Election: Entraco And Imo Vigilante Menace Ikenna Samuel Iwuoha, Sep 08 2010 12:26pm Mr. President, His Excellency Dr. Goodluck Jonathan has time without number promised Nigerians that there would be credible, free and fair election come 2011. It is therefore on this prism that I write this article. I say this because any discussion that has to do with elections in Nigeria should be seen as important as the unity of this country. This is because lack of credible, free and fair election has remained the greatest challenge we have as a nation. Using Imo State as a test case, I make bold to state clearly that 2007 governorship election was totally flawed hence there were lots of litigations. For obvious reasons I wouldn’t like to go into that because it has been overtaken by events. But as a citizen of Nigeria I must point out that within this period in view, the people of Imo State suffered untold hardship to the extent that there were forests of tears. What do I mean? An illegal agency called ENTRACO (Environmental Transformation Commission) set up by the Ikedi Ohakim leadership in Imo state was used to attack, witch hunt and destroy the properties and economic activities of the people of the state without any compensation. The economic life of IMO people was assassinated by fiat. Over N25 billion naira worth of properties and investments were destroyed. It was after this writer challenged the legality or otherwise of this ENTRACO agency that destruction of properties stopped. Mr. Ikedi Ohakim simply ran to Imo State House of Assembly and pleaded with them to pass the bill on ENTRACO which they did in April 2008 while he signed it into law in August 2008. But destruction of properties took place between August 2007 and April 2008. However, ENTRACO continued in its menace in Imo State when Mr. Ikedi Ohakim mandated the management of this so called agency to force people whose properties and economic activities were destroyed to buy umbrellas, canopies, tarpaulin etc, at cut throat prices after which they were allowed to stay at those “illegal” places to operate. Thereafter, the ENTRACO management forced Imo people to buy a certain sticker with the inscription “suffer today and enjoy forever” at cut throat prices. Not done yet, ENTRACO pounced on IMO people and forced them to buy plastic dustbins at N20,000 as against the sum of N2,800 in the open market.
At this point let me point out that ENTRACO has become a political tool for witch-hunting the people of Imo State. Once you are identified as an opposition member, ENTRACO is unleashed on you. A popular three Star hotel owned by the former Speaker of Imo House of Assembly was almost demolished because the former speaker held contrary view to the Ohakim government. This is just one clear example among many.
Now let me move to the main issue of this write-up.
The people of Imo State woke up on Friday 3rd September 2010 to be embarrassed with radio and television announcement including local newspapers publications banning all political office seekers in the state from pasting their campaign posters. This announcement was signed by the management of ENTRACO. Not done, ENTRACO said that any political office seeker who flouts this order would be dealt with. However, ENTRACO went ahead to announce Mr. Ikedi Ohakim as the only Imo citizen “AUTHORIZED” to paste his campaign posters. The Implication of this directive is that there will be serious political conflicts in the state once again. The question now is, why should an agency (ENTRACO) established by the Ohakim leadership ban Politicians from campaigning with their posters? It should be noted that constitutionally Ohakim is allowed to seek for another term in office but because of his absolute poor performance, bad leadership, looting of State funds and numerous human rights abuses, the people of Imo State vowed that he will never go for second term talkless of being voted for. Seeing that this determination has become a reality, Ohakim leadership is therefore using force to cajole the people of the state especially the political office seekers (governorship aspirants). He does not want any other governorship aspirant to paste his poster in the state especially the state capital. Indeed ENTRACO has become an agent of destabilization and destruction in Imo State. But we are in a democratic environment. This is not how to have credible, free and fair elections in Nigeria.
The other factor which I will like to expose is that of the menace of the so called Imo vigilante group. It should be noted that the Ohakim leadership told Imo people that they would setup the Imo State vigilante group to help combat rising crime wave in the state. This was done earlier in his administration. They have strong presence in all the 27 LGAs of the state. However as time went on, Imo people noticed that the so called vigilante is a political militant army of the Ohakim government under the control of the Special Assistant on Security matters,Mr. George Egu. The vigilantes have been severally used to harass political opponents of the governor. Examples abound – A governorship Aspirant in 2007 Barrister Ike .C. Ibe was few months ago harassed and humiliated by the Imo State vigilante led by Mr. George Egu. This was done because it is feared that he is still interested in the governorship race come 2011. Some kidnap attempts and cases have been allegedly traced to the Imo State vigilante. Again not too long ago, Ohakim leadership ordered the vigilante to disrupt the activities of the opposition in the state when the main opposition group (ALLIANCE) embarked on LGA sensitization tours. Most importantly the vigilante boys are always armed with guns and other weapons. The boys that make up the vigilante are group of Indian hemp, cocaine and heroine smokers who after taking large doses of these narcotics shoot sporadically to display their “highness”. Again it should be noted that the Ohakim leadership “effectively” utilized the vigilante to disrupt the so called LGA sham election which “took” place on August 7th 2010.
As 2011 election draws closer, the number of boys armed with guns in the Imo vigilante group have increased. For sure Ikedi Ohakim has concluded plans to utilize them for the conduct of 2011 election. No doubt Imo State has become a state controlled by armed boys and men who are not authorized to carry arms. Hence the people of the state are living in fear. Nobody talks. If you dare talk, you are quickly kidnapped or your businesses destroyed. You will also be charged to court for “defamation” of character. Again if you are in the opposition and have a political ambition, you are quickly kidnapped and forced to use the money you would have used for campaigns to pay ransom to get yourself freed. PROOF > 98% of all the people kidnapped in Imo State are members of the opposition. This should be investigated by the Force Headquarters Abuja.
It is therefore very evidently clear that both the so called ENTRACO and Imo State VIGILANTE were established purely to witch-hunt the opposition groups of Imo State.
The Federal Government of Nigeria is hereby most humbly appealed and requested to disband without further delay the ENTRACO and Imo VIGILANTE groups in Imo State. This measure will go a long way to ensure that there is credible, free and fair election come 2011.
Courtesy Ukpaka Reports
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