May I thank several readers and critics alike who made inputs to last week’s write up on this column. I apologize for the mix up where the continuation page was referred to page 2 while it was on page 10. It was the hand of Esau that twisted the mix up. However, I promise more exciting topics for discourse on this page. You can also follow me on www.innocentonyeukwu.blogspot.com. Now let’s hit the ground running.
Imo State is at a cross roads. Recent political events in the State point to the fact that it be might be on the verge of seeing another political tsunami. Did I hear you say, God forbid! If you did, I will add amen to it. No positive thinking Imolite who witnessed how the political terrain was converted to a boxing or wrestling ring between 2003- 2011 will desire a repeat of that era. This is why we should pray ceaselessly that Imo State should be better and remain in the hands in God.
I and other well meaning Imolites had believed that the era of political wahala, the period of flexing of muscles by our politicians was over. When Rochas Okorocha was declared Imo Governor after that nail biting governorship election in April/May 2011, the litany of congratulatory messages even from opposition camps, that trailed his victory gave us a flicker of hope that the persistent political clashes amongst our politicians which dates back to the Achike Udenwa era was over. How dead wrong we are.
Alas, such expectations have remained a mirage- a dream that may not be close to reality. Imo State is gradually cruising back to the days of yore which tend to indicate that the era of political battles are not over. Such battles dominated the political landscape of the State in the past. It began with the Ononogono/Abuja war, two powerful political factions in Imo PDP. They struggled to posses the soul of the then ruling party between 2003-06. The Abuja group had in its kitty political titans such as Chief Emmanuel Iwuanyanwu, Senator Ifeanyi Araraume, Dr (Mrs) Kema Chikwe, Hope Uzodinma, Tony Ezenna, etc in its camp. The onongaono faction boasts of then Governor Achike Udenwa, Dr. Alex Obi, who was the field Marshal of the group, Dr. Iyke Ibeh, etc.
These men and women of political timber and fibre fanned the embers of the political war in the State that decimated not only the political class but strangulated the grassroots. The depth of the political misunderstanding was devastating. It was like a tsunami which breezed into the State the wind of political discrimination and segregation which politically pitched brothers against sisters, father against son, and daughter against mother! It was that bad in Imo during that era!
The election of Chief Ikedi Ohakim as governor in 2007 temporarily halted the political enmity among politicians in the State. His election as Imo governor was a mere ceasefire to the political fireworks that emanated from the camps of political adversaries in the State. Ohakim’s coming to power only provided a temporary relief, as hostilities resumed after two years in office. Having broken off from the grip of the Udenwa/Alex Obi onongaono group that aided his ascension to power through the Progressives Peoples Alliance (PPA), Ohakim had to contend with Senator Ifeanyi Araraume’s legal onslaught and that of 17 others who wanted the Courts to upturn his (Ohakim’s) victory at the polls. He miracoulsy overcame them all as the law courts at different fora gave his electoral victory the stamp of legality.
Then came the New Face/ Alliance face off, which pitched the administration of Governor Ohakim against Senator Ifeanyi Araraume, Chief Achike Udenwa and Dr. Alex Obi. The trio congregated into the Alliance forGood Governance which formed the nucleus of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), Imo State chapter. The ACN offered that required political platform for a strange political reconciliation between Udenwa and Araraume, as the duo became a tag team that took on Ohakim and his political henchmen in a fierce and deadly political fight.
Up for grabs was the Imo Governorship seat. Imolites watched with disdain how the hands of esau attempted to twist their political fate as the contending forces in their desperation to capture power fought dirty. The political war was orchestrated with all sorts of political gimmickry as the State bleed profusely from the bruises of that senseless political war. In the end, there was no victor, no vanquished. None of the opposing camps had cause to smile. Both antagonists suffered collateral damage. Ohakim lost the quest to return to Government House a second time. Araraume’s bid to sack Ohakim and become Governor was futile again. Udenwa fell to Hope Uzodinma in his quest to represent Orlu Senatorial Zone. What a climax. What a sad end to a fruitless war which left in its trail devastating political consequences, especially for Okigwe Zone who would have desired to complete 8 years on the saddle of Imo governorship in the spirit of rotating the office of the Governor to achieve political harmony in the State. It was Rochas Okorocha, from Orlu zone, a late entrant into the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) that won the governorship diadem. I told some election observers who monitored the governorship polls that Okorocha won the election not because he was a better candidate than his co contenders, but because Imolites were fed up with the recurring political katakata between the then incumbent Governor and his political foes. They (Ohakim and Araraume) had political bruises and that generally affected their chances at the polls. This factor influenced the decision of the people of Imo State to vote for a candidate that was not seen to be part of the senseless political war that sharply polarized the Imo electorate. And I maintain my position on the basis that if APGA had even presented a nonentity as its candidate, Imolites would have given such candidate their votes in preference for those politicians who beat the drums of war.
The voting pattern of that election merely reflected the burning hunger for change by the people, not change of the then leadership of Ohakim, but a change from that era where Imo politicians fought each other in a manner reminiscent of the Isreali/ Palestine war. We pray our dear State does not return to the trenches again. We pray that in the future, the atmosphere that will compel us to elect men and women whose political pedigree are suspect shall never present itself. And the only way to avert it is to ensure that there is relative political stability in the State to enable us watch closely the political antecedents of those who desire to lead us. As we journey to 2015, we should pray for peace, not the peace of the graveyard.
This is why when the PDP in the State lost the quest to reclaim victory from APGA led government via the Supreme Court Judgment that flung away the petition of the party challenging the election that catapulted Okorocha to Government House, Owerri, there was relative peace of the graveyard in the State. Now that the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) governorship candidate, Senator Ifeanyi Araraume is asking the courts to explain why a supplementary election that is not contained in the nation’s electoral books should be a valid standpoint to proclaim someone winner of an election and Governor of Imo State, we pray that the legal battle does not extend or spill over to the political arena. We pray the political gra gra begins and ends in the laws courts. Imo State cannot afford to witness another era of political turbulence. What we require is a stable political climate that will create the needed atmosphere for rapid economic development that will guarantee jobs, food on our table, etc
This is why it is also imperative that the fog that is clouding the swearing in of the duly elected representative of Oguta State constituency in the Imo House of Assembly, Hon. Eugene Dibiagwu, is removed immediately. Let the right thing be done. Governor Okorocha on his part has a Herculean task to ensure that the State is politically peaceful and stable. Crying foul of plans to by the PDP and men in high places to remove him from office is to me, a lonely voice in the desert. He is an experienced politician having swarmed the murky waters of Nigerian politics. And because his body language regulates the political temperature of the State, he is bound by his office to politically stabilize the State.
He owes as a duty to his conscience and the people of Imo State to ensure that the State remains politically stable no matter the political temptations.
