Reprehensible Tyranny Of Imo Opposition Parties Must Stop Now

BEN AHANONU

Before proceeding further, let me first congratulate my principal and de jure Governor of Imo State, His Excellency, Distinguished Senator Hope Uzodimma GSSRS, CON, (Onwa), on his trouncing of Imo opposition parties and their satanic tyranny once again at the Supreme Court and silencing them indefinitely ( Who say men no dey?).

They wanted to have their say and also their way with subterfuge. They wanted to govern Imo State without winning the election, they wanted to gain what they did not deserve and suppress the will and way of the majority but God Almighty stopped them in their tracks through the learned judges of the Supreme Court.

The exciting thing is the way and manner the ruling came and description of the appeal by Justice Abubakar as strange, frivolous, baseless, unwarranted, vexatious and irritating. He further held that the motion was a calculated design to demonize the Supreme Court – that sums it up.

Hopefully, Rt. Hon. Emeka Ihedioha and co, and those other people that vowed to make Imo ungovernable and those that planned, sponsored and executed the attack on Owerri Correctional Centre, will now go and rest and maybe continue to wail behind the scenes even in their bedroom, having exhausted all available options to remove Distinguished Senator Hope Uzodimma from office and equally faced with the cost of N40 million naira awarded against them by Nigeria’s apex court.

However, the question is, will the defeated and vanquished Imo forces of evil, who are clearly on a downward trajectory and congregating as opposition parties be allowed to continue with their repulsive impudence and deliberate falsehood?

The defeated and desperate opposition parties and forces of evil in Imo State, prove every day that they can go to any length with accusations of electoral fraud without presenting any concrete and prima facie evidence to prove their silly and diversionary accusations.

On Sunday 12 November, 2023, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) declared Distinguished Senator Hope Uzodimma of the All Progressives Congress (APC), winner of the 11 November, 2023 governorship election in Imo State.

Uzodimma scored 540,308 votes to defeat his closest challenger Sam Anyanwu of the PDP, who scored 71,503 votes while the Labour Party, LP, candidate, Athan Achonu, came third with 64,081 votes. None of the other 15 candidates had up to 10,000 votes.

Ever since then and even long before the election, the defeated minority opposition party candidates, alongside some non-existent groups like the so-called Good Governance Initiative have been on a wild goose chase with false accusations, insults and threats against Distinguished Senator Hope Uzodimma.

One salient truism about democracy is that the minority will have their say and the majority will have their way but currently in Imo State, it seems to be a case of the minority having their say and at the same time trying to have their way to the detriment of the majority, by merchandising falsehood with name-calling and wild allegations against Uzodimma.

In the face of the provocations, Governor Uzodimma remained equanimous and focused on the nitty-gritty of his re-election.

Interestingly, Governor Uzodimma has been re-elected for a second term of office yet the wailing cannot stop – a proof of the opposition/minority having their say and striving to have their way, which is an aberration in democracy that cannot stand.

The disorganized opposition/minority cannot have their way with clumsy propaganda, punctured manipulation, deliberate falsehood and grandstanding – never!

During electioneering for the 2023 Imo gubernatorial election, the candidate of the Labour Party, Senator Athan Achonu claimed that he was shot at by security operatives at a church but documented evidence pointed to the contrary as it was proven that security operatives only shot into the air to restrain Achonu, who attempted to barge into a church with false bravado alongside his security agents, while the Governor of Imo State, His Excellency, Distinguished Senator Hope Uzodimma was already seated – that was rude, rascally, irresponsible and the height of stupidity, which even he, Athan Achonu cannot take if the reverse is the case yet Governor Uzodimma in his characteristic levelheadedness never reacted angrily. He remained calm and composed.

Propaganda actually has limitations but the defeated opposition parties and their candidates especially the Labour Party and their vanquished candidate seem not to care as they ensconce in fantasy with seditious vituperation.

The other day, some group of frustrated women, who were obviously hired by the Labour Party to embarrass themselves put on a show of imbecility at the state headquarters of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to protest the continued delay of the release of the certified true copies (CTC) of the November 11, 2023, governorship election in the state, claiming that the delay in releasing the CTC has caused severe hardship for them and other Imo people but they failed to explain how.

Athan Achonu, had during an interview on Arise Television, alleged that when it became apparent that the Labour Party was winning the election, government officials resorted to violence at polling units and manipulated results – again he spoke without any irrefutable evidence to prove his repugnant torrents of false claims.

Speaking in an interview with Arise News, the same noisy Achonu said: “I didn’t come in third in the election; even the security agencies and international observers are saying that I won; they changed everything.”

Indeed, Athan Achonu sounds quite funny. Are the international observers and security agencies the electoral body? Hear him: “They said I won,” who said? Arrant nonsense.

It was also reported that Senator Athan Achonu, in a statement said he has confidence that he will be able to reclaim his “stolen mandate” in the Election Petition Tribunal due to the fact that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu was out in the streets to protest the annulment of the presidential election that took place on June 12, 1993.”

Strangely, Athan Achonu continues to expose his underwhelming mediocrity and lack of understanding of the fact that the 2023 Imo gubernatorial election was concluded peacefully and the clear winner was declared.

Here is a man, who emerged as a gubernatorial candidate in the most controversial circumstances and could not unite the Labour Party in Imo State, which led to mass defection of its members to the All Progressives Congress.

Athan Achonu will soon fade into political insignificance having lost despicably because he was busy bullying Uzodimma while leaving the essential campaign he should have done and after the election, he sustained the bullying with false and imaginary claims that he won the election.

Conversely, the People’s Democratic Party, PDP, and her candidate have been laid-back and chose not to be so noisy with false accusations but rather busy blaming their woes mainly on rebellious members of the party and the PDP Governors, who refused to release the N2.5 billion lifeline.

In addition, the governorship candidate of the New Nigeria People’s Party (NNPP), Hon Uche Ben Odunzeh, believes he won the election and has taken steps to reclaim his “stolen mandate” in court. Again, another laughable move. Which stolen mandate? Who gave him the mandate in the first place, when he could not win up to 10, 000 votes? Well, it is a very good and happy season for lawyers.

According to reports, the African Democratic Congress (ADC) is actively urging residents of Imo State to prepare for the 2027 elections, expressing confidence in producing the next governor. The National Vice Chairman of the party in the southeast, Chilos Godsent, said the party has repeatedly heard Uzodimma promising to support Owerri Zone for the Imo State governorship position in 2027. However, based on their assessment of Uzodimma, the ADC contends that he is unreliable when it comes to fulfilling promises – then I ask, which promise or promises? At least he should have been specific on facts to buttress his irresponsible and irrelevant remark because Gov. Uzodimma, who remained courteous and civil during the electioneering, focused on his achievements and never disparaged the other contestants, whom he saw and took as brothers despite political differences.

Equally, almost all the promises Governor Uzodimma made to Imo people during his first term of office have been fulfilled.

If these melancholic political parties and their candidates were serious they should have known that Governor Uzodimma is a game-changer, astute politician and savvy. They should have read the handwriting on the wall that pointed to a landslide victory. They should have seen the quality endorsements for Uzodimma and defections to the APC. They should have known that it was an uphill task to defeat Uzodimma because he was prepared, determined and campaigned vigorously, he also won over Imo people with his spectacular achievements and made the difference with his clear message of Renewed Hope.

The good thing is that despite the persistent wailing and bullying by Imo opposition forces of evil, Imo people rejected all that and voted for Distinguished Senator Hope Uzodimma but with the latest development at the Supreme Court, the irritating wailing and bullying by the coarse Imo opposition parties must stop now because it is game over and Distinguished Senator Hope Uzodimma remains a political superstar.

God bless Imo State!

– Hon. Prince Ben AHANONU is Special Adviser (CSDP) to the Governor of Imo State.