20 June 2011
opinion
I have watched and read with keen interest some fairy tale lies written and published in a national daily owned by the demystified and estranged godfather of Abia politics since the conclusion of the last general elections in the State.
Whenever I picked the national daily even before the elections, I could always predict what would be written, especially about our state, Abia, where their paymaster has lost out politically. I strongly believe that my perception about the national daily is not quite different from that of other Nigerians, especially the people of Abia State who have known what the newspaper stood for before now and those behind it.
After failing in their plot to use the newspaper to destabilize the State, especially at the peak of the instigated kidnapping and other vices in the State, they have found solace and partnership in some elements in the State in their new ploy that is doomed to fail.
Seemingly available to be used as a political pawn this time is the governorship candidate of All Progressives Grand Alliance, APGA, during the April polls in the state, Chief Reagan Ufomba. In a story titled, “Stop desecrating the traditional rulers” which was published in page 10 of a national newspaper on June 13, 2011, Chief Ufomba alleged that Governor Orji gave traditional rulers in the State between N1million and N2 million to buy votes for him during the election.
Ufomba went ahead to query Governor Orji’s authority in cautioning traditional rulers to stay away from partisan politics. But in all this, he failed to mention name or names of the traditional rulers that were given money to buy votes for Orji during the election.
The relevant questions are: If Ufomba was sure of the allegation he has raised, why didn’t he mention names of the traditional rulers that were given money? Did the traditional rulers confide in Ufomba that they were given money by Governor Orji to buy votes for him during the election? How many votes did the traditional rulers buy for Orji during the elections?
Why is Ufomba raising such false allegations now, months after the election? If the allegations were true, why didn’t he raise them during, before or immediately after the elections in the state? Considering that the coast was very clear for Orji before the election, having enjoyed overwhelming support from all and sundry in the state, was there any need for him to give anybody money to buy votes for him during the election?
Or was Ufomba’s latest antics part of the plots by the enemies of the state who have been blocked from sucking the milk and honey of the state, to create enmity between Governor Orji and the traditional institution in the state?
It is public knowledge that even before the elections, the Governor, having seen the traditional rulers as the custodian of the people, had on several occasions advised and warned them to stay away from partisan politics. But even with such admonition and warning, some greedy, mischievous and corrupt ones among them secretly engaged in partisan politics, thereby creating disunity and sowing seeds of discord in their respective communities.
Some of them are being used by the enemies of the state to destabilize the state for selfish reasons. It could be recalled that some of them played questionable roles at the peak of the kidnapping saga in the State. Has the likes of Ufomba and his cohorts forgotten that Orji is the Governor and chief security officer of the state and by extension has the legal right to summon and confer with the traditional rulers when he deemed it necessary.
If raising false allegation against Governor Orji is the best way for Ufomba to express his anger and frustration for being rejected by the people at the polls, so be it. But Ufomba should be reminded that there is appropriate channel to express such grievances, the Election Tribunal. If he is there already, he should wait for the outcome and stop politicising trivial issues in the state.
Coming from the same senatorial zone, Abia Central with Governor Orji, Ufomba has forgotten that there is no way he would have won election against the Governor, taking into consideration that Orji is a tested and trusted hand who has liberated the state from the clutches of darkness as represented by the enemies of the state.
The people understand that Ufomba’s annoyance against Orji is multiple. Apart from losing to Orji in the governorship election, his initial gamble with the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, and posturing as General Ibrahim Babangida’s boy failed him, before his defection to APGA where he met his political waterloo in the state. He might have not forgiven Governor Orji for emerging the leader and governorship candidate of PDP in the state.
So, it is obvious that Ufomba’s tantrum against Governor Orji is nothing, but accumulated anger and envy that must be ignored by the people. It is a continuation of the ploy by the enemies of the state to distract Governor Orji, but it appears dead on arrival
Mr. Johnson Ikeagwu, a cleric, wrote from NY, USA
AllAfrica – All the Time
Taken from:
Nigeria: Orji And Traditional Rulers in Abia