Date Published: 10/02/10

PPA, ACN call for state of emergency in Abia: Ungodly, Undemocratic

The attention of the National Conscience Party (NCP), Abia State Chapter, has been drawn to the call by the Progressive Peoples Alliance (PPA) and the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) on President Jonathan to declare a state of emergency in Abia State over the state of insecurity in the state.

According to the call, which was contained in the Daily Sun issue of September 30, 2010, the Chief Orji Uzor Kalu-led PPA said declaring a state of emergency in the state would save the citizenry from imminent annihilation occasioned by absolute insecurity underscored by the failures of the sitting government to provide minimal need of the people.

It is ironic that the PPA, which was founded by Chief Kalu – a man whose eight-year rule in Abia was characterized by the extra-judicial killings of innocent people, notably the murder of Ubakala 2 at Azikiwe Road, Umuahia in July 1999; beheading of over 50 shoe makers at Ariaria International Market, Aba in October 2001; and the suffocation of 32 innocent persons in a dark and unventilated dungeon of Kalu’s private army, the Bakassi boys, at Orie Ohabiam in August 2005, respectively – would have the effrontery to talk about saving Abians from imminent annihilation.

May we ask: Where were the publicity secretary of the PPA, Chief Oliver Eze-Obiezu and the gubernatorial aspirant of the Action Congress, Prince Paul Ikonne when armed robbers overran the state between 2005 and 2006 during Chief Kalu’s administration? Why didn’t they call for a declaration of a state of emergency then? Doesn’t it portray the duo as unrepentant hypocrites in ecclesiastical robes?

Since everyday is for the thief, and one day for the owner of the house, the NCP is confident that the underworld characters behind this act of criminality shall soon be brought to book.

While the NCP condemns in strong terms the call, it calls on President Jonathan to ignore the call; for it is ungodly and undemocratic. It will amount to elevating arbitrariness above the law.

Comrade Cassius Ukwugbe

State Secretary