Fear Grips IPAD Over Occupy Imo Protest, Police Threat
By Austin Echefu
Fear has gripped the members of the Imo People Action for Democracy (IPAD) which said they were going to occupy the Imo State Government House for seven days, beginning from Monday, 18th to Sunday, 24th December 2017.
The group listed its grounds for the protest, among which were the nagging issue of accountability with the Rochas Okorocha government and the nonpayment of pensions and salaries in the state.
But in a swift reaction, a group loyal to the Governor said they would hold a solidarity rally for the Governor and the President. This group had also used this method to truncate earlier planned protest by group led by a former Speaker of the Imo State House of Assembly.
However, a group known as the Rochas Mandate Movement held a solidarity rally for the Governor on Friday.
The Rochas Mandate Movement which is led by the Governor’s sister and the new Commissioner for Happiness and Purpose Fulfilment agreed with the Governor to produce his successor, saying that they would not want to be told stories about the Governor’s Free Education policy, amongst others.
But in a statement by Imo Peoples Action for Democracy (IPAD), the group cried out against what they described as bias by the Commissioner of Police, Mr Chris Ezike, calling on the Inspector General of Police, Ibrahim Idris, to call him to order.
IPAD claimed that plans were on by the State Government to scuttle their peaceful rally using the police in the state.
According to the Coordinator of IPAD, Mr. Aku Obidimma, his group which is a coalition of many pro democracy groups, is not deterred, insisting that they must hold their peaceful rally on Monday, 18, as scheduled, because they have been guaranteed the right to free expression and peaceful assembly by the 1999 constitution as amended.
The IPAD Coordinator expressed shock that the Commissioner of Police asked them to jettison their peaceful rally while he allowed and protected a “sponsored pro state government rally of Rochas Mandate on Friday the 15 of December”.
He added that the letter they sent to the police never sought for their permission as the Supreme Court has severally ruled that police permission is not needed for people to peacefully protest.
He said that democracy in Nigeria has grown to compete with western democracies where freedom of expression is the driver and therefore could not be pushed back to the military days when people were clamped down upon by expressing opposing views.
The IPAD Coordinator warned the Imo State Commissioner of Police to thread with caution, saying that there is a widely held view by Imo people that he is now a tool of oppression of the citizens in the hands of the sate Governor.
The group however commended the state command of the SSS, saying that they displayed unusual maturity by recognizing and upholding their right to peaceful rally in the state.
The group also called on the residents of Owerri and Christmas returnees to come out en mass to participate in the peaceful rally to say a big No to the bad governance which they said Governor Okorocha has bestowed on the state.
They also informed the public that they would gather and take off at Emmanuel College Roundabout and proceed to Bank Road through Douglas Road and then head to Okigwe Roundabout, stressing that the rally is a peaceful one and urged participants to adhere to that.
The Coordinator also accused the state government of planning to hire thugs from Ohaji in Ohaji/Egbema LGA to attack them, assuring that no amount of intimidation would make them abandon the peaceful rally.
