Tension, misgivings, disappointment and fears that heralded the outcome of 2023 Federal elections in Ehime-Mbano local Government Area of Imo State where the ruling All Progressives Congress lost woefully to the main opposition political party, People’s Democratic Party ( PDP) due largely to deliberate in house sabotage and betrayal by top leaders of the party in the Area have continued to hover around the political horizon like evil Ghost in search of prey to devour.That unpleasant news that filtered into the space on how the ruling APC lost out to the dying PDP with very large margin in all the polling booths and political wards of a strategic Council Area like Ehime Mbano where most plum and sensitive State Government positions are domiciled was a source of nightmare and anguish to many who had expected the best from those whose bread is always buttered by the 3R Shared Prosperity government of Senator Hope Uzodimma of Imo State.

Pundits and other key observers of the unfolding events have not ceased to ask questions over what really transpired in a place that parades key APC leaders and beneficiaries like Secretary to Imo State Government, Sir Cosmos Iwu, Billionaire business mogul and close associate of Governor Uzodimma, High Chief Tony Chukwu (Onweghi ihekariri Chukwu), former INEC Chairman, Prof Maurice Iwu, Speaker of Imo State House of Assembly, Rt Hon Emeka Nduka, former Member of Imo State House of Assembly, Barrister Ifeanyi Agwu, Sole Administrator of Ehime Mbano LGA, Barrister Okechukwu, Hon Commissioner for Special Duties, Barrister Jerry Egemba and host of others. It is no longer news that not a few were disappointed and at loss as stakeholders of the party in Ehime Mbano over the sudden crumbling of the budding and powerful ruling APC in an election that would have set records straight about our commitment and where we truly belong in the raging political battle in Imo State. Unfortunately , the outcome of February 25 2023 elections has cast an indelible dark spot on us which scar even after healing of the wound will keep sending dangerous and negative signals about everything concerning us.

The intrigue that played out appeared rooted in the determination of Ehime Mbano APC leaders to over rule key decisions of Governor Uzodimma who in his wisdom threw up the third term Candidature of Deacon Chike Okafor for Okigwe South Federal Constituency representation in the House of Representatives Abuja and further made case for Asiwaju Ahmed Bola Tinubu presidential aspiration.It was least expected that the position of the Governor which was initially opposed but later accepted by them would be thwarted at the most critical time their loyalty and unflinching support was most needed. And surprisingly, they did not opt for the labour party Candidate for the Federal Constituency position being a bonafide indigene of Ehime Mbano, rather their preference was a 72 years old Jonas Okeke of the opposition PDP who apart from his age, is a long time allay and confident of former Governor Emeka Ihedioha.

The probing and nagging question that has refused to fizzle out is:What is the bone of contention that prompted this last minute betrayal that saw every one of these leaders loosing their polling booths and political wards to the opposition PDP?The signal was rife and clear at the outset the nothing good will eventually come from these leaders who professed 3R APC in the morning and secretly go to bed at night with vicious opposition elements of Imo PDP. As a loyal party man from Ehime Mbano LGA who had participated in not less than two meetings at High Chief Tony Chukwu’s residence and further followed up APC campaign activities and also featured prominently on the election day proper at the polling Unit and collation Centers, it was evident that the Ehime Mbano APC leaders were conspicuously missing in action. They neither featured in Campaigns nor did anything to deliver the party at their booths or wards on the election and even at the collation Centers until results were announced and APC lost miserably like an Orphan in Ehime Mbano. The fund released by the State APC leadership were not deployed to mobilize party supporters, what obviously happened was a connivance with the opposition PDP to write results to favor opposition Candidates which made the ruling APC to loose woefully in the polling Units and political wards of these leaders . It was also appalling that these leaders even as they absconded, never drafted their lackeys, including the LGA party Chairman, the zonal Party Chairman, the three Development Area Coordinators and host of others to do the needful.
This plot accomplished on the election day was more of plan B , which got hatched when the initial assassination attempt on Chike Okafor two days before the election failed.

One wonders what same people who claim to be leaders of the APC in Ehime Mbano intend to achieve to help the Governor and the party with sabotaging the party to stop a performing federal Lawmaker that has distinguished himself in parliamentary business and in his place raised a 72 years old PDP man that enjoys the confidence of immediate past Governor Emeka Ihedioha of PDP extraction? What a contradiction? So what type of loyalty are they expecting from Jonas Okeke, a core and unrepentant loyalist of Emeka Ihedioha who served as one of his Aides during his shortlived seven months administration?

There is a school of thought that interpreted the sudden volte face as the beginning of battle for 2027 gubernatorial succession of Senator Hope Uzodimma which some of the leaders in Ehime Mbano are scheming for themselves or cronies. Their actions give credence to feelings in certain quarters that the leaders see a third term mandate for the Obowo born ebullient former banker turned politician, Deacon Chike Okafor as a route to bigger and higher political responsibility in future , particularly the 2027 Governorship given the unhidden affection and love the Governor has for the young man. The fear and confusion of what the Governor really wants to do with Chike Okafor seems to be unsettling these key actors who in their calculation felt that a 72 years old Jonas Okeke would have naturally bowed out of the political space in the next four years and cannot pose any threat to their selfish ambition unlike Chike whose strength and capacity will be at its crescendo.And the puzzle is that these top members of APC kitchen Cabinet whose primary duty was to protect, promote and deliver the Candidates of the party in Ehime Mbano instead of doing that sold out to the main opposition party, PDP and rather delivered it’s House of Representatives Candidates and surprisingly went beyond that, according to a reliable source in the Government House Owerri, to take the PDP Candidate, Jonas Okeke to the Governor so that the Governor would be made to persuade Deacon Chike Okafor not to proceed to Court to challenge the charade that played out in Ehime Mbano and Ihitte -Uboma where BIVAS was never used and results outrightly written and scores fixed to favour their preferred Candidate. If that was not the height of treachery and betrayal of the Governor and ruling APC in the State, what else does that signify ? It implies that the Governor is cohabiting with snakes and Scorpios whose sting and venom will negatively contaminate or destroy the system they publicly profess in the day time but sabotage at night. By taking Jonas Okeke to the Governor as replacement to Deacon Chike, a certified and die hard Uzodimma apologist, the Ehime leaders have succeeded in sensitizing whoever that cares to understudy their intrigues that they cannot be trusted. The same Jonas who is an unrepentant loyalist of Emeka Ihedioha and appointee in his shortlived seven months administration was deemed preferable and presented to a Governor whose has suffered worst hostility in the political history of the state from same Jonas and his allies.

The February 25 2023 election as demonstrated by Ehime Mbano APC leaders appears more of an acid test and precursor to more destructive betrayal loading to be unleashed by these traitors when November gubernatorial election comes up.What appears to be the in thing in their treachery game is that no young man is tolerated to coexist or rise with them in the system. It is desperation taken to the next level to stop any bright or promising young man in Okigwe zone. That unfolding intrigue is tied to the 2027 gubernatorial succession in the ruling APC which almost all the APC leaders in Ehime Mbano are warming up for.

This ugly trend is working at cross purposes with the good intentions of the Governor and beautiful ideology of the 3R Shared Prosperity government in the State. It also calls to question their professed loyalty to the Governor which is neither here nor there hence their actions and inactions signpost noncommittal and no proof of genuineness. It therefore demands that the Governor has an urgent surgical duty to perform and in the process do everything within his reach to rejig his alliances in Okigwe zone, particularly Ehime Mbano to avoid a repeat of this sad development.

And again, apart from redirecting and rejigging his political alliances in the zone, a more cursory measure needs to be taken to carefully look into what happened in a bid to take appropriate steps to evaluate the February 2023 elections, identify the culprits and appropriate sanctions and cautions applied instead of allowing perpetrators of the misdemeanor and breaches to walk away just like that as if nothing really happened. If nothing is done about this, it will embolden them to do things worse than what they did and go ahead with their style of game into November election, work behind the scenes to deliver opposition Candidate.

The irony of the whole anti 3R APC machination by Ehime leaders is that at the moment same Tony Chukwu that worked against the APC is personally leading the campaign of his self imposed Nephew and House of Assembly Candidate,Engr Ben Odoemenam, telling the people of Ehime Mbano to vote for APC because the party has done well and Tinubu has won as the President, but in the course of this, you can’t hear him talk about the Governor, Senator Hope Uzodimma and his own election which comes up in November.

This contradiction ignited by High Chief Chukwu made some youths to confront him a couple of days ago on why he’s now moving around and seriously campaigning for his nephew for Imo House of Assembly, shortly after he betrayed and sold out APC and it’s Candidates in the February election, and he revealed that he thought Atiku was going to win and so he needed results to show that he supported Atiku and when particularly asked why he could do that seeing that could deny the federal Constituency the very effective representation of the vibrant young man, Chike Okafor, he again disclosed that they (the APC leaders from Ehime Mbano) do not trust Governor Hope Uzodimma and what exactly he is planning to do with the young, enterprising Chike Okafor after this 2023, so they better settle for the 72years old Jonas Okeke whom they are sure will not be worth anything in the next four years.

The honest disclosures of Chief Chukwu have shown that the actions of these so called Ehime Mbano leaders that caused APC to lose in Ehime Mbano in the February, 25 election is rooted in greed, selfishness and inordinate ambition for power. Perhaps after the tenure of Governor Uzodimma, the probing question should be: which of them wants to succeed him in 2027? Is it Cosmos Iwu, Emeka Nduka, Ifeanyi Agwu or Tony Chukwu himself?Our performing Governor should watch these rattled snakes milling around him.Once bitten twice shy!

………………………………….

Anthony Uzosike, an APC Youth Activist wrote in From Ezeala Ezike, Ehime Mbano LGA, Imo State