I am moved for the umpteenth time to add my stake to the indecent rage, few mentally debased political personalities in Ohaji/ Egbema LGA of Imo State, using fake identities, are trying in vain, to denigrate the immediate past Hon Minister of State for Education, Rt Hon Goodluck Nanah Opiah.
To showcase their foible mannerism against the rich pedigree of Rt Hon, Opiah, the fake masqueraders are employing several unethical methods to paint the former Speaker of the Imo State House of Assembly in bad light before unsuspecting public.
It’s trite to inform the public that Opiah’s offence warranting the cheap blackmail against his person by the nonentities using several fake fronts is nothing but his refusal to be part of unbridled shenanigans of a group of myopic political Liliputs in the Ohaji/ Egbema sector wanting to distort established sharing/zoning formula in the LGA for elective positions. They are pained with Opiah’s stoic resolve to abide with the directives of his APC party on which divide between Ohaji and Egbema clans is entitled to produce the Executive Chairman of the council for the forthcoming September 21, 2024 LGA election.
Since Governor Hope Uzodimma of Imo State announced desire to kick off activities for election into the Local Government Areas in the state, these belligerent feeble minded fellows have not had a rest at seeking unpopular attention through cheap means fertilized by inordinate ambition.
Even before the procedures for the election could be officially released to commence hostilities, the political monsters in Ohaji divide of the LGA had instituted clannish meetings culminating in the unfortunate gathering in the country home of one of their decrepit leaders who against laid down democratic procedures, unilaterally named a particular area as the locality entitled to produce the Chairman of the Council for election.
Opiah’s refusal to be part of the distasteful Kangaroo meeting at a private house where a wrong decision was taken on behalf of the people of Ohaji/Egbema LGA and subsequent support to the stand of the leadership and members of APC Ohaji/Egbema on the matter, as a loyal party man, instantly sparked off unholy cheap blackmail and character assassination against his persons by the clueless political gang.
Apparently dwarfed by unprecedented followers and enviable status Rt Hon Opiah commands in the political firmament of Ohaji/ Egbema, Imo State and beyond, some faceless identities adopted guerrilla tactics through the manufacturing of all manners of fallible tendencies to inflict harm on the glorious personality of the immediate past Federal Minister of State for Education, who remains the undisputed apex political leader of APC in Ohaji/Egbema LGA.
Their cheap blackmail trademark, embellished with false narratives which first started with an unknown Ohaji Equity Mandate Group, operated by pseudo writers have employed cloned voice message tactics to intensify their nefarious activities.
After their earlier fulmination through the Ohaji Equity Mandate Group failed to get the desired results, as the well informed people of Ohaji/ Egbema LGA, especially, members of the APC took a resolute decision to zone the Chairmanship position to the appropriate area entitled to it, the faceless agents erupted again with cloned voice message being circulated in the social media.
Unfortunately, similar to the misfortune that befall the amorphous Ohaji Equity Mandate Group who parades unverifiable name identities in our clan as signatories to their biles, the cloned voice message is a pedestrian posture that has failed on arrival.
I have refrained from reacting or giving attention to wishy-washy postulations of merchant of lies published or said anywhere since I discovered that comments are free but common sense is not common. But as one very familiar with the political trajectory of Rt Hon Opiah having worked as one of his backroom staff, leaving the traducers wallow in grandeur of delusion is not enough as the reading public may once again be misguided about Opiah and the politics of Ohaji/Egbema and to an extent Oguta, including the Federal Constituency.
Remarkably, in the latest diatribe by the faceless blackmailers whose identity can be properly traced to one of the the cowards operating behind the scene, the voice messenger and his sponsors have committed a harakiri while trying to create a false narrative of Opiah’s growth in the field of politics and relationship with Governor Uzodimma.
After initial failures trying to cast aspersions on him before a section of the Ohaji/Egbema LGA divide, the unrepentant anti-Opiah crusaders have come up with twisted folklore tales of bringing in the name of Chief Charles Orie of Umuokanne Ohaji to their shameless displays.
Having failed to deceive unsuspecting public with a deceitful non existent Ohaji Equity Mandate Group; a product of their warped reasoning, the new style of cloned voice message is not only counter productive but has exposed their chicanery.
While my write up is not interested when Charles Orie got into politics as the age of Methuselah has nothing to do with the wisdom of Solomon, permit me to state that the incumbent Managing Director of the Imo State Oil Producing Areas Development Commission, ISOPADEC, cannot be equated with Rt Hon Opiah in the field of politics anywhere including Ohaji/ Egbema LGA. There are no basis for such comparison, except in the minds of habitual backbiters and serial lickspittles.
It gives rise to theater of absurdities and another of their childish tales by moonlight stories linking Chief Orie to Rt Hon Opiah becoming Imo State House of Assembly member as a first timer lawmaker and also ascendancy to the position of Speaker of the state legislature during the second missionary journey.
Orie can’t step out in the public to claim any political favours he had granted Opiah except the one existing in the skewed imagination of some of his followers fanning embers of discord between the two.
Without mincing words, factual records have it that Rt Hon Opiah contested for the PDP House of Assembly in 2003 against Hon Goddy Esom Obodo PhD, who represented Ohaji/ Egbema from 1999 to 2003.
For the avoidance of doubt, Hon Obodo won election in defunct in ANPP in 1999 before defecting to the PDP to square up for the ticket with Opiah. During this period, Chief Orie was neither near the scene of contest nor a card carrying member of PDP, the party Opiah ran with, to be associated with the success story of him winning the party’s ticket and eventual election victory.
In 2007, followers of Imo State politics, especially, those of Ohaji/Egbema extraction, will recall the schisms that befell Imo State Chapter of the PDP where two factions; Onongono Group of the then Governor Chief Achike Udenwa and Destiny Organization of Senator Ifeanyi Araraume, battled for the soul of the party. While Opiah was of the Onongono Group, Barr Obido Chibuisim became part of the Araraume Destiny Organization camp (Abuja Group). Rt Hon Opiah and Barr Obido never crossed paths as they were in different camps and independently ran for the position, thereby dismissing the mountain of lies that the latter stepped down for the former. What largely gave Opiah the second term ticket was his scintillating performances as first time lawmaker who among other things singlehandedly sponsored private member bill that created ISOPADEC as well as ensuring that oil companies in the LGA singed Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with host communities. And within this period, Chief Orie wasn’t captured in the map of the PDP party Opiah used as vehicle to run for the two elections. The Umuokanne born chief can’t come to the public to speak of his involvement in the making of Opiah Speaker as his uninformed cheer group is trying to create.
After outstanding performances during first tenure, Rt Hon Opiah won the fancy of his returnee colleagues who were comfortable with his tactical finesse in legislative business and unanimously okayed his becoming the number one lawmaker of the House. Superior forces who played major roles in the making of Opiah Speaker of the House of Assembly are well known which doesn’t include Orie. My upcoming book on Opiah will give details of this story for better understanding than the wishful thinking of the voice cloner.
I can only say that it was in 2015 election that Chief Orie somehow appeared in the scene of politics of Ohaji/Egbema, when his younger brother, Hon Emma Orie vied and won the House of Assembly position under the PDP.
Yours truly, was indeed the Coordinating Leader of the Ohaji/Egbema PDP Delegates that voted for the candidates. I have a dossier of what transpired and how Emma, younger brother to Chief Orie got the PDP ticket for Ohaji/Egbema State Constituency for the Imo State House of Assembly. Some of Chief Orie’s current sympathisers, joining to throw undeserved tantrums at Opiah at the moment were aspirants for the 2015 election for Assembly position. But it was the younger Orie who won the primaries. I led the then Ohaji/Egbema PDP Delegates who voted at the Women Hall of Umuagwo town, venue of the primaries. Within that period, some of these latter day crusaders of “it’s the turn of Awarra Court Area of Ohaji to produce LGA chairman” turned blind eyes to the cause of Awarra Court Area as one of them, Hon Henry Adimelechi (PhD), from the area was also in the race but Orie’s younger brother got the ticket. In the elections proper, i am aware that Opiah partly bankrolled the campaign and ensured Emma Orie won.
It amounts to sheer fallacy for these purveyors of falsehood to arbitrary fabricate pure lies that Orie was behind Opiah’s victory for the 2015 House of Reps when the Umuokanne chief was indeed battling with strong forces at the home front to ensure success for the younger brother in Ohaji/Egbema. Remember, Hon Luke Chukwu of APC of nearby Umuapu Ward of same Ohaji clan contested against Emma Orie in that election.
The Reps election Opiah ran and won wasn’t an Ohaji Egbema affair only for Orie to be a factor as other LGAs like Oguta and Oru West were also involved.
One continues to ponder how Chief Orie came into the matter when he wasn’t part of the delegates that voted during the primary election and not near the PDP party hall venue of the primary on Okigwe Road, Owerri.
During the primary election where yours truly was also involved, Opiah, In a fair and open contest defeated Hon Gerald Irona of Oguta LGA who was a Reps member then seeking second term without the likes of Orie at the venue. One question that remains unanswered is “Where was Chief Orie his sympathisers are wrongly naming as factor in Opiah’s electorial success, when some forces in that same 2015, at Wadata Plaza, Abuja, made frantic efforts to substitute Opiah’s name with that of the person he defeated in the Owerri primary contest before normalcy was restored?
While trying to avoid comparison between Opiah and Orie, since Elephant is synonymous with the popular aphorism “shoe get size” suffice it to note that Rt Hon Opiah’s first engagement after graduation from University is politics and it dates back to Second Republic when he cut his teeth in the field and served as Coordinator of Governorship campaign of Ezekiel Izuogu in the LGA as well going further and became Admin Secretary of the SDP. After a break to work in the organized business sector, he returned to action when our nascent democracy debuted, to run for the Chairmanship of the LGA, before opting for House of Assembly in 2003. Since this period till date he has no doubt emerged as the most successful political office holder in Ohaji/Egbema LGA history as the only two-time House of Assembly member the state constituency has witnessed, Commissioner in the State, House of Reps member and first Minister the people of the area have ever produced as against one who dragged with beginners and managed to get the head of an interventionist’s agency Opiah not only sponsored a bill in the House of Assembly to create but also facilitated neophytes in the field of politics to head before now.
One had expected the merchant of lies behind the voice message to have also claimed that Orie was responsible for Uzodimma making Opiah Commissioner and later Minister of the Federal Republic of Nigeria when his major interest was only how to be made the MD of ISOPADEC, a, position one from Awarra Court Area of Ohaji could have easily pocketed if indeed he had sympathy for the people of the court area.
The apostles of lies tried to blackmail Opiah while coming up with relationship with Governor Uzodimma. But they forgot that during the war of attrition in PDP championed by Markarfi and Sherrif settled by the Supreme Court, Opiah and another federal lawmaker were the only two PDP House of Reps members that were behind Uzodimma who pitched side with Sherrif.
During the period these faceless writers and voice cloner were in Markarfi camp and PDP shelling missiles at Uzodimma who had left the umbrella party, Opiah was the only notable politician from the area who joined him to APC and stood strongly behind the governor. Aside from facilitating Opiah getting the APC House of Reps ticket for 2019 Election where he was the Governorship Candidate of the party, Uzodimma worked closely with Opiah in the course of the post Election tribunal struggle. Opiah was deeply involved in all the court travails before the January 20,2024 Supreme Court judgement victory.
Only those unaware of the unshakable bond between Rt Hon Opiah and Governor Uzodimma will come up with such cloned voice message dishing out empty babble. For the avoidance of doubt, Opiah’s glowing political journey cannot be separated from the goodwill of the governor signalling that both had established refined bondage before Orie even appeared on the scene of Ohaji/Egbema politics. Of note is that during the infamous Onongono and Abuja/Destiny Organization brouhaha of 2006/2007 election, Opiah rode on the back of Uzodimma’s line up to get PDP ticket and eventually emerged winner of the election. That 2007 relationship where Uzodimma falicitated his becoming the PDP House of Assembly candidate for Ohaji/Egbema became a watershed in their political partnership. It was not surprising that in 2010/2011 election, Senator Uzodimma went to the Senate, Opiah played a peace-making role between Senator Osita Izunaso and Uzodimma which saw the emergence of the present governor as the PDP candidate and final winner at the polls. Watchers of politics of that era can testify that Rt Hon Opiah prosecuted the national assembly Election in his constituency for Uzodimma and ensured he won convincingly in Ohaji/Egbema LGA and Orlu Zone.
Despite leaving the House of Assembly in 2011, while Uzodimma was in the Senate, Opiah reinforced the existing synergy he had with the former Orlu Senator by working closely with his office in Abuja for the good of the people of Ohaji/ Egbema LGA. One of such end products of the sweet romance was the realization of the contract for the dualisation of the Avu-Obosima -Etekwuru road which litigations from concerned contractors frustrated the immediate prosecution. It’s worthy to note that Rt Hon Opiah’s smooth relationship with Uzodimma oiled during his days in the Red Chamber of the National Assembly saw the deliverance of dividends of democracy to Ohaji/Egbema LGA.
Going further in this analogy, the 2015 PDP House of Reps ticket Opiah obtained after high powered conspiracy almost robbed him the chance to carry the party’s flag, cannot be divorced from Uzodimma’s magnanimity borne out of rosy relationship between the two. For want of space, l leave the interesting intrigues that transpired in 2015 House of Reps ticket struggle and election for another day or better still in my coming book, where Uzodimma rescued Opiah from the hands of political marauders who wanted to take the Reps ticket away from him after winning the primary in Owerri.
All through Opiah’s stay in the House of Reps and Uzodimma was in the Senate, he was a strong ally of the present Governor of Imo State and remained an avowed member of his inner cabinet circle. In all the narratives above, Orie was no where near the scene to be associated with Opiah’s relationship with the Governor.
Strong indices that Opiah has been enjoying blissful romance with the governor remains that apart from appointing his allies for political positions from 2020 he became the governor of Imo State till date, Uzodimma capped it all by recommending him for appointment as Minister which former President, Muhammad Buhari during his tenure didn’t hesitate to acknowledge with an appointment as Minister of State for Education.
Before appointment as Minister, Governor Uzodimma had indirectly beckoned on Opiah to take charge of the affairs of the local government when he made him a special aide and coordinating officer in charge of Oil and Gas matters which the LGA is known for, before making him Commissioner for Petroleum in the state cabinet.
Contrary to the contrived views of the cheap blackmailers, the apogee of the harmonious relationship between the governor and the former minister is that Government House, Owerri, consistently consults Opiah on matters that affect Ohaji/Egbema LGA.
Opiah is an undisputed authority and political institution to behold in the affairs of Ohaji/Egbema and thus, his ranking profile has not gone down well with some disgruntled elements whose stock in trade has become resort to cheap blackmail.
Once again, I am obliged to remind these agents of darkness that political stardom is not obtained through unorthodox practices, unstable elementary sophistry of always dropping the name of the governor and cheap blackmail as the above mentioned approaches are counter productive. I advise them to join forces with the apex leader, Rt Hon Opiah to make Ohaji/Egbema LGA APC Chapter better for the good of our people and the 3R administration of Senator Hope Uzodimma of Imo State.
Kelechi Mejuobi writes from Umuagwo, Ohaji
