by Okelo Madukaife
ACN vehemently disagrees with Chief Victor Umeh, national chairman of the all progressive grand alliance on his abortive attempt to dissociate his party from the avoidable killing of half a dozen innocent youth in Nnewi on Friday last week under the platform of an unlawful band of thugs code-named Mpiawa Azu otherwise called Anambra State Task Force on Parks and Markets.
To allow Chief Umeh to get away with that rebuttal is to say that Governor Peter Obi under whose inglorious tenure these illegal and inhuman acts of citizen terrorism are talking place no longer belongs to APGA, or did not contest elections for Anambra gubernatorial race on the platform of APGA.
Governance of a state is a serious business that requires those at the helm of affairs to take responsibility for their direct and vicarious acts. It Is not something that people have to take credit for positive actions and distance themselves from negative ones.
We caution Chief Umeh that what is in issue is the untimely termination of six lives of young and promising Anambra State Citizens, one of whom could have become the governor, that will help clean up the APGA mess of taking Islamic loans without the consent of Ndi Anambra, fomented by Obi and Umeh.
By Nigerian law, no Anambra Citizen can become the governor of the state without first belonging to a political party under which he has to stand elections.
It is therefore too late in the day for Umeh to deny Obi, because there are disagreements on how to share Anambra State Local Government Funds and Anambra State Security Vote for a cumulative period of six years.
This is particularly so because as recently as February this year, in the re-run elections for Anaocha/Njikoka/Dunukofia Federal House of Representatives elections, which took place before Peter Obi and Victor Umeh openly disagreed for the reasons stated above, they united to decimate beat, kill and main ACN agents and INEC officials who conducted the elections using the same Mpiawa Azu, leading to a compromised elections in which an unelected Uche Ekwunife is illegitimately representing the constituency, the way Peter Obi is illegitimately the governor of Anambra State from February 2010 compromised elections.
The same group burnt three of ACN vehicles in Agulu ,shot and injured the party Chairman for Anaocha,provided armed cover for illegal thumb-printing in Agulu-Uzoigbo ,Obeledu,Akweze and Umunnachi, and swapped results sheets in Neni ,under the watch of Peter Obi and Victor Umeh, marring the elections with violence in Anaocha and parts of Dunukofia.The operations was still led by the same ‘Iko Nso’ under the guidance of the same Syslvester Nwobu-Alor that Umeh wants arrested and Umeh’s APGA was the main beneficiary.
Before then towns like Nkpor, Obosi, Ekwulobia and Awka have fallen victims.
The same group under the nose and supervision of Victor Umeh and Peter Obi before the latest disagreement attacked the convoy of Senator Chris Ngige during the 2011 National Assembly Elections campaign and nearly assassinated of Sen. Annie Okonkwo of Accord Party, but stabbed and his aide another Anambra Citizen, on the same day.
We therefore agree with Chief Victor Umeh that the two characters Iko Nso (Not real name) and Sylvester Nwobu -Alor should be arrested by the Nigerians Police as an action of first instance, but along with Victor Umeh and the APGA Chairman for Anambra State, Mr Mike Kwentoh to account for the serial killings of Anambra Citizens in Nnewi, Nkpor, Obosi, Onitsha and Awka.
Once again we call on the State Government to set up a judicial panel of enquiry to determine the immediate and remote causes of the killing of six Anambra citizens in Nnewi and other incidents before it.
We also call on the Anambra State House of Assembly to conduct a public hearing on the continued use of crude violence on the civil populace of Anambra State by a body not fully backed by law and recommend that the Deputy Speaker of Anambra State Engr. Chukwudi Orizu , who represents Nnewi and Chief Victor Umeh should be held responsible if this matter is swept under the carpet.
