The facts on April 14th 2007 Imo gubernatorial election
By Osita Chiagorom
On the issue of the cancelled Imo guber election,I feel that some of those commenting on the issue were not well informed and thats why I am writting this article to put some issues right.
Truly,as you said,the PDP did not win any governorship election in Imo state.
There is no doubt about it and they[PDP] know it.
The recent Appeal court in Portharcourt ruling that it has the jurisdiction to rule on the annuled Imo state april 14 2007 guber elections has raised a lot of eyebrows
within and outside the state.
Attention has shifted from the Senator Araraume appeal court petition to that of APGA and Martin Agbaso.
I am not someone who is fond of writting but when I write,I do it with full conviction and inspiration.
During the OSHIOMOLE/ OSUNBOR legal battle,i wrote a piece of article cyting of how OSHIOMOLE won and will eventually be governor.
I circulated this article to almost all the newspapers in Nigeria.
Most of the newspapers refused to publish it.
It was when OSHIOMOLE finally won and was sworn in that a former colleague of mine when I was in the media intimated me that my article might not have gone well with the wishes of the so - called newspapers.
Well...all is history now.I dont care what their wishes were but they should know that the media is supposed to play
neutral to all the aspiration of both the rich and the common.
My reason of writting this article is because I was suprised at the unnecessary comments made by some people on the pages of newspapers because of this annulment.
They keep on saying that the only reason INEC gave for the annulment of the April 14th Imo guber election was that the election was marred with violence.
With regards to this issue INEC had no justification in annuling the election because it released the house of assembly elections which took place
on the same day and at the same time.
With this development,APGA supporters are already planning on how to take over Imo state because of this "flimpsy" INEC "mistake".
They believe that the APPEAL COURT will soon deliver a judgement to their favour which will kick the current governor out and enthrone their man,Martin Agbaso.
Although I am a stunch member of the ACTION CONGRESS,I am also a stunch APGA sympathiser because most AC members were former APGA members.
We joined AC because our candidate Uche Onyeagocha was short changed in APGA.
Despite that,we were very happy when GOD put confusion into PDP and Martin Agbaso suddenly became a "governor in the making".
The dream was almost coming to pass when INEC suddenly announced that they have annuled the election citing ELECTION MALPRACTICES and
the none appearance of one of the guber aspirant"s picture on the ballot paper.
The first reason is unreasonable because the same INEC upheld the results of the HOUSE OF ASSEMBLY elections that took place on the same day and at the same time but the SECOND REASON ?
Have we forgotten the second reason? Are we waving it aside when it will be the basis of determining the case.
Am i making a point?
Are APGA supporters aware of this? If they are aware then they should curtail their celebration and face the reality.
Appeal court ruling that it has jurisdiction to rule on an issue does not mean absolute victory.
For those who have forgotten,APGA"s Martin Agbaso was "adopted" by the ruling PDP ahead of the April 14th 2007
guber election after the PDP "claimed" that they have no candidate.
The election was later annulled.
That,it is not only because of VIOLENCE that the April 14 guber elections was cancelled.
One of the major reasons was that the picture of the PDP candidate on the ballot paper had the picture of Engr.Ugwuh and not the picture of Senator Ifeanyi Araraume.
This error came about because the Supreme court had just confirmed
Senator Araraume as the authentic PDP flag bearer instead of Engr.Ugwuh few days before the election.
INEC had already printed Engr.Ugwuh"s picture on the ballot paper.
This is a violation of electoral laws.
This is the main reason why April 14th guber elections in Imo State was cancelled
Lets go back to a similar scenario in Plateau state where former Senate deputy president
Ibrahim Mantu lost out to Major Gogwin of the AC.
Major Gogwin won during the April 2007 polls but had his election nullified because it was discovered that the picture of the DPP candidate,Mrs Zainab Abdulmalik was omitted.
INEC ordered a re-run election and Major Gogwin trounced Mantu again.
After the April 14th Imo governorship election was annulled because of the picture mix-up,
the re-run election was scheduled 2 weeks later.During this time there was realignment of political forces and APGA"s Martin Agbaso was abandoned.
His rejection came about the sudden "discovery" that he is not from OKIGWE ZONE because it was "claimed" that its the turn of the zone to produce the next governor.
The then current governor ACHIKE UDENWA with his top PDP stalwarts then settled for the then unpopular PPA candiadate IKEDI OHAKIM who happens to be from OKIGWE ZONE and who is a founding member of PDP.
He had decamped to PPA just before the elections.
Ikedi was strongly backed by both federal and state chapters of the PDP.
I was at the polling booth and all of us saw what happened.
As I have said before I am a member of the ACTION CONGRESS and an arch supporter of Barrister Uche Onyeagocha.
It was on that day that PDP "paralysed" themselves in Imo state.
Ikedi Ohakim of the PPA won massively.PDP mobilized massively to see to his victory because majority of them rejected the candidature of their own candidate Senator Araraume for reasons best known to them.
The PDP worked against their own candidate Senator Araraume and voted against him.
As christians,lets take it that God works in a mysterious way and had put confusion into the PDPfor the emergence of the present governor.
That put to an end the prolonged Obasanjo/Udenwa/Araraume/Ugwuh feud that the PDP is using to distabilize our beloved state.
I hope that I have made a point.
My observation is that most of the people clamouring for the exit of the Governor are doing so because they were not carried along with governance of the state.
This is one of the baseless reasons given by one of the ex-Guber candidates of that April 14th election in his interview with a weekly magazine called the NEWSBEARER edition of february 23 2009.
He "believes"that being an ex-guber candidate qualifies him to be a "godfather" and stakeholder in the state and whom the governor should consult when ever he wants to take important decisions.
The ex-guber candidate went so far in pouring venon on the governor and in the process exposed him self and the kind of person he is.
He is so bitter that the governor gave contract to one of the ex-guber candidates and did not give him.
So because of that,the governor must be removed.
He went as far as character assasinating the governor.He mentioned when he used to help the governor with his car in 1991 and lied that the governor had no car when they were campaigning for Enwerem in 1991.
The governor lived in Ikenegbu layout and had cars before 1991.
Personally,I grew up within Ikenegbu layout.
He also said that the governor does not have up to 500,000 naira prio to the April 2007 polls.
Even if his utterances are true,is it necessary?
So,it means that the "ordinary man' cannot rise one day and become a governor?
Well..from all indications the man is infuriated that the young man Ohakim whom he used to "help" with his car got what he will never get in his life.
He should go and ask God why he made him the governor.
Well..owerri is a very small place and it was not hard for me to investigate and find out why this man talks ill of the governor.
The reason is that his illegal kerosine dump was demolished by the ENTRACO , a task force in charge of demolishing illegal structures in owerri and environs.
As far as he is concerned,Ohakim is supposed to work with him and others in terms of "awarding" them contracts as he[ohakim] had given to the other person.
Well...this man got his cheap publicity....thanks to the NEWSBEARER.
He is not the only one.I just used him as an example.
They have suddenly" realized that the governor is not one of them......a total "stranger" and an "usurper".
Another issue used to discredit the governor is the incoming ban of cyclists in owerri.
Recent developments in Nigeria has made many states to ban the use of okada as means of transportation because of the hazards it has caused.
In Imo state,the ban was seen by mischief makers in a different way.
The ban has been used to label the government with all kinds of names....as anti-people,a government that is blocking the means of "livelyhoods" of its indigenes.
This is a very cheap propaganda.
I want to ask.....when did okada riding became a means of livelyhood of the Imo people.....or the igbo people?
Thanks for Hon.Chuma Nnaji the former commissioner of information in Imo state who answered many questions that has bothered me for over 2 years now.
He emphasized that most of the people doing this okada thingwere working in one way or the other and have either abandoned their work for okada easy means of making money or are doing it as part time.
THIS IS THE GOSPEL TRUTH!
For those of them who really dont have job...they can go and help themselves with many handworks that our people have abandoned or looked down upon,but has turned a blessing to non indigenes.
I lived outside this country from 2001 to 2006.Within this period I came back home only once and finally came back in 2006 to finally settle down.I looked for a house and in the process something struck me.I noticed that most of the builders,carpenters,bricklayers and plumbers I have been seeing in the building sites are either from the yoruba,edo or from the northern part of these country.
Again....two of my junior brothers are architects and I noticed that those who work for them are also from the non Igbo speaking area.
They are from Kogi and Edo.
My inlaw is a very succesful architect in owerri too and I noticed that his carpenters are from the yoruba speaking area,his plumbers and buliders are from the north.
Now....let me ask..where are our indigenes? Why have they abandoned these means of lively hood that made imo indigenes to look for non - indigenes to do many of these jobs.
I hope that I should not be misquoted here because I am not against non-indigenes working in Imo state.
Am just trying to potray the evil of imo indigenes abandoning their jobs for take up Okada
Most of the indigineous bricklayers you see today In Imo state are very old men from the villages.
Where are the young men? What are they doing? Okada riding !
The most interesting thing about this whole issue is that most of these bricklayers,plumbers etc at the end of the month earn double the salary of the so called white collar civil servants so I dont understand why our youths are ashamed to do it.
All the blackmails heaped on the head of the governor are not new in Nigeria.
Its one of those things that happen when a political son decides to chart his own cause.
I advice the governor to go and seek advice from the likes of of ex-governors Ngige,Tinubu and Chimaroke Nnamani on how to fight "godfatherism"
Suddenly.... IKEDI OHAKIM has become a DEVIL because he refused to be controlled by elements who want to remain relevant in politics until they die..to the detriment of the young and up coming ones !
MAY GOD SAVE IMO STATE !
Osita Chiagorom
08068683324
