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21.01.2010 Political

Re :Operation Rescue Imo State from Ohakim

21.01.2010 LISTEN
By Kenneth Uwadi

Since the commencement of the Ohakim /Martin Agbaso face off,a lot of views have been expressed by both parties and their supporters. A lot of twists and turns have gone into it, depending on the side to the face off one belongs. But one thing that cannot be washed away is that the Martin Agbaso supporters are not sincere. The too many media campaign of falsehood this group is putting against Ohakim shows the foundation that the Agbaso supporters are standing. Foundation of hypocrisy, insincerity ,and dishonesty. When selfish interest reign supreme over patriotism the result will be disastrous and catastrophic.Having watched for so long the deliberate attempt by the enemies of progress in Imo state to confine the present good performance of the Ohakim lead Imo State government to the political cemetery , one is inclined to react. It may interest you to know that I am not part of the Ikedi Ohakim's government.I am just a writer and a political analyst but i am a fan of Ohakim .I support good leadership and that is why i am a fan of Ohakim. I want the best for Imo people and Ohakim is doing excellently well.

Sincerity should be the attribute of any group that wants the masses to take them serious. And from experience, disagreements are likely to be fiercer in a setting where the issue at stake is the contest for political power. 2011 is around the corner and media campaign of falsehood against Ohakim has increased. They have tried so many things against Ohakim all these while and did not succeed so they are now looking at 2011 . It is in this light that i view the publication in the Point Blank News captioned operation rescue Imo State written by a faceless group called SLAP initiative with one Mr Ikenna Samuelson Iwuoha as the front of the group and published on the 8 of January 2010. In the said publication, Mr Iwuoha who claims to be the facilitator of the group made several allegations using language absolutely unparliamentary in a decent society. Since we are in a democracy, Mr Iwuoha certainly has the inalienable right to have his say, but democracy does not give one the power to make allegations he can not prove. I believe that criticism can be very healthy if it is balanced. By balanced, I simply mean that even critics must be open to the possibility that their criticism may prove unwarranted but I frown at mudslinging.The beauty of democracy is actually the plurality of ideas, which is guaranteed by the constitution. However, it is very clear from the content of the said publication that Mr Iwuoha has a character assassination agenda, which he laboured so hard to foist on his readers. The publication also portray the fact that Iwuoha is not an intelligent man.

Mr Iwuoha in his publication said so many ugly things about Ohakim which include:that Ohakim is a lier .He is an ingrate. He is very disrespectful. He is a very wicked man. He is a very selfish man. He is a thieving Governor. He is a very destructive man. He is a criminal. He is an unpleasant fellow. He is of no economic value to Imo people. He is of no social value to Imo people. He is of no political value to Imo people He is of no cultural value to Imo people.He is a very useless man. He is a security risk to Imo people.He is not a good man. He is very evil. He is not straight forward. He is not trust worthy. He uses the name of Almighty God in vain. He is a killer of human resources. He is not intelligent. He is very fetish (He forced his S/A's, E/A's, Commissioners to swear oath of allegiance to him). How ? Iwuoha should produce facts.Who among the commissioners and SA's partake in the oath ?

He also said that Ohakim force poverty to become a native of Imo State through the destruction of economic activities of the masses without compensation. He increased unemployment in Imo State among our youths by intentionally destroying the economic activities of youths without following due process and without any compensation. He is looting the resources of Imo State and using them to purchase personal properties worldwide when the people of Imo State are in abject poverty. He is heavily involved with money laundering using his Special Assistant on Special Duties Mr. Chikwem Onuoha as the major conduit. He executed a major fertilizer fraud in Imo State in 2008 using his former Special Assistant on Protocols Mr. Teddy Adams Ochonma as a front. He used State funds to buy personal house for one of his numerous girlfriend, 46 years old Ruth Osieme (Editor This Day Style Magazine)in Lagos State. How ? Where and when ? Iwuoha should produce facts and figures.

Iwuoha also said that Ohakim is using State resources to fight the poor masses in Imo State.While sitting on the State resources he is insulting respected elders in the State. He fraudulently acquired land belonging to widows in his village – Okohia Isiala Mbano Local Government Area. He fraudulently claimed in a National newspaper (Champion Newspapers) that Aladinma Shopping Centre has been completed. Two years after that fraudulent claim, the so called Shopping Centre is yet to be completed. He sleeps with under aged girls at his guest house in Prefab Housing Estate which he built with State funds in September / October 2007. He claims to be building a refinery for Imo State with billions of naira when in truth, there is no such project in sight at the so called location. He claims to be building Oguta Wonderland with billions of naira when in truth, there is no such project in sight at the so called location. He forced our youths to go into kidnapping, stealing, militancy, 419 and ritual activities because their economic activities were destroyed by him without any form of compensation. He forced our girls to go into prostitution because their hairdressing salon and provision stores were destroyed by him without any form of compensation. After destroying “illegal shops” of the poor masses, he forced the same poor masses to buy umbrellas, tarpaulin, canopies, containers etc at five times the original cost and thereafter allowed them to stay at the same “illegal places”. He executed this fraud using his comrade in-crime, Mr. Willie Amadi (Special Assistant on Transport and Sanitation),etc,etc

This is laughable.From the write-up of Mr Iwuoha,one can easily see that he is not educated .He doesn't know that what he is doing is character assassination which can send him to jail. Character assassination is an attempt to tarnish a person's reputation so as to bring him down and it is an offence in the Nigerian law. It involves exaggeration or manipulation of facts to present an untrue picture of the targeted person. It is a form of defamation. For living individuals targeted by character assassination, this is so as to result in the individual being rejected by his community, family, or members of his or her living or work environment. In practice, character assassination involve double speak, spreading of rumors, innuendo or deliberate misinformation on topics relating to the subject's morals, integrity, and reputation. In politics, one weapon of war that failed politicians uses all the time is character assassination, which is the spread of false allegations against a candidate just as Iwuoha is doing against Ohakim .Most common themes may include allegations that the candidate is a bad or unpopular member of his family, has a bad relationship with his spouse or children, is disrespected by his former co-workers, or routinely engages in disturbing, socially unacceptable behavior, such as sexual deviancy. This can also be known more colloquially as “”mudslinging. That is trying to win an advantage by falsely painting negative pictures about an opponent.

That one is blessed with fingers for writing does not mean that one should write nonsense in the name of freedom of expression. Mr Iwuoha should know that we have laws in Nigeria for which every individual in Nigeria should abide to. We have libel laws and sedition laws. Sedition is a term of law which refers to overt conduct, such as speech and organization, that is deemed by the legal authority as tending toward insurrection against the established order. Sedition often includes subversion of a constitution and incitement of discontent (or resistance) to lawful authority. Sedition may include any commotion, though not aimed at direct and open violence against the laws. Seditious words in writing are seditious libel. A seditionist is one who engages in or promotes the interests of sedition. Sedition is the stirring up of rebellion against the government in power.It is high time people telling the masses lies against a government are prosecuted.Making false allegation is a criminal offence

Enough is enough.There are channels constitutionally set up to lodge complaints against a person or government. The court is there, the police is there, EFCC and ICPC are there and even the State House of Assembly is there. Maximus Uba wrote so many lies on different websites, newspapers and magazines in Nigeria about Chief Dr Ikedi Ohakim, the Governor of Imo State but when he was called by the Imo State House of Assembly to substantiate his allegations, he ran away till today.If the Imo state House of Assembly calls Mr Iwuoha today,to come and throw more light on his allegations, he too will run away like Uba.

Maybe Mr Iwuoha is more intelligent than the members of the Imo State House of Assembly elected to act as checks. The hatchet man called Iwuoha needs to know that the Imo State House of Assembly is an independent body made up of highly-principled individuals who have distinguished themselves in their various professional callings. For his information , the Speaker of Imo State House of Assembly is Chief Goodluck Nanah Opiah, a distinguished man of high integrity, who was elected based on his track records of competence, honesty and integrity. Maybe Iwuoha doesn't know the duties of a State House Of Assembly. The mission of the State House of Assembly consists in legislating in the areas of its jurisdiction, exercising control over the executive power and the public administration, and examining matters of public interest. The House of Assembly is a legitimate authority as regards the expression and implementation of the democratic principles of government. It is composed of Members who are elected by the citizens of the state. The maximum duration of the collective mandate of these Members, called a legislature, is provided for in the Constitution of Nigeria and cannot exceed four years

The primary role of a Member is to take part in the legislative process. As a legislator, he examines, analyzes and votes on bills at the State Assembly. This duty is exercised both in the Assembly and in the parliamentary committees.

The Member is also the controller of the actions of the Government and of the public administration. The control methods at the disposal of Members are many. They include more particularly Oral Questions and Answers, the examination of financial commitments, the hearings of commissioners and chief executive officers of public bodies, as well as the annual consideration of the estimates of expenditure.

Finally, the Member acts as an intermediary between electors and the public administration. He handles requests made by citizens who, for example, need information, have a complaint about the Government, or wish to have a law or regulation amended. He makes sure that the commissioners and the public servants responsible for public programmes are aware of his constituency's needs.

The Imo State House of Assembly have publicly given Ikedi Ohakim a clean slate.Imo state House of Assembly have publicly declared Ohakim not guilty of all the allegations leveled against Ohakim by Maximus Uba and his cohorts. So what are we saying here? We have elected members from all the Local Government areas of Imo state in the Imo state House of Assembly. So who is fooling who?

If the State House of Assembly is saying that the governor of the state is performing well and is not guilty of any wrong doings,who is Mr Iwuoha to speak otherwise? Who is Maximus Uba to speak otherwise? Ohakim is a performing governor and deserves respect. For Gods sake,Ohakim is the symbol of our collective authority in Imo state and we can not seat back and allow enemies to continue to write nonsense about him.

The tone and language of Iwuoha's publication with its preponderance of curses and lies is not dignifying to public discourse. Mr Iwuoha should apologize to Ndi-Imo for calling our Governor a criminal. As for the local government council polls in Imo state, our governor having finished the LGA reforms has told Ndi-Imo that he will conduct the council poll soon and we believe him.

When Ohakim stepped into power, he decided to begin first with, sweeping clean, the dirt-infested city. To this end, he ordered the dismantling of all the shacks and illegal structures that dotted the city and state. Thereafter, he banned Okada drivers from operating in certain parts of the Owerri metropolis. To ease the pain on the average Okada rider and users in Owerri, Ohakim introduced a functioning intra-city transport service. To actualize this, he flooded the city with luxury buses. He then followed with affordable taxi-system, which now has spread, to other cities in the East. Governor Ikedi Ohakim began a road expansion network that has given Owerri, the much-needed breathing space under which other goodies would follow.

Rural parts of Imo we learnt have not been left out under the Ohakim developmental programs. Imo Rural Roads Maintenance Agency (IRROMA) is busy opening up villages with new rural or old roads some of which have been hitherto clogged and or overgrown with weeds. Launching the venture , the able governor said his aim was to bring back the old method where members of the Public Works Department worked diligently to beautify every nook and cranny of Imo.

Ohakim started the rebuilding of Owerri from the scratch. He destroyed shacks that dotted the streets of Owerri and thereby restored its diminishing topography. Ohakim has opened up road networks in several parts of the state using his environmental sanitation agency as his springboard. Uncoordinated erection of billboards has been banned; old and unauthorized ones have been removed.

Roads into Owerri and roads out of it are being dualised. Education, has received a boost as redundant and dead wood teachers have been replaced by well-trained teachers. An Education Development committee has been set up to address and redress the education problems of Imo State. Now, all this have happened under an Ohakim administration that is daily disturbed with blackmail and court cases.

There is no gainsaying the fact that Imo State Government has recorded tremendous achievements despite the enormous challenges confronting His Excellency, Chief Dr Ikedi Ohakim. These achievements cut across all strata of human endeavours ranging from infrastructural development, economic transformation, manpower development, youth empowerment and most importantly absolute peace and tranquility, among others. Therefore, this efforts of Gov Ohakim in diverse areas is commendable.Equally, the supportive and contributory roles played by the first lady Her Excellency Barrister Lady Chioma Ohakim in this hard journey of governance cannot be overlooked or under estimated considering her enthusiasm in actualizing the laudable efforts of Ikedi Ohakim in the state. The active roles displayed by the first Lady Chioma Ohakim clearly shows her commitment to the sustenance of democratic principles which triggered the giant strides recorded by the state government through its developmental agenda. Ochinanwata gaba n'iru,Imo so gi na azu.

-Kenneth Uwadi writes from Mmahu-Egbema,I mo State,Nigeria

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