THE LETTER FROM IMO STATE

Last week, a junior colleague of mine assigned to the State House Abuja sent me a text which read thus “We have got grape vine information around here that some group of people who call themselves Imo Leaders of thought wrote to President Yar’Adua and copied the same letter to the Chief Justice of the Federation as well as the President of the Court of Appeal suing that the incumbent Governor of Imo State Mr. Ikedi Ohakim be allowed to remain in office irrespective of whether he has a good case or not at the Court of Appeal. I shall get you the copy of the letter if I get it but it worries me that a people regarded as one the brightest tribes in Nigeria could act foolishly and now be a laughing stock in the villa”, the test concluded. The case in question for which the so called Imo Leaders wrote the vexaous letter to the President, no doubt is the one pending the Court of Appeal Port-Harcourt which Sen. I.G Araraume sued INEC and Chief Ikedi Ohakim over the outcome of the April 28 2007 election. In the said appeal, Senator Araraume wants the Court of Appeal to determine how a candidate with no result on form EC8A not even from the booth in front of his house would be declared the winner in an election as serious as Governorship. Furthermore the Senator is also seeking a declaration as to why both Ohakim and INEC could not call a single witness one Owete who at the time of election was a Law School Student in far away Abuja. Also contentious is why INEC the body that supervised the said election declared Ohakim winner based on results entered on photocopies and whether it is right in law for INEC to bring the said photocopy results via a motion after both Araraume and Ohakim had closed their cases and without seeking leave of the same Court to do so. In the light of these electoral deficiencies and anomalies and thinking therefore he had a slim chance to convince the Court of Appeal Justices that he actually won the contentious April 28 election for which he assumed leadership, Ohakim then resorted to all manner of cheap tactics to cow the Judges. First he attempted a blackmail of the judges stating that they were working for his opponents and when that could not hold water, he then moved in the direction of bribing the same Judges he accused of bias via a first class Traditional Ruler from the North, of Course the move fell flat on the face, even though millions of naira had exchanged hands. He thereafter resorted to calling Araraume names on the State Broadcasting medium alleging as he has been doing since 1991 all manner of negative things against Senator Araraume and queried his source of wealth. To show how desperate he is, Ohakim engaged Local Musicians to wax songs against Senator Araraume and even went to the extent of pulling down an Inspector General of Police Commissioned Police Post in front of Sen. Araraume house. This writer still marvel at how Sen. Araraume bear these ordeals with amazing equanimity to the extent of his enemies saying he is an illiterate whereas the same man came out with Grade One distinction at the prestigious Dick Memorial College Amaigbo and was the best overall during his MSC training at the University of Benin. Analysts are therefore not surprised that having failed in his cheap tactics earlier Ohakim last week employed some sore footed people who style themselves as Imo Leaders of thought to write to the Presidency and Chief Justice of the Federation all in his bid to stay put in power and continue his mindless looting of Imo Stat, and we ask can the so called letter to the President vacate the sacred facts before their Lord Justices which is that Ohakim stole his way to power with active connivance of Iwu led INEC and one Olusegun Obasanjo aided by Achike Udenwa can the said letter take the place of Form EC8A which he does not have, again can the said letter translate the photocopies of results submitted by INEC to original copies. We ask again can the letter to the President resurrect INEC officials to come and testify that election held in nine disputed Local Government Areas, frankly these and so many other sore points appears as it were what the Araraume vs Ohakim attempts address in the interest of democracy. Now back the letter by the so called by Imo elders those who are watching the trend of events as they unfold today in Imo state easily do remember that this same Senator Araraume had passed through this road of shoot him down in 1998 when during the Senatorial Primaries in Okigwe , he garned over 98% of the votes cast as against Ikedi Ohakim’s one vote despite mountains of allegations against him. In 2007 and again despite campaigns mounted against him by Obasanjo, Udenwa, a sitting Governor and other local forces, Araraume easily won and with a wide margin the best ever conducted Primaries in Nigeria ,again the April 14 election which is now a subject of litigation was cancelled because Araraume was leading in twenty one Local Government Areas .Instructively Araraume is not the first person to travel through this shoot him down road, Chief MKO Abiola despite mountains of campaign against him and running on Muslim/Muslim ticket over came human made barriers to win the June 12 1993 election. The current President of African National Congress despite being stoutly opposed by a sitting President, Thabo Mbeki won majority of the delegate vote cast in South Africa. Messrs. Segun Mimiko currently the Governor of Ondo State was intimidated and harassed by unseen and seen forces led by Obasanjo, but Mimiko triumphed over a lesser Admired Segun Agagu to win the Ondo Governorship tussle. Like all other men imbued with goodwill, Senator Araraume has refused to be mowed down spiritually and psychologically preferring as it were to move on with his life doing good to humanity. Ironically this same Ohakim that is Governor today was the first Okigwe man to taste the magnanimity of Senator Araraume as he freely nominated Ohakim to his first and only Public Office in life in 1991 as a Commissioner, but rather than pay Araraume in good coins, Ohakim would prefer to continually shoot Araraume down, an activity that has continued to this day. But the truth of the matter is that Sen Araraume is not the only one fighting to reclaim his mandate from Mr. Ikedi Ohakim, Imo people who have been at the receiving end of a rudderless regime want the fellow out the next minute . For instance it is a notorious fact the Ohakim appropriates over 2 Billion monthly from Local Govt. finances, squandered the celebrated 40billion bond, services UBA debt to the tune of 930million monthly and seeking another 300 billion bond from UBA Plc and is today about dredging Nworie River with over 10billion Naira whereas the same state recorded no new road, no new water project , no new hospital or school in over two years at the Douglas House, it is a tragedy in Imo to say least. But the Question now is when will Ohakim stop this mindless pull him down syndrome against Araraume.

As the Court of Appeal in Port-Harcourt gets set to deliver the Judgement between Araraume and Ohakim , one thing is becoming clear and this is that Ohakim never won any election on April 28 2007 otherwise and we ask why is becoming desperate to the extent causing a faceless organization to write letter to the President and the Chief Justice on a yet to be delivered Judgement. Analysts say the letter from Imo State should not be treated as ordinary letter, it has dubious intention to influence the cause of justice . The authors of the said letter should be traced, arrested, interrogated and if found guilty jailed, in the interest of our young nascent democracy if not for anything to stop imposter from assuming power through the back door. As one lawyer Dickson John said last week, when people resort to writing letter to the Temple of Justice instead coming with facts, the Jurists should know that the letter writer in question have no facts and so should not expect Justice.

By Uba Maximus

UBA Maximus lives in Mbaise , Nigeria