AIF Media
Since the election of Senator Dr Ikemba Ifeanyi Ubah into the Senate on the 23rd of February 2019 on the platform of the Young Progressives Party (YPP), his political enemies who are still in shock over how he made it to the Senate from an unknown political party have not relented on their effort to either pull him down or distract him from making any meaningful impact in the Senate.
These known and unknown political enemies started fighting him from the day he was declared winner and returned elected. The moment Ubah was declared winner, an attempt was made on the returning officer for Anambra state senatorial zone, Prof Umenweke. In a shocking move, the Professor and Dean of Law at the Nnamdi Azikiwe University, who was the returning officer for the Anambra south senatorial election, few hours after announcing Ifeanyi Ubah winner, made a U-turn and declared the election inconclusive – that’s when the hand of Esau but voice of Jacob began to unveil.
The erroneous declaration of the election inconclusive threw up immediate challenges . But when the returning officer found out that the allegations that misled him into declaring the election inconclusive were unfounded, he reverted to his earlier declaration and upheld the victory of Senator Dr Ikemba Ifeanyi Ubah. But the forces didn’t relent, they approached an Awka high court within 48 hours seeking the leave of the court to prosecute and jail the returning officer for daring to declare Dr Ifeanyi Ubah winner as against their preferred choice. The case went up to the Supreme court and they lost – Again, Ifeanyi Ubah survived.
While that was going on, PDP and APC candidates in that election went to the tribunal to seek nullification of the victory of YPP. They lost at the election petition Tribunal and also lost at the Appeal court.
When the Appeal court delivered judgement and upheld the victory of Senator Dr Ikemba Ifeanyi Ubah of YPP, everyone thought that the battle was over and that Ubah could now settle at the Red Chambers for the serious business of lawmaking. But while he was about to settle, another heartbreaking news came that one FCT high court at Kubwa, Abuja had sacked him.
The Kubwa judgement was unexpected. No one knew when and how the judgement came about. It became another issue, another battle. The enemies were prepared to stop him. But God remained with Ifeanyi Ubah. That was their highest plot to knock him out of the Senate having backdated the judgement, to enable any appeal on it become status barred, But God still made a way.
Investigation was quickly launched by Ubah and his team and it came out that the judgement was fake. All processes were forged. Court documents were falsified. They did all these judiciary coup just to unseat Senator Dr Ikemba Ifeanyi Ubah. With these facts, the fake judgement was dismissed at the Appeal court and at the Supreme court it was a mere tissue paper that was struck out – Again, Ifeanyi Ubah defeated them.
After their attempts to use the courts to stop him failed, the enemies then changed tactics. They began a media war. First, they bribed some of his supporters with fake promises of appointing them as TC chairmen and Senior Special Assistants, SSAs. Few who are unstable joined them. They were later turned into attack dogs against their former boss.
And the media attacks became a daily thing. They churn one fake news to another against Ubah. If it is not that he will be jailed soon by AMCON, it is that EFCC just arrested him. But as days go by, people began to see the truth. There was no EFCC anywhere and the AMCON thing has been a long litigation that has been on since 2012. The enemies in their lack of indept research to convince the gullible didn’t know that in 2014, a consent judgement was entered in favour of Ubah and Capital Oil. AMCON has refused to obey the judgement but chose to institute fresh as the witch hunt continued.
While Ubah thought that the media war has lost steam, the enemies enlisted Senator Chukwuka Utazi from Enugu state who is representing Ndi Nsukka zone at the Senate.
Recall that Dr Obinna Uzo was used to give a face and legitimacy to the fake judgement that was procured against Ubah. This time the enemies enlisted a Senator to give face to their new plot. They failed at the polling booths. The courts also failed them. The media propaganda isn’t working, so they brought in Utazi in this latest move.
Senator Chukwuka Utazi was enlisted to give legitimacy to their social media fake news. A plot was therefore hatched against Senator Ifeanyi Ubah. The plot was to tarnish his image and defame him. The enemies knowing that Chief Innocent Chukwuma, the CEO Innoson Group is a respected Igbo entrepreneur whose vehicle brands are highly projected as “nke anyi” decided to build their false news report around it.
On 11th July 2020, a fake report was circulated on social media that Senator Ubah at the level of Land Transport Committee meeting rejected Innoson brands and discouraged the senate from procuring the IVM vehicles. This news was circulated on social media with Psuedo accounts. The fake news specifically named Senator Ifeanyi Ubah as the senator that spoke against Innoson at Land Transport Committee meeting. Like I said, Utazi was enlisted to give legitimacy to the faceless news against Ubah. So on Tuesday, July 14 Senator Chukwuka Utazi rose at the floor of the Senate to make a Point of Order under Order 43 of the Senate.
In his speech, Utazi gave a face to faceless news report that was circulated against Ubah on social media on July 11. Utazi rose and cited the fake social media report as his source. He told the senate that a senator from southeast disparaged and used some unprintable remarks against Innoson at the level of Senate Committee on Land Transport.
Ubah who initially thought that the fake news on social media that he spoke against Innoson at the meeting of Senate Committee on Land Transport was dumbfounded when a fellow senator rose at the plenary to give the imaginary fake news a life. Utazi became the face of the faceless psuedo, one Pastor Humphrey Eseobi who originally posted the news on social media.
It is possible that Utazi knew the said Pastor Humphrey Eseobi. They first sent the fake news on social media in order to have a source from where Utazi can rely on and launch an attack against Ubah.
As a leader who is ahead of his enemies, Senator Ubah challenged Utazi to name and expose the Igbo senator who disparaged Innoson and his IVM brands at the meeting of Senate Committee on Land Transport. Other Igbo Senators like Chimaroke Nnamani, T.A Orji and Enyinnaya Abaribe moved against Utazi as they were all embarrassed by his accusations against his colleagues from southeast.
Investigation shows that Senator Ifeanyi Ubah is not a member of Senate Committee on Land Transport where the alleged disparaging of Innoson alteration was made. Further investigation shows that presently, it is only Chimaroke Nnamani that’s the Igbo senator in the Senate Land Transport Committee.
With these embarrassing facts, Utazi was in a fixed. He could no longer justify their allegations that Ifeanyi Ubah spoke highly against the procurement of Innoson IVM vehicles. Those who planned it didn’t do their home work well. God closed their senses to remember that Ifeanyi Ubah is not a member of Land Transport Committee. They possibly chose Land Transport Committee because it is the committee that oversees the issue of vehicles. So it matches their plot to use it to cause distrust between Ifeanyi Ubah and Innoson.
Once all these untidy errors were pointed out, Utazi found himself in a mess. He began to release different letters trying to explain and at the same time apologise on what he meant or didn’t mean on his Point of Order.
Because Utazi is petty, he tried to be smart in his two letters. Ubah rejected them and asked him to tender a proper apology. True to his nature, Utazi issued another letter and showed himself as an unserious representative of his people.
Let me point out three issues Utazi raised in his last letter dated July 20, 2020.
1. In his letter, Utazi told Senator Ifeanyi Ubah that, “Instead of digging deep to find out who is the author of what you call a ‘ficticious psuedo name’ that tarnished your name, you are busy wasting your time to worry that I talked about the mention of the Senate Committee on Land Transport vis a vis the purchase of vehicle from Innoson vehicles company limited…you are advised to concern yourself with the search for whoever mentioned your name in connection with the Senate Committee on Land Transport…”
The quote above was that of Utazi in his paragraph 4 of his letter. This shows that Utazi doesn’t reason properly. If he does, he would have known that his action at the plenary was an indication that he was the fictitious psuedo name that started the fake news on social media on July 11, only to show his face on July 14 to give legitimacy to what was originally taken as a mere social media falsehood. Therefore Ubah needs not to look or search elsewhere to find the psuedo. Utazi knows the psuedo, if not he wouldn’t have propagated a news and projected same against his colleague without verifying it.
If Utazi didn’t know the source of that fake news, he would have ordered the Senate to investigate such baseless accusations against a fellow senator and possibly bring the psuedo to justice.
2. Utazi in paragraph 5 of his letter again said, “Your local politics in Anambra state should not be part of our legislative menu, at all.”
Again, this is where Utazi showed himself as a very petty politcal jobber who was only procured to do a hatchet job against his fellow colleague. In the video posted on YouTube where Utazi spoke at the floor of the Senate, it was Utazi and not Ifeanyi Ubah who raised the issue of local politics vis a vis the false event that took place at the Senate Committee on Land Transport.
Utazi in the video claimed that the southeast senator who disparaged Innoson and used unprintable remarks against his IVM vehicles did so because of their local politics. In this instance, who is actually the senator from southeast playing local politics with Innoson that Utazi referred to, is this not an indication that Utazi is the fictitious psuedo (Pastor Humphrey Eseobi that originated the falsehood on social media?
3. In paragraph 2, Utazi said this, “As a member of the Senate, I have the right to speak to any issue of my choice, whether verified or not.”
This is where I pitied Utazi and his ‘janjaweed’ representation. How can a senator make such a statement. Is Utazi saying that the immunity he enjoys at the floor of the Senate allows him to falsely accuse a colleague (s) and walk away freely?
Is Utazi saying that he can stand up at the floor of the senate and for instance allege that a senator from region A or C raped a lady because he read it on social media without verifying such news? Is he saying that because he didn’t mention any name of a senator, that any of his colleagues can not be bold to challenge him to name the rapist so he can be shamed?
Utazi has shown that he ought to be in Uzo Uwani Nsukka as a local breed. He has no business being in the Senate. He is empty. For a senator to assert that he has right not to verify the information he gets from people before taking it into the plenary to make it a national debate is a no, no for me. Lawmaking is a serious business. It is not a beer parlour where everything goes. Utazi should be called to order before he does more damage to himself.
As I type, there is another fake news posted by this same Pastor Humphrey Eseobi (Utazi). The fake news has it that Ifeanyi Ubah said he will unseat Igwe Orizu if he becomes governor. Today is Friday, July 24th. Possibly on Tuesday July 28, Utazi will raise it on the plenary. He will tell the Senate under another Point of Order, that a fellow senator from southeast region threatens to unseat a respected Igwe Orizu of Nnewi. After lambasting the unnamed Senator at the plenary, he will then quote social media as his source and thereafter issue a statement that he didn’t mention anybody’s name.
Senator Utazi should be told in clear terms that his colleague, Dr Ikemba Ifeanyi Ubah doesn’t lose any battle he deems fit to engage in. He is a man full of Grace and those who dared provoked God.
In conclusion, the ranting by Utazi that Ubah is a new senator who needs to learn the workings of the parliament is another statement of pride. Yes, Utazi is about 5 years old at the Senate, while Ubah is just about a year, but can Utazi place his achievements in the Senate side by with that of Ubah? In the just recent ratings of the 109 senators of the 9th senate, Ubah is the 3rd best senator with highest number of bills and 1st best senator of the newbies with highest number of bills.
Let Utazi show us his achievements as a ranking senator he boasted of in his letter.
Finally, the President of the Senate, Ahmed Lawan warned Utazi, he “traded into controversy.” Like Dr Obinna Uzo, pride will never allow him do the needful. In the case of Obinna Uzo, he was still boastful until he lost at the Appeal and Supreme courts. He was also arrogant even when internal investigations were going on within the high court administration. He realised he was cheered into his own casualty of a man late.
Utazi was only procured to advance the plot of pulling down Senator Dr Ikemba Ifeanyi Ubah.
They tried at the polling units and failed. They went to all the courts in the Land including forging court judgement and failed. They tried media and failed. They have enlisted Utazi to begin another pull him down battle – Again they will fail.
Eneh Victor Chigozie
Udi, Enugu state.
