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Vanguard, THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 25, 2021 — 17<br />
The governor as a quisling<br />
THE idea <strong>of</strong> democracy is<br />
straightforward. “Democracy<br />
is government <strong>of</strong> the people for the<br />
people and by the people,” said<br />
Abraham Lincoln, the 16th president<br />
<strong>of</strong> the United States, a definition that<br />
borrows heavily from its meaning in<br />
Greek – “rule by the (simple)<br />
people.”<br />
Lincoln simply amplified the<br />
essence <strong>of</strong> the concept, and his<br />
definition presupposes that in a<br />
democracy, the interest <strong>of</strong> the people<br />
is preeminent. It superintends over<br />
every other interest, including the<br />
interests <strong>of</strong> government <strong>of</strong>ficials. But<br />
the idea in an ideal democratic<br />
setting is for the interest <strong>of</strong> the people<br />
to resonate with the leaders since the<br />
ultimate goal is the promotion <strong>of</strong> the<br />
common good.<br />
For this to happen, there must be a<br />
constitution, which, among other<br />
things, guarantees basic personal<br />
and political rights, fair and free<br />
elections, and independent courts <strong>of</strong><br />
law. In a democracy, the inalienable<br />
right <strong>of</strong> the people to choose, in a<br />
free and fair election, those that will<br />
allocate their collective values, is<br />
sacrosanct and inviolable because<br />
the fidelity <strong>of</strong> a leader to the common<br />
good is predicated on the fact that he<br />
owes his <strong>of</strong>fice to the sovereign will<br />
<strong>of</strong> the people expressed through the<br />
ballot box.<br />
But when leaders in a so-called<br />
democracy access power not by the<br />
sovereign will <strong>of</strong> the people but<br />
through the back door, they are<br />
alienated from the people they claim<br />
to lead. Their allegiance is to those<br />
powerful external forces who brought<br />
them to power. Such leaders<br />
inevitably become quislings - traitors<br />
to the common good. That is the<br />
wretched fate <strong>of</strong> Imo State today.<br />
When Imolites went to the polls on<br />
March 9, 2019 to elect a governor,<br />
they voted massively for the candidate<br />
<strong>of</strong> the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP,<br />
Emeka Ihedioha; not Hope<br />
Uzodimma, the man now sitting<br />
pretty in Douglas House.<br />
The Independent National<br />
Electoral Commission, INEC,<br />
dutifully returned Ihedioha winner<br />
and on May 29, 2019, he took the<br />
oath <strong>of</strong> <strong>of</strong>fice. But the sovereign will<br />
<strong>of</strong> the people was whimsically<br />
upended on January 14, 2020 when<br />
the Supreme Court illogically<br />
declared Uzodimma, the man who<br />
came a distant fourth, winner <strong>of</strong> the<br />
election in which the same Supreme<br />
Court had ruled barely two weeks<br />
earlier that he was not even a<br />
candidate.<br />
While throwing <strong>out</strong> the petition <strong>of</strong><br />
the governorship candidate <strong>of</strong> the<br />
Action Alliance, AA, Uche Nwosu, on<br />
December 20, 2019, the apex court<br />
ruled that he was not qualified to vie<br />
for the election because he doubled<br />
as both the candidate <strong>of</strong> the APC and<br />
AA.<br />
In a lead judgement read by Justice<br />
Amina Augie, the apex court held that<br />
by virtue <strong>of</strong> double candidature,<br />
Nwosu, ab-intio, was not qualified<br />
to vie for the <strong>of</strong>fice. In an April 29,<br />
2020 article titled: “Hope<br />
Uzodimma’s 100 days <strong>of</strong><br />
hopelessness”, I predicted that the<br />
consequences <strong>of</strong> the Supreme Court’s<br />
shenanigan will be dire for the state.<br />
“What the country’s apex court did<br />
by imposing Hope Uzodimma on a<br />
people who rejected him at the polls<br />
is to create a hopeless situation for<br />
the state. The consequences are better<br />
imagined.”<br />
You need to get this background to<br />
appreciate what is happening in Imo.<br />
Today, the state is in a sorry situation.<br />
There is little or no governance. Most<br />
workers are not paid their salaries<br />
as and when due. Those who are<br />
lucky to get paid at all take a cut<br />
with<strong>out</strong> any explanation. Beyond all<br />
that, Imo is in a state <strong>of</strong> war, literally<br />
and metaphorically. In the last 13<br />
months since the Supreme Court<br />
torpedoed the electoral will <strong>of</strong> the<br />
people and imposed Uzodimma on<br />
them as governor, the stories have<br />
been horrifying, more so in the last<br />
two weeks. On the invitation <strong>of</strong><br />
Uzodimma, military fighter jets took<br />
to the skies on Thursday, February<br />
18 reminiscent <strong>of</strong> the civil war years<br />
and rained bombs on towns and<br />
villages, killing and maiming<br />
innocent, law-abiding citizens in the<br />
name <strong>of</strong> hunting for operatives <strong>of</strong> the<br />
Eastern Security Network, ESN, the<br />
so-called military wing <strong>of</strong> the<br />
Indigenous Peoples <strong>of</strong> Biafra, IPOB,<br />
led by Nnamdi Kanu.<br />
Suddenly, 51 years after the<br />
fratricidal war, Alaigbo has once<br />
again become a theatre <strong>of</strong> war, with<br />
videos showing old men, women and<br />
Alaigbo has once<br />
again become a theatre<br />
<strong>of</strong> war, with videos<br />
showing old men,<br />
women and children<br />
running <strong>out</strong> <strong>of</strong> their<br />
homes, some <strong>of</strong> them<br />
half-naked and terribly<br />
frightened as military<br />
jets hovered above<br />
children running <strong>out</strong> <strong>of</strong> their homes,<br />
some <strong>of</strong> them half-naked and terribly<br />
frightened as military jets hovered<br />
above because Uzodimma wanted<br />
to please those who made him<br />
governor. The only crime the IPOB<br />
activists committed was their<br />
audacity to resist bandits occupying<br />
the forests in the S<strong>out</strong>h East and<br />
committing unspeakable atrocities.<br />
Yet, no one is waging war against<br />
the bandits.<br />
Last week, Uzodimma boasted that<br />
“our government decided to invite<br />
military to flush <strong>out</strong> IPOB and their<br />
so-called ESN,” insisting that his<br />
administration will not hearken to<br />
the pleas <strong>of</strong> those calling for the<br />
withdrawal <strong>of</strong> the soldiers. He has<br />
made all manner <strong>of</strong> allegations<br />
against Igbo y<strong>out</strong>hs, accusing them<br />
<strong>of</strong> murdering “four Moslems doing<br />
their business in Orlu,” and killing<br />
“several policemen and innocent<br />
citizens in the area”, with<strong>out</strong> any<br />
shred <strong>of</strong> evidence.<br />
Of course, he has been hailed by<br />
those who gave him the power he<br />
did not merit. Yet, the same people<br />
hailing him as an action governor<br />
for decimating his own people are<br />
negotiating for not only<br />
unconditional amnesty for the<br />
bandits up North but insisting they<br />
be paid compensation. Bandits<br />
wreaking havoc across the country,<br />
we are told by the northern elite, are<br />
not criminals. They are militants -<br />
and even freedom fighters - who<br />
have the right to carry AK-<br />
47 rifles, not to protect<br />
themselves but to kill<br />
Nigerians, if need be,<br />
because the herdsmen are<br />
aggrieved.<br />
Despite the carnage in<br />
the North, none <strong>of</strong> the<br />
governors hailing<br />
Uzodimma as a patriot has<br />
called for the military to<br />
flush <strong>out</strong> the bandits from<br />
their states even when they<br />
know where they are in the<br />
forests. Instead, they are<br />
negotiating and paying them<br />
millions <strong>of</strong> naira as ransom. This<br />
week, Uzodimma went to Aso Rock<br />
to brief President Muhammadu<br />
Buhari on how well the military<br />
operation in Orlu was going. “I came<br />
here (Presidential Villa), pleaded<br />
with Mr. President for his support and<br />
he sent additional support by<br />
sending in police and the military<br />
also came in. And that is where we<br />
are. It was on my invitation that the<br />
military came. And I did that because<br />
I know the situation was beyond the<br />
local arrangement, we needed help.<br />
And the help was given to us,” he told<br />
journalists after a close-door meeting<br />
with Buhari.<br />
That is what quislings do - they<br />
collaborate with an enemy<br />
occupying force. Uzodimma could<br />
invite the military to decimate his<br />
own people because he does not owe<br />
any allegiance to them. He owes<br />
allegiance to those who made him<br />
governor. He knows his power base.<br />
It is not Imo State. If he became<br />
governor with<strong>out</strong> the people’s vote,<br />
why should he care a hoot ab<strong>out</strong><br />
them?<br />
Political<br />
observers<br />
While the battle is still raging in<br />
Orlu, a new theatre erupted in Owerri<br />
between Uzodimma and one <strong>of</strong> his<br />
co-conspirators, Senator Rochas<br />
Okorocha, former governor <strong>of</strong> the<br />
state. Discerning political observers<br />
know it is a war foretold - natural<br />
consequence <strong>of</strong> a shenanigan taken<br />
too far.<br />
In his dissenting judgement when<br />
Ihedioha asked the Supreme Court<br />
to set aside its January 14, 2020<br />
ruling, Justice Centus Nweze - who<br />
was not part <strong>of</strong> the original sevenmember<br />
panel that nullified<br />
Ihedioha’s election - said most<br />
pr<strong>of</strong>oundly: “The decision <strong>of</strong> the<br />
Supreme Court in the instant matter<br />
will continue to haunt our (<strong>Nigeria’s</strong>)<br />
electoral jurisprudence for a long<br />
time to come.”<br />
He is right. But it is not only the<br />
electoral jurisprudence the<br />
judgement is haunting. It is haunting<br />
Imo State terribly. It is also bound to<br />
haunt those who orchestrated the<br />
injustice. That is called nemesis,<br />
which explains the deadly tango<br />
between Uzodimma, Okorocha and<br />
Ifeanyi Araraume. Okorocha’s<br />
humiliation over the weekend in a<br />
state he thought he had conquered is<br />
a well-deserved comeuppance.<br />
Same for Araraume who was denied<br />
the APC senatorial ticket in Okigwe.<br />
That is what happens when<br />
bootleggers sit back to share the<br />
spoils <strong>of</strong> their political philandering.<br />
Interestingly, Okorocha’s son-inlaw,<br />
Nwosu, has gone back to the<br />
Supreme Court to request a<br />
declaration that Uzodimma was not<br />
the APC candidate in the 2019<br />
election. He is also praying the apex<br />
court to declare Ihedioha winner<br />
and mandate the INEC to once<br />
again issue him with the certificate<br />
<strong>of</strong> returns. I wish the Supreme Court<br />
justices will appreciate the fact that<br />
Imo, a constituent part <strong>of</strong> Nigeria,<br />
will not know peace as long as<br />
Uzodimma continues to usurp a<br />
position he does not merit. And<br />
Nigeria will be worse for it.<br />
:Vanguard News<br />
By Ozioruva Aliu<br />
BENIN CITY—THE Private<br />
Depot <strong>of</strong> Oil and Gas Marketers<br />
Association <strong>of</strong> Nigeria, PDOGMAN,<br />
has in collaboration with the Nigerian<br />
Security and Civil Defence Corps,<br />
NSCDC, inaugurated a <strong>security</strong><br />
surveillance team in Benin City, Edo<br />
state to check incidences <strong>of</strong> pipeline<br />
vandalism across oil installation and<br />
oil pipeline r<strong>out</strong>es.<br />
The Assistant Commander, Edo<br />
State Command <strong>of</strong> the NSCDC,<br />
Emmanuel Ojile who represented the<br />
Edo State Commander <strong>of</strong> NSCDC,<br />
assured that the command has what it<br />
takes to protect all federal<br />
government's critical assets and<br />
infrastructure in Edo State and the<br />
country in general, adding that it has<br />
Divisional Officers in all the eighteen<br />
local government areas <strong>of</strong> the state<br />
that can be called upon in case <strong>of</strong> any<br />
emergency.<br />
He said: "We have a core mandate<br />
to protect all federal government assets<br />
and infrastructure across the country.<br />
We are happy to be part <strong>of</strong> this success<br />
story that the Edo State branch <strong>of</strong><br />
PDOGMAN is being inaugurated<br />
today. We have the capability to<br />
NANNM endorses JIK to promote<br />
hygiene practice in Nigeria<br />
By Gabriel Olawale<br />
L AGOS—NATIONAL<br />
Association <strong>of</strong> Nigeria Nurses<br />
and Midwives, NANNM has<br />
announced a strategic endorsement<br />
with leading household disinfectant<br />
brand, JIK to promote hygiene<br />
practices in Nigeria.<br />
The partnership is in line with JIK’s<br />
long-term vision to realise a world<br />
where families are safe from illnesscausing<br />
germs and viruses. It will<br />
also enable Reckitt Benckiser (RB<br />
Nigeria), through its brand JIK, to<br />
further encourage good hygiene<br />
practices in communities and the<br />
public through several far-reaching<br />
bouquet <strong>of</strong> programmes.<br />
In his remarks, General Secretary<br />
:@vanguardnews<br />
Private depot operators, NSCDC<br />
partner to tackle pipeline vandalism<br />
interface and protect, even at the state<br />
headquarters, we are available for you<br />
to work with", he assured.<br />
Earlier in his opening remarks, the<br />
National Secretary <strong>of</strong> PDOGMAN,<br />
Mr. Fred Ufuah said the inauguration<br />
<strong>of</strong> the joint <strong>security</strong> surveillance team<br />
was made possible because <strong>of</strong> the<br />
MoU the body entered with NSCDC<br />
which spelt <strong>out</strong> all the legal<br />
requirements <strong>of</strong> the operation which<br />
he said is for three years in the first<br />
instance.<br />
According to Ufuah, "we signed an<br />
MoU, a legal document with them to<br />
collaborate in the <strong>security</strong> activity. The<br />
legal document was signed in July last<br />
year and it has three years tenure which<br />
is subject to renewal based on the<br />
performance <strong>of</strong> the <strong>of</strong>ficers in the job.<br />
Before the signing <strong>of</strong> the MoU, our<br />
<strong>of</strong>ficers went through lectures and<br />
training from the NSCDC command".<br />
While reminding the team<br />
members that the Benin NNPC<br />
petroleum products Depot became<br />
moribund because <strong>of</strong> pipeline<br />
vandalism, Ufuah urged them to hand<br />
over to the <strong>of</strong>ficials <strong>of</strong> NSCDC anyone<br />
caught vandalising petroleum<br />
pipelines or any other oil installation.<br />
Delta Speaker, Oborevwori was never<br />
invited by EFCC —CPS<br />
By Festus Ahon<br />
ASABA—CHIEF Press Secretary,<br />
CPS to the Speaker <strong>of</strong> Delta State<br />
House <strong>of</strong> Assembly, Mr Dennis Otu,<br />
Tuesday, said the Speaker, Chief Sheriff<br />
Oborevwori was never invited by the<br />
Economic and Financial Crime<br />
Commission, EFCC over the purchase<br />
<strong>of</strong> cars for members <strong>of</strong> the House.<br />
Otu in a statement made available<br />
to newsmen in Asaba, described media<br />
reports that the Speaker and the Clerk<br />
<strong>of</strong> the House, Mrs Lyna Ocholor were<br />
arrested and detained by the EFCC as<br />
incorrect and malicious.<br />
Noting that the report was the<br />
handwork <strong>of</strong> mischief-makers who<br />
were <strong>out</strong> to tarnish the good image <strong>of</strong><br />
the Speaker, he explained that VAT<br />
and Tax were deducted at source by<br />
the <strong>of</strong>fice <strong>of</strong> Accountant General <strong>of</strong> the<br />
State from the value <strong>of</strong> the cars.<br />
ASUU <strong>of</strong>fers scholarship to 30 most<br />
deserving UNIZIK students<br />
By Vincent Ujumadu<br />
AWKA—THE Nnamdi Azikiwe<br />
University branch <strong>of</strong> the<br />
Academic Staff Union <strong>of</strong><br />
Universities (ASUU) yesterday<br />
awarded scholarships to 30 students<br />
<strong>of</strong> the institution as part <strong>of</strong> measures<br />
to reduce the burden on their parents<br />
who were finding it difficult to<br />
finance their education at this period<br />
<strong>of</strong> economic hardship in the country.<br />
The students received N50,000<br />
each for the 2019/2020 academic<br />
session, with the Unizik ASUU<br />
chairman, Comrade Stephen<br />
Ufoaroh explaining that the<br />
Explaining that the Clerk who was<br />
invited by the EFCC to bring<br />
documentary evidence <strong>of</strong> the cars<br />
transaction based on a petition, he said<br />
the Clerk returned same day after<br />
presenting documents requested by the<br />
Commission.<br />
Otu held that the cars were<br />
purchased in accordance with the<br />
procurement law, adding that the<br />
Petitioners decided to resort to<br />
blackmail having failed in their<br />
devilish act.<br />
While calling on the public to<br />
disregard the said media report in its<br />
entirety, he reiterated that neither the<br />
Speaker nor the Clerk <strong>of</strong> the House<br />
was detained by the EFCC.<br />
Insisting that the Speaker has never<br />
been involved in shoddy businesses,<br />
he said the Speaker is on the same<br />
page with the members and very<br />
transparent in the running <strong>of</strong> the<br />
House.<br />
beneficiaries were those who deserved<br />
it most.<br />
Ufoaroh said the gesture was to<br />
support the students to complete<br />
their academic pursuit, adding that<br />
ASUU members tasked themselves<br />
to raise the money despite the fact<br />
that all academic staff <strong>of</strong> Unizik were<br />
owed salaries between four and<br />
twelve months.<br />
He said: "Despite the prevailing<br />
<strong>problems</strong>, ASUU-Unizik, still saw<br />
the need to help in alleviating the<br />
suffering <strong>of</strong> our students, who have<br />
also borne the pains <strong>of</strong> the ruling<br />
class insensitivity to the suffering<br />
masses <strong>of</strong> this country.‘‘<br />
<strong>of</strong> NANNM, Comrade Thomas<br />
Shettima, said the association was<br />
proud to identify with JIK. “Reckitt<br />
Benckiser’s products are well-tested<br />
and the efficacy <strong>of</strong> their products –<br />
especially JIK, is not in doubt; the<br />
reason for our endorsement. We are<br />
confident that this will further<br />
promote the acceptance <strong>of</strong> the<br />
brand.”<br />
With the Memorandum <strong>of</strong><br />
Understanding signing, the<br />
association has granted RB the<br />
exclusive right to use its <strong>of</strong>ficial logo<br />
on all its JIK products and brand<br />
materials. Every RB’s advertising<br />
material for JIK products and<br />
brands on all media platforms will<br />
likewise carry the association’s<br />
<strong>of</strong>ficial endorsement and logo.<br />
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