The last might not have been heard about the drama and dramatics that are unfolding in phases and the intention of some Chairmanship Aspirants and their aspirations in the forthcoming Local Government Council elections in Imo State.
Like the man who authored the novel Behind the war front, the told and the untold stories surrounding purchase of Nomination and Expression of interest Forms of APC are intriguing, and more are yet to be heard and unfold from Orlu Zone.
What happened in one of the Local Government Headquarters in Orlu Zone today is akin to that of a woman who told her Child not to tell her debtor that she was at home, only for the Child to say to the debtor that my mum said that I should tell you that she is not at home.
As Aspirants from other Local Government Areas in Imo State are fighting boldly, openly and courageously, others lack the courage to even disclose that they have secured and purchased their Nomination Form(s).
Confirmed reports and Information from the Local Government Headquarters at the boundary with Uli in Anambra State, precisely Mgbidi, in Oru West Lga, has it that the Solad – one Mr. Ikenna Adikibe (A.K.A Shegee) is going about the purchase and completion of his Nomination and Interest Forms as if it’s an occultic activity or nocturnal business that should be shrouded in topmost secrecy.
Why would an Uzodinma serving SOLAD pay people #10,000 (ten thousand Naira) each person in his Lga to sign his Nomination form and instructed them to keep it secret, while his counterpart – one Chief Alpha Okike, (who was telling people that a sitting Senator, Sen. Osita Izunaso from Oru West Lga, is his main sponsor for the Lga Chairmanship election), was running upandan at the LGA compound yesterday, Wednesday, 24th July, paying people #2,000 to fill his own Nomination form? Does it not suggest that these Aspirants are helicopter Aspirants in APC, having no supporters in their domain?
A sitting SOLAD in Oru West Local Government, (whose colleagues in Osun State in view of the Supreme Court judgement on LGA Autonomy, have all resigned their appointments as Caretaker Committee Chairmen of their various Councils in the State), and kept behaving as if it is the spirit that would give him the Party ticket for Primaries.
I have not heard that someone purchased a Nomination Form, invited a few Party members to the local government and hired other people to complete his Nomination form for him, but warned them not to inform anybody what happened, or that they signed any form for him. That he will transmute to executive chairman of the Council by Secret through his boss – one Damian Oruh from Oru East LGA.
May be we will find out from the State Chairman, Macdonald Ebere, if purchasing the Nomination Form has become a secret activity, and would an Aspirant not be bold enough and proud to flaunt the Party Nomination Form before the public? Why is the so-called SOLAD of Oru West LGA ashamed to be bold to justify the Nomination Form purchased by him last week? Is he not proud of APC or the government he claims to be working for?
The same SOLAD had few days ago in a WhatsApp group he is the Chief Admin, sanctioned one of his supporters for publishing the SOLAD’S Election poster he designed freely for him, in support of the SOLAD in the group, he Adikibe, personally deleted the post made in his support by the sanctioned fellow, and finally exited the young man from the WhatsApp group, and called him on phone to warn him to stay away from the council henceforth.
The funniest of what happened yesterday, Wednesday, 24th July, 2024, was that he connived with the LGA Party Chairman, Mr. Tobechukwu Obioha, who brought a purported Federal Government Poverty Alleviation forms, he deceived innocent people to come and collect the form only to hoodwink them into signing Nomination Form for Ikenna Adikibe, the sitting SOLAD and another Aspirant – Alpha Okike, and included Voter’s Card number as part of the template of filling the Form.
Was this form from the State Party Secretariat APC under the State Chairman, Sir McDonald Ebere? Or was it from any State Government Ministry or from the Federal Government as the Lga SOLAD and Party Chairman claimed, and made the unsuspecting Oru West people believe?
Is the same type of Empowerment form with voter’s Card number in circulation in other LGAs of Imo State, or was only designed to hoodwink innocent Oru West to key into signing Nomination Form without proper education of what they are signing?
If the answer is no, does it not suggest that the SOLAD and the Party Chairman are in cahoots, directly or otherwise, tarnishing the image of the Party and the Government of Sen. Hope Uzodinma at this time of local government elections in Imo State?
The only worrisome concern is let some people not use this Electioneering period to initiate others into unknown and discreet families ignorantly, because those LGAs at the border state with ndi Anambra are capable of anything funny.
The attentions of the State Governor, Sen. Hope Uzodinma, and the State Party Chairman, Chief McDonald Ebere, are urgently needed and required to nip in the bud, any untoward consequences of the conduct of Mr. Tobechukwu Obioha as Party Chairman, and his accomplice – Mr. Ikenna Adikibe – the sitting and transmuting SOLAD, Oru West LGA.
Their inordinate ambitions and utter desperations should not be allowed to put APC into questionable situations at this time in any LGA of Imo State.
Below is the sample of the Empowerment Form from the Party Chairman, Oru West – Mr. Tobechukwu Obioha, to raise 400 people per Ward, with their Voter’s Card number.
We learnt that this form was allegedly given to the SOLAD and the Oru West APC Chairman by the Commissioner for Rural Development and Empowerment, Hon. Ifeanyi Oru.
A stitch in time saves had I known.