In a press interview which was published in the White Paper newspaper of Wednesday, November 26-Thursday,November 27,2014 page 5 a frontline political leader of Okigwe Senatorial (Imo North) zone lambasted the Peoples Democratic Party( PDP) in general and Okigwe chapter in particular for not having learnt any lessons. He expressed outrage that in the just concluded Ward Delegates Congress of the PDP, he was not even allowed to play any role in his ward as some political miscreants ignored him and messed up the exercise in his ward. Zeek Martins who was a security chief/Adviser to former Governor, Achike Udenwa, hails from Ehime Mbano Local Government Area in Okigwe Senatorial zone. Specifically, he hails from Ehime East divide which is composed of six INEC wards. Hear Chief Martins Nnadozie who holds a higher degree from a United States University: “Well, for anybody who is an avid reader of Zeek Martins Nnadozie, I have been number one critic of Owelle. But at this point in time, I can assure you that the governor can go to sleep. The people who would want to come in and replace him, all of us in PDP, cannot give him a fight. This is because we did a congress that was no congress………” In order to confirm that he was not misquoted, I called his GSM line and we had a frank and candid talk in which he confirmed to me that he was not misquoted; he said that he spoke from the bottom of his heart .He even invited me to personally come to interview him if I wanted to hear more, since he did not exhaust his grievances in the interview under discussion.
Zeek Martin Nnadozie’s lamentation and outburst is a vindication of the stand of NDI ORLU zone on the issue of power shift in Imo State .Often, some misguided and uninformed political analysts in Imo State describe NDI ORLU zone as greedy and avaricious and always insisting on using their majority to capture power through intrigue, mago-mago and wuruwuru. Today, NDI ORLU have been vindicated as people who are not greedy over power rotation. In 1999, NDI ORLU used their majority to make Dee Sam Mbakwe (Pd.D.) governor at the expense of our son, the Late Chief Collins Obi, a politician, who had intimidating presence and popularity beyond the shores of Imo State. It happened on two occasions-1979 and 1983.Dee Sam Mbakwe was from Imo North senatorial zone (aka Okigwe zone).He served for four years three months before Gen Buhari plotted a coup and sacked that regime. So, any Igbo politician that still shares any political commonality with General Muhammadu Buhari(retd.) is acting out of ignorance. That man is a dangerous politician who must be rejected by all right thinking members of society. May the soul of Dee Sam Mbakwe find eternal rest in the bosom of our Lord. As governor, he was simply great and fantastic.
Ndi Orlu have also used their majority to make an Owerri politician, Senator Evan Enwerem, governor instead of our son, Engineer Ezekiel Izuogu. Unfortunately, Evan Enwerem served for about 18 months before the Army sacked that regime. It was not the cause of Ndi Orlu that the Army sacked the governors in that period. He would have served for eight years. So, could NDI ORLU, a people that have been so magnanimous in politics be described in such stereotypes of being greedy, domineering and dangerous in the politics of Imo State? In 2007, Ndi Orlu used their number to make Chief Martin Agbaso (Ochoudo) governor when they voted massively for him in the April 14th, 2007 election which he won fair and square. Chief Agbaso hails from Owerri zone. Unfortunately, Professor Maurice Iwu who hails from Okigwe zone and who was the National Chairman of Independent National Electoral Commission(INEC) unilaterally cancelled the election and arranged for a Kangaroo selection on the 28th April 2007 .It was from this selection exercise that Professor Iwu appointed his kinsman, Ikedi Ohakim, governor in 2007.Was it the cause of NDI ORLU that an Owerri man, Martin Agbaso, was denied his governorship victory in 2007?Was it the cause of NDI ORLU that NDI OWERRI did not show interest to support their brother, Chief Agbaso, to claim his mandate? NDI OWERRI, for inexplicable reasons, were so indifferent and hostile to their brother, Chief Martin Agbaso’s victory as they distanced themselves from his struggle. They simply abandoned him as he struggled alone to claim his mandate from the courts from the third week of April 2007 to the third week or so of January 2011 when the Supreme Court delivered an ignoble judgment in favour of Ikedi Ohakim. It was a judgment that was devoid of substantive justice. Chief Agbaso’s travails will be fully x-rayed in due time. Suffice it to say that it was not just a case of not being given a fair hearing, it was a case of not being given a hearing at all. This is incompatible with the doctrine of “The Twin Pillars of Natural Justice”-Hear the other side and No one shall be a judge in his own case”
Further more, when Governor Ohakim was declared governor by his kinsman, Professor Maurice Iwu, there was no Orlu man that went to the Election Petitions Panel to ask for his sack. It was his brother, Senator Araraume, who vowed to pursue the matter to its logical conclusion, even though both of them hail from the same local government Area , Isiala Mbano. Now, can anybody blame NDI ORLU Zone for the inability of NDI OKIGWE to put their house in order? So, why are they always pointing fingers at NDI ORLU as people who use treachery and subterfuge to corner power? It was this protracted litigation that distracted Chief Ikedi Ohakim from putting up a satisfactory performance which culminated in his fall from power in 2011.The gentleman was simply distracted by his kinsman who made it impossible for him to concentrate fully on the task of governance.
If senator Ararume was really interested in the common good of the Okigwe nation instead of his own stomach infrastructure, he would have supported his brother, Ikedi Ohakim, to clinch enough votes to defeat Owelle Rochas Okorocha in the election of 2011.This would have averted the ignominious defeat of Okigwe zone in that election. It was actually Okigwe zone that was defeated, not Chief Ikedi Ohakim, per se. My records show that in the 2011 governorship election, Chief Ikedi Ohakim(PDP) scored 290,496 votes; Ifeanyi Ararume scored a paltry 107,068 votes while Owelle Okorocha scored 336,856 votes. Now, if you do the simple arithmetic, you find out that both candidates from Okigwe zone(i.e. Imo East),(Ohakim and Ararume scored a total of 397,564 votes. So, if Ararume had the interest of Okigwe zone at heart and supported his brother Ohakim , Okigwe zone would have defeated Owelle Okorocha by 60,708 votes. Recall that there were some other Okigwe candidates in that election who bagged various scores which they would have donated to Governor Ikedi Ohakim to elongate the margin of defeat of Okorocha. In Okigwe zone, Ararume polled 48,915 votes; these were votes that would have been given to Chief Ikedi Ohakim to boost his chances but they were wasted because of vainglory and selfishness. Now, how can anybody be accusing NDI ORLU of using intrigue and sharp practices to retain power when such people cannot put their house in order.
So, the only way Okigwe can be serious in this election is to present their son, Ikedi Ohakim, as a consensus candidate. If they do that, we can begin to look in the direction of Okigwe zone , after all, Ikedi Ohakim has just four years to serve out. After four years, the Constitution bars him from Douglas House. Four years is not eternity; we can consult NDI OWERRI zone to calm down, more so, since they are still quarrelling among themselves. Maybe, NDI OWERRI may need some more time to put their own house in order because what they are doing now is a show of shame.
The consideration for one more tenure being canvassed for Ikedi Ohakim is purely on compassionate grounds. It has nothing to do with the so-called Charter of Equity- a factor that does not exist anywhere in IMO State. If there was such a factor as Charter of Equity, Dee Sam Mbakwe would have asked to complete his tenure in the `1999 election and no human being in IMO State would have said no. He would even have asked another Okigwe son to do it for him. He did not because there was no Charter of Equity in Imo State. If there was Charter of Equity, Senator Evan Enwerem would have made a case to complete his tenure which was truncated after just 18 months. He did not because they were gentlemen who would not cause political upheaval in the State. Or could anybody have arranged the Charter of Equity without such a political institution as Dee Mbakwe and Evan Enwerem? So, we are not talking of Charter of Equity here but , rather , we are trying to see if we can help our brother who had political accident in 2011.For them to qualify, they should present Ikedi Ohakim as a sole candidate from Okigwe zone. The French man will say:”Cest finis”.
Even the task of marketing Ohakim now will be very difficult because, as stated above, a prominent son of Okigwe Zone, Zeek Martins Nnadozie, has just endorsed Governor Okorocha and this endorsement is of the highest quality.In the past few weeks, some analysts have been writing telling Ohakim that he is the candidate to beat .They are at it again. Chief Ohakim’s defeat in 2011 was mainly due to the poor performance of Ohakim’s media aides who left their job of packaging their principal and declared war on their fellow journalists and other prominent politicians. That will be discussed elsewhere. There is a need to emphasize that it was the revered philosopher, Heraclitus, who once said that “You don’t step into the same flowing water twice”. So, once you are a governor, your time starts counting. If your tenures collapses after one week or 18 n months as that of Senator Enwerem, good luck; if it stretches for the whole of eight years as that of Chief Achike Udenwa- wonderful. This is not without prejudice to the fact that issues could be treated on compassionate grounds. So, there is no Charter of Equity in Imo State and people should stop causing confusion
A MEMO TO OWERRI ZONE: Present realities show that NDI OWERRI zone are so full of hate for some of their governorship aspirants and they unleash vile attacks on whosoever endorses such aspirants for the governorship of PDP. Those who read my reports know full well that I have severally endorsed HON. Emeka Ihedioha as the best choice for PDP governorship flagbearer.I have been severally assaulted on the Facebook, email, twitter and short messaging systems(sms). My sin is that I endorsed their brother, even though I appealed to my people of Orlu zone to step aside and allow Owerrri zone to produce governor. Ninety per cent of these attacks come from Owerri zone and even from the Federal Constituency of Hon Emeka Ihedioha. This is unfair, albeit, we know that even Jesus, the Christ, was rejected by his kinsmen. The Jews are still expecting the Redeemer to come, even when we have since embraced The Risen Christ as the Redeemer. So, we remain undaunted. Often, they deride you as being on the pay roll of HON. Emeka Ihedioha. Then, I ask, what is wrong if I am on the pay roll of Hon Emeka Ihedioha?Is it a crime? Is it not an achievement, if as a media professional, I am deemed qualified to be on his pay roll. The only thing I can say further is that whatever I write in favour of HON Emeka Ihedioha is premised on his superlative performance in the areas of law-making, constituency development and empowerment of constituents within and beyond his Federal m Constituency. The fact that I have not been personally empowered by the legislator is immaterial. Neither HON. Emeka Ihedioha nor his campaign organization has paid me a kobo on account of whatever I have written on him. As I speak , I am not on his pay roll, but that does not diminish the fact that he is an effective politician and a good governorship candidate.
In conclusion, I wish to add that we in Orlu do not hate our kinsman, Governor Okorocha. Our reasons for endorsing politicians from outside Orlu zone for governor is premised on our belief that power should move in line with the accord we reached in 2011.I was an insider in the media centre of Okorocha’s media campaign in 2011.However, we are not hard of hearing. We have heard what High Chief Zeek Martins Nnadozie and several others from Okigwe and Owerri zones are saying about our kinsman, Governor Okorocha. If it becomes clear that the Owerri and Okigwe zones cannot put their houses in order, NDI ORLU zone will not abandon their brother, Governor Okorocha, who has performed well in comparison with the 12 year rule of the PDP in Imo State.
Finally, in my viewpoint entitled :Imo 2015 Gov. Poll: A Season of Ihediohaphobia….” which was published in the Nigeria Moment newspaper edition of September 15-18,2014, I wrote thus:” Let it be crystal clear to everybody who cares that if Orlu zone decides to join the fray in 2015, it cannot be intimidated out of the project. We are now endorsing Owerri zone because we believe in equity, not Charter of Equity. There is no such thing as Charter of Equity in Imo State. Rather, equity has always been there from antiquity. Equity is fairness and justice in the affairs of humankind. So, to me, Equity?, Yes; Charter of Equity? NO such accord in Imo political lexicon. In Orlu, we are not greedy, hence most of us are looking in the direction of Owerri zone for 2015 governorship. But if the people of Owerri zone misconstrue our humility for timidity, we in Orlu will join the 2015 race. We are likely to win at first ballot. In a worst case scenario, there will be a tie in which Owerri zone and Orlu zone will go for a supplementary poll .The outcome of such a poll is not far to seek. So, Orlu zone should not be seen as cowards or timid people. The groups from Owerri zone who issue threats to Orlu zone on the 2015 governorship must think again. We love Owerri zone but some misguided elements think they can chase Orlu zone out of the race through threats and harassment. It is provocative that some misguided elements in Owerri zone have even dragged Orlu zone to court over the 2015 governorship poll. I don’t know the reliefs they are seeking from the court. Well, the matter is sub judice and we are watching with interest”.
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John Mgbe
johnmgbe@yahoo.com
