As the future leaders of Imo State, we in the Global Association of Concerned Imo Youths (GACIY) can no longer remain silent bystanders while certain political actors deliberately spread disinformation in their desperate bids to gain power at all costs. We must contribute positively to shaping the trajectory of our dear state.
We are compelled to address this press release in response to the disturbing claims made in two recent press releases from a group led by former Interior Minister Capt. Emmanuel Iheanacho on February 18th and April 14th, 2024. In those statements, they attempt to misrepresent and rewrite the political history of Imo State regarding the principle of rotation of the governorship among the three senatorial zones, popularly known as the Charter of Equity.
At a meeting convened on February 18th, 2024, at Capt. Iheanacho’s residence in Emekuku, following prior meetings in Abuja and Lagos to strategize, they outrightly claimed:
1. That since the return of democracy in 1999, no indigene of Owerri Zone has been allowed (disallowed by who?) to serve a full four-year term as the executive governor of Imo State.
2. That Owerri (Imo East) Senatorial Zone is one of only two senatorial zones out of the 109 in Nigeria yet to produce an Elected governor.
3. That the Orlu Senatorial Zone has unfairly produced three governors since 1999 in the persons of Chief Achike Udenwa for 8 years, Senator Rochas Okorocha for 8 years, and the incumbent Senator Hope Uzodinma who is expected to serve 8 years, while the Okigwe Senatorial Zone has only had Chief Ikedi Ohakim for 4 years.
4. That following the abrupt removal of Hon. Emeka Ihedioha as governor after only seven months in office, the principles of equity, justice, and political inclusiveness demand that the governorship position be immediately ceded to Owerri Zone.
However, we find these claims disingenuous and an attempt to rewrite history. It is very surprising to any decent person that Owerri Zone is unwilling to accept full responsibility for their actions in 2011 that directly led to the disruption of the Charter of Equity, which inadvertently enabled Orlu Senatorial Zone to produce multiple governors at a stretch.
We categorically reiterate the following points:
1. The claim that no indigene of Owerri Zone has served a full four-year term as governor since 1999 may look good, but it’s misleading. They conveniently refused to disclose the fact that Owerri Zone has indeed produced two executive governors in 1991 and 2019, even if their tenures were abruptly cut short by a military coup and the court. We are, therefore, stunned like the rest of Imo State that Owerri Zone conveniently omits Chief Evan Enwerem, who was elected governor in 1991. We wonder why Owerri Zone prefers to start counting from 1999. The truth known to Imo people is that Owerri Zone has produced two governors, one deputy speaker of the House of Representatives, one senate president, two ambassadors, four ministers; of course, Owerri Zone has the state capital with 80% of state allocation for capital projects within the zone, in addition to all 5 federal tertiary institutions located in the Zone.
2. The root cause of Orlu Zone producing three governors since 1999 was the unwholly actions of the Owerri Zone in truncating the established rotation of the Charter of Equity in 2011. The facts are clear that Chief Achike Udenwa, who was governor at that time, had no intention of handing over to a successor from Orlu after his tenure. Orlu Zone overwhelmingly supported the re-election of Chief Ikedi Ohakim from Okigwe Zone in 2011 to complete his tenure of 8 years, as Udenwa had done, before allowing the governorship to return to Owerri Zone in keeping with the Charter of Equity initiated in 1999. However, it was prominent Owerri sons who actively conspired to undermine and manipulate the 2011 election, depressing valid votes from Owerri in favour of Rochas Okorocha of Orlu Zone. Orlu did not pursue that governorship at that time.
3. Therefore, using the principles of equity and justice they today claim to uphold, it is contradictory for Owerri Zone to now demand an immediate return of the governorship based on those same principles they purposely violated in 2011.
4. We do not agree that the pendulum of justice should swing in favour of Owerri Zone on this Charter of Equity matter. On the contrary, they eventually produced a governor in 2019 with Rt. Hon. Emeka Ihedioha. The core issue is that Owerri Zone wants to hold contradictory positions – benefitting from the disruption they caused in 2011 – while also demanding an immediate return to power based on that same principle of equity.
5. An Igbo proverb says you cannot know where the rain stopped beating you unless you know where it started. To genuinely correct the disruption of the Charter of Equity in 2011, an injustice initiated by Owerri Zone’s actions, we must go back to that point and restart the rotation properly. Any talk of political harmony and inclusive governance must begin by addressing the 2011 events, not glossing over them.
6. The flaws in Owerri Zone’s current position are glaring. They refuse to acknowledge their central role in truncating the zoning arrangement in 2011. The facts are incontrovertible:
a) The three principal conspirators against Ohakim’s re-election all hailed from Owerri Zone. All the leaders from Imo State who presented Okorocha to the late Igbo leader, Odumegwu Chukwuemeka Ojukwu, for adoption for the governorship election were all from Owerri Zone.
b) An Owerri Zone politician sold his gubernatorial ticket to Rochas Okorocha on the APGA platform in broad daylight. APGA was in the firm grip of Ndi Owerri, and if Owerri Zone was interested in the governorship, why did they not run with the APGA ticket in 2011? Why did an Owerri Zone ecclesiastical priest bless the Okorocha ticket knowing full well that he was from Orlu Zone?
c) Owerri Zone produced Okorocha’s three deputy governors, starting with Sir Jude Agbaso in 2011, Prince Eze Madumere in 2013, and Mr. Caliatus Ekenze in 2018.
d) It was an ecclesiastical priest from Oweri Zone who unleashed deceitful religious propaganda against Ohakim.
e) Another Owerri son spearheaded the anti-Ohakim conspiracy to curry favour with the then-president, and even when Ohakkm won the election on the first ballot, they could not stomach it but mobilized federal arsenal to manipulate the election in order to achieve their aim of removing Ohakim.
f) It was on Owerri’s soil that a black mass ritual and procession were held to undermine Ohakim’s tenure.
7. These truths completely undermine Owerri Zone’s current moralizing about equity. Their actions in 2011 were the catalyst for the inequities they now complain about. The burden is on Owerri to atone for those actions before demanding a governorship based on equity.
8. Another flaw is Owerri Zone’s claim that the Charter was never intended for 8-year tenures. This defies logic when the first beneficiary of the Charter, Achike Udenwa, served two full 4-year terms from 1999-2007. By that precedent, his successor Okigwe Zone should also have completed two terms before rotation, had Owerri not truncated it through their conspiracy in 2011. Moreover, in other states that have obeyed their own Charter of Equity, the governors take their full term of eight eights. Politicians from Owerri Zone are good at citing the states where the office of the governor has been rotational, but they conveniently omit the point that governors in those states take their full terms. Our position is that the Charter of Equity guarantees full terms of eight years, and Okigwe deserves a second term.
9. If we accept Owerri’s argument that the Charter neither guarantees a full tenure nor a second term, then by that logic, Ihedioha’s brief 7-month stint as governor satisfied Owerri Zone’s equity turn. His inability to protect his mandate cannot be framed as Imo’s problem. We state this knowing full well that for the two times Owerri Zone produced governors, starting with Chief Evan Enwerwm in 1991 and Emeka Ihedioha in 2019 and no zone conspired to remove them. First. Enwerem was removed on November 18, 1993 by a military coup, which was not the making of any zone, and Ihedioha was removed by the Supreme Court in 2020, which was not also the making of any zone.
10. We understand some people in Owerri still hold a grudge against Okigwe zone over Martin Agbaso’s loss in 2007, but it was not Okigwe’s fault. The election was cancelled after the first ballot because of the omition of Senator Ifeanyi Araraume’s picture by INEC, and when the election held again on the rescheduled date, Agbaso lost clearly to Ohakim. It is despecable that Owerri Zone has allowed their grievance to fester and drive them to short-circuit democracy with the 2011 conspiracy, which has proven disastrous for equity and governance in our state.
11. The way Owerri Zone is going about their claim to rotational governorship does not engender brotherliness. If they persist in their way and do not change, they will push Okigwe Zone in a perpetual alliance with Orlu Zone to continue to produce the governor of Imo State.
12. The only path forward is clear – Owerri must accept responsibility for the self-serving actions of some of their leaders in 2011 that disrupted the Charter of Equity. Until they demonstrate remorse and commitment to constitutional order, their credibility in demanding the governorship on moral grounds remains low.
13. We call on Imolites in general and the good people of Owerri Zone to look at the issues raised herein dispassionately and see whether Owerri Zone accepting responsibility for their actions in 2011 will not bring the needed closure for this vexed issue. We also call on all reasonable people not to listen to the rabblersousers in their midst who, by their actions, threw away a good opportunity in 2011 which would have automatically led to Owerri taking their turn in 2015.
Signed:
Haluchi Ikemefuna
(Director of Press).
May 5, 2024.
