwe from Obiangwu Njoku.
Prof Njoku pleaded to us to support his nominee, Nwigwe. We objected, citing his age, as he was close to seventy years. But Prof Njoku said that was an advantage, as he will use his wisdom to “bring his children together and develop Ngor Okpala PDP”.
Today, I am definitely sure that Njoku has regretted that day he nominated Chief Clement Nwigwe as the chairman of Ngor Okpala PDP. And I have also regretted facilitating his emergence.
Unfortunately, the greatest political albatross facing Njoku’s ambition now is that his kinsman, he made Ngor Okpala PDP Chairman, Nwigwe. They have been having political battles, from replacing of the former Ward chairman of Obiangwu Ward, to list of delegates.
Nwigwe has since gotten a new Godfather, and has thrown away Prof Jude Njoku, including those of us who facilitated his emergence.
Presently, I am under same fire as Njoku from Nwigwe. For no reason, I am not in Nwigwe’s good book as he has continued to deny me the rights and privileges that accrue to me as a leader in the PDP, including in my Umuhu Ward Nine, where I am the top financier.
The height of this discrimination was dropping my name from the “Delegate “lists; including the one Nwigwe wrote with Emma Nwogu and Kizito Onuoha and the fresh one written in that Hotel (names withheld) at New Owerri.
In Umuhu Ward 9, I am the highest financier of the party and holds the number one PDP card in that Ward, yet Nwigwe did not deem me fit to make a three man list from this little community even after my own village, Umuechem was zoned one male Delegate.
If it was a mistake, it would have been corrected when Nwigwe called me on Friday, October 31, at about 8:30am telling me that it was my Ward chairman Chibuzor Okereafor who omitted my name. But I made it clear to him that the bulk stops on his table as the chairman. Did he enquire from me as the Leader in that Ward to make a contribution?
Yet, the same Nwigwe confides in others that one of the Gubernatorial Aspirants whom he is working for ordered that I must not appear on the Delegate list. That I should be stopped ancestral village. The home of my grand father Gabriel Ekpegbulam who brought Okwe Court to Umuhu community
My Ward chairman also told me the same thing. But why should I be disenfranchised in my father’s village because of an ambition of another person? Is Nwigwe a mind reader to know who I will vote for? Will Nwigwe vote for Prof Jude Njoku who gave him the utopian position he is using now to dictate death and life for others? Is democracy no more for free expression of thought and deeds? Is it the right of Nwigwe to tell me what to do as an adult? Even as a father, can he swear he controls the actions of his adults children?
I want to state here that politics is local. It is the aggregation of results from the various remote communities that make a political party to win or fail elections. Nwigwe can not come from Obiangwu and deliver the PDP in Immerienwe Ward. Therefore, as the father of the party, he is expected to the peculiarities of each Ward in Ngor Okpala. He is expected to use his wisdom to manage PDP members so as to be able to bring them together for the success of the party in the main elections.
For instance in Ward 9, the Ward Chairman, Chibuzor Okereafor failed in all the Booths in his village, from the House of Assembly to the Presidency in the last election in 2011. He has been Ward chairman since 1999. When you confront him after each failed election he will ask you if he is contesting any election?
In Ward 9 today, the Ngor Okpala APGA Chairman, Henry Okere, is from there. Bar Ogbonna Amadi, the present Commissioner for Internal Generation in Imo state is from there,
Rather than encourage the PDP leaders there, Nwigwe put the name of the serving Ward Chairman, Chibuzor, as a Delegate, but with the name Sabinus Okereafor, the serving Woman Leader, Mrs Chinyere Ekpe and Mr Luke Eke. None of these people attend PDP Leadership meetings and their total contributions to the PDP since four years now is not up to N5,000.
You now ask, where is Bar Charles Okoroafor, Hon Mrs Cordelia Okere (Councilor), Chief Emma Mascok Okereafor, Mrs Mbaliri, Hon Bona Okorie and yours truly? Is that how a party is run?
Do you expect these people to continue to contribute their personal wealths and time to the development of PDP in that Ward when you only use them to build, and not to reap? What gives them the encouragement to continue that sacrifice? Will you manufacture new Leaders for Ward 9 between now and the 2015 election?
Due to the way and manner Ngor Okpala PDP is managed, young and productive members are either frustrated out or “pushed” away and they go and become formidable oppositions to the PDP, making elections tougher for the party, when ordinarily it should not have been so. Abrahim Lincoln asked “Have I not destroyed my enemies by making them friends?”
I know that what the likes of Nwigwe are scheming at is to chase away these young bloods of Ngor Okpala who have come to contribute their quota to the development of Ngor Okpala through the platform of the PDP.
For instance, Dr Theodor Ekechi TOE, was chased out of PDP and APC recruited him and today, he is a former Commissioner, running for the Federal House election. PDP is going to confront him if he picks his party’s ticket.
Bar Ogbonna Amadi, former LGA Legal Adviser was chased away from PDP because he challenged Nwigwe. Today he is a Commissioner. Chief Blyden Amajurionwu left, and now in APGA running for House of Representative. Chief Val Okere (Amadioha Ngor Okpala) also was suspended by Nwigwe and he left.
These people are the real oppositions to Ngor Okpala PDP, as any body taking their resistance in the forthcoming election for granted is living in a fools paradise.
Following the way and manner they left the party, they will fight to finish, which makes the 2015 election in Ngor Okpala a tough one for everybody, and therefore the reason PDP needs tough people too who will execute the election, mostly now the party is prosecuting the 2015 election as an opposition party. But Nwigwe is busy chasing everybody away by his attitude.
From the number and calibre of people that are running for various positions in Ngor Okpala PDP, today there is no fact saying that Ngor Okpala has sons and daughters that can hold their own any day. But if the out-come of the Delegate “election” is a test case of what to expect, these young politicians may run away and not to come back, as the old cabal holding Ngor Okpala down will not relent. These young politicians may out of frustration swell the camp of opposition parties to the detriment of PDP.
The cabal do not want to accommodate any new face especially when they see that you are bright and looks set to have a good future ahead.
For Chief Emma Nwogu. I respect and admire him like most Ngor Okpala people do. But he should watch it. The younger elements are growing and expect some attitudes from him, which if he is not living up to expectation may be embarrassed one day. Obi will not remain a Boy. Ngor Okpala youths are growing and should be accommodated for the future.
Emma Nwogu is one of the politicians we are proud of. But he should be sharp enough like a good actor to study the reflexes of his audience.
His contemporaries as LGA chairman include Hon Aba Moro, former Minister of Interior, now running for Governorship seat of Benue state, Hon Nyesom Nwigwe, a former Chief of Staff to a Governor, former Minister and now running for the Governorship seat of Rivers state.
Back here in Imo, his mates in the LGA then were Hon Sam Daddy Anyanwu, two time member of House of the Assembly, now a Senatorial Aspirant for Owerri zone, and Hon Victor Muruakor, Ag Chairman Fiscal Commission, Abuja.
“Enyioha” as we love to call him is qualified to be a Senator or even a Governor. He should create enabling political space for up and coming Ngor Okpala sons and daughters to excel. He should be careful not to squander the respect Ngor Okpala youths have for him on the altar of servitude.
For my brother and friend, Hon Kizito Onuoha. He should be careful so that he is not used to destroy his own generation of Ngor Okpala people, or posterity will not forgive him.
Let me say it here that no amount of treachery, humiliation, betrayal and intimidation can make me give up on Ngor Okpala. Those who thought they have used the issue of Delegate to “teach him a lesson” are wasting their time.
It is those who subvert the rights of Ngor Okpala people that I pray for. Because one day they will meet their waterloo. They must remember that the much suffered masses of Ngor Okpala are getting restless. Ngor Okpla is the most backward LGA in Imo state despite her huge natural and human resources. Is it not a shame that Ngor Okpala has no Bank, no good Hotel, no roads, no Court Judge, Lever sit down and reflect?
Those who make peaceful change impossible invites chaos and mayhem. Nwigwe a co may have had their way today, but it may not be next time,
Every generation that does not recognize their youth are doomed. Ngor Okpala Leaders should think because tomorrow is too late.
