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Elechi and his stone age politics -
By Frank Ogbuewu
Newsdiaryonline Fr March 4,2011
If not to set the
records straight, I will not have resorted to joining issues
with Chief Martin Nwancho Elechi, the Governor of Ebonyi State.
But for posterity sake and to help shape and save our fledgling
democracy, it is important that these points are noted:-
On Wednesday, 2nd
March, 2011, Chief Elechi had a State wide broadcast live on
Radio and Television and
subsequently published as advertorials in some national dailies
the following day, captioned:
“The proposed ANPP
National Rally in Ebonyi State: National alert on the feelings
of Ebonyi people by the Governor of Ebonyi State, His
Excellency, Chief Martin N. Elechi”. In the said broadcast,
he alleged that some opposition parties in the State were
plotting to destabilize the State and make it ungovernable . He
singled out the All Nigeria Peoples Party, ANPP as the most
culpable.
However, what attracted
my attention were the areas where he mentioned our great party,
All Progressives Grand Alliance, APGA. Chief Elechi had alleged
that APGA had ‘forged a common objective’ with
ANPP in making Ebonyi State ungovernable through vicious
propaganda against him and his government. And, that ‘agents and
members of APGA have recently been arrested in possession of
fake currency notes and large quantities of voters registration
cards believed to have been illegally procured from their
undiscerning owners’, and that those ‘arrested had been handed
over to the police who are now investigating’.
It is on record that
within a short space of two weeks, Chief Elechi had had course
to make broadcasts to the people of Ebonyi State twice, in
addition to press briefings addressed by some of his principal
officials in government and agents. The frequency smacks of
apprehension, trepidation and a sign of Ship of the State
drifting to a point of no return. It is important to note that
in all the broadcasts and press briefings, the issues being
talked about had no bearing with the effective governance of the
State or how to serve the people. But, to peddle rummours,
assume the job of the Police to announce the unearthing of one
crime or the other by people they readily tagged members of the
opposition, issue
threats to opposition parties, lying to (and against) the people
of Ebonyi State.
It is apparent that the
Governor and his acolytes are bereft of ideas and not
comfortable with the politics of awareness which APGA had
introduced in Ebonyi State. Now, the masses are coming to the
painful realization that Chief Elechi has not, and is not
delivering the much expected democracy dividends to them hence
their resolve to effect a change in the Administration of the
State come April, 2011.
It is on record that the
Governor and his agents at all times have engaged in activities
that choke up the political space in the State through the use
of political thugs who operate under the aegis of Ebonyi Youth
Assembly to disperse rallies of opposition parties,
vandalisation of parties’ campaign vehicles, attacking people
pasting posters of the
opposition parties, obstructing passage of their candidates and
supporters to the rally venues through digging of trenches
across the roads and tipping of sand on the drive ways among
other crimes. Sadly, the Police have turned blind eye to all
these.
Chief Elechi does not
believe in a level-playing field for all the parties to meet
with the electorate.
It will be recalled, he, as President Jonathan’s Campaign
Coordinator in the SouthEast banned all the other Peoples
Democratic Party Presidential aspirants from coming to Ebonyi
State to canvass support as a build up to the party presidential
primary; he had threatened the General Manager of the Unity FM,
a Federal Government –owned medium in Abakaliki that he would
not guarantee his safety and that of the Station if
he continued to give members of the opposition
opportunity to air their views through the medium.
The State House of
Assembly has been on forced recess for months now and its Mace
taken away, since after the PDP State party congress and
primaries. It was feared that the House was to commence his
impeachment for non performance and other issues, after majority
of its members were denied tickets to re-contest; he had on
several occasions threatened that he would unleash the ‘youths’
in the State on members of the opposition in the State; among
other threats.
Chief Elechi ought to
know the difference between being a candidate of a political
party and a State Governor. Unfortunately, to him, there is no
dividing line between the two. He should know that the other
parties are recognized by the Statutes in Nigeria and none is
inferior to the other and consequently should be allowed to
operate in line with the dictates of the Constitution and the
Electoral Act.
He should engage in
issue-based campaigns and tell
Ebonyians what he had done
with the Mandate given to him in the past 4 years, and
what he will do in the next tenure for them to re-elect him,
than engaging in trivial matters and bandying falsehood. I am
challenging him to a public debate to be relayed live on
Radio/television to take him on some governance issues. It will
be an opportunity for him to sell his programmes
to Ebonyians, if he
has any, or to unmask him as a non-performer and visionless
governor.
It will be proper if the
Governor explains
to Ebonyians since when he became the spokesperson of Ebonyi
State Police Command on issues or is he insinuating that the
State Police Command is not capable of handling situations.
For instance,he alleged
that the police were in custody of some people arrested with
fake currencies, voters cards etc and that investigations were
on. He should have allowed the Police to say that if actually
there was any atom of truth in that. The State Commissioner for
Information was the first to brief the oppress on the matter
some weeks ago and the silence of the police on the issue sign
posts that there was no truth about the matter. My party
is interested in the matter and is waiting for the people
to be charged to a
court of law. It will be recalled that the issue of fake
currency was brought up by the Governor some months ago when he
made a similar broadcast urging Ebonyians to beware of the
antics of a political party which he alleged was dishing out
fake currencies to them. He seems to be simply repeating himself
and sounding like a cracked record.
Our politics should be
seen to be evolving towards a positive direction and not
retrogressing. The kind of politics being practiced by Governor
Elechi and his cronies is of the Stone Age and not what it
should be. Ebonyians deserve better service delivery and not
politics of intimidation and coercion. The Governor and his
party, PDP, are the people overheating the Ebonyi political
space and not the opposition. They are afraid that they are
loosing grip and confidence of the people. Violence is the only
option open to them. But failure is definitely their portion.
Amb. Frank Nchita
Ogbuewu
APGA Governorship
Candidate, Ebonyi State.
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