In a reminiscence of the Charley Boy versus Rochas Okorocha episode in Oguta during the burial of Justice Chukwudifu Oputa penultimate weekend, the youths of Ngor Okpala Fridayevening stopped the deputy speaker of the House of Representatives, Chief Emeka Ihedioha from speaking at the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, rally in the area.
The rally is being organized statewide by the state leadership of the party to mobilize more people for the PDP ahead of the 2015 election, which the party needs to win at all cost.
At the rally held at the Ngor Okpala local government headquarters, Umuneke, Ihedioha had come with dozens of supporters to the rally ground and moved round the canopies to greet the party members.
To show the deputy speaker what was lurking for him, youths of Ngor Okpala who had been singing victory songs for the PDP, suddenly changed their songs and tone to that of war situation.
After all the party leaders and governorship aspirants (Okenze Sylvester Obinna, Col. Lambert Iheanacho, Senator Chris Anyanwu and Prof. Jude Ejiogu) had finished their speeches, it was then the time of the deputy speaker to make his speeches.
Trouble however started for Ihedioha when after mounting the rostrum and observing protocols, he told the people of the area the need to vote for him to become the governor of the state in 2015.
The youths immediately started chanting “we no go gree o, we no gree” and “no 2015 for Ihedioha” while others sang “mmanu akara di uto, onye ratu ibe ya arara (meaning akara stew is sweet, it’s not meant for only one person)”.
Every attempt made by the deputy speaker to calm the angry youths down seemed to provoke more anger from more youths, who now had to come before the deputy speaker to show their anger, thereby making it very difficult to speak.
This action angered some of the supporters of Ihedioha, who angrily confronted and began to fight some of the youths, thereby leading to ugly showdown between the Ngor Okpala youths and those of the deputy speaker.
The chaotic situation forced Iheoha to drop his microphone and was guided to his waiting jeep. He immediately headed straight to the house of Okenze Obinna, where he was seen ruing his ordeal and accusing some aspirants from the area of sponsoring the attack on him.
Speaking with journalists at the field, a leader of party in the area, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said “you know when a ceremony is going on and somebody comes in and drives through the arena, you are likely to spark off resentment from the crowd. That is what happened.
“Already, Ngor Okpala people are weary of domination by a particular group. They are not happy about it. People should know that Ngor Okpala people are not happy that the House of Reps Seat has been taken from them for third consecutive times and there is still an attempt to rob them of that position again for the fourth time. So, why won’t this bring about some resentment? It was this kind of thing that made the people to begin to shout ‘we no go gree, we no gree’ when the deputy speaker began to make his speech”, the PDP leader said.
