Abuja (Sundiata Post)– The International Society for Civil Liberties and Rule of Law (Intersociety) has called on democratic forces in Imo and their outside allies, including uncompromised CSO and Media leaders or activists, to work together to save Imo from another four tortuous and bloody years under the gubernatorial incumbent before the November 2023 governorship election.
The organization said it is disturbed that conventional security troops sent to Imo State had become terror squads and became more criminals than they were supposed to checkmate legitimately.
Intersociety also advised that sponsored political party disputes and manipulations must not impede the 2023 presidential elections court proceedings.
Emeka Umeagbalasi, Board Chair; Obianuju Joy Igboeli, Head, Civil Liberties and Rule of Law Program @ Intersociety; Chidinma Udegbunam, Head, Campaign and Publicity Department; and Ositadinma Agu, Head, International Connections and Mobilization, signed this statement.
Full statement:
The International Society for Civil Liberties and Rule of Law (Intersociety) is very concerned about political banditry and brigandage in the Imo State ahead of the November 11, 2023, governorship election. Political gangsterism, assassinations, abductions, disappearances, home burnings, and other property violence in the State shock and saddens us. We are also apprehensive by the increase of military and police terror in the State, with over half of the 27 Local Government Areas and most of their “independent communities” under siege and fear.
We are appalled that conventional security troops assigned to the State have become terror squads and more criminals than they were supposed to checkmate. Imo locals fear the security forces, who are hard to distinguish from the underworld or non-state actor criminals. The worst part is that the State Government aids, abets, and uses taxpayer dollars to degrade, repress, and persecute its citizens. The November 11, 2023, State Governorship Poll deemed the above politically driven, ill-conceived, and dangerously focused on “retaining governor seat” at any cost.
The Unfortunate Trip to Nature and Predation
The State was one of the most tranquil, least crime-ridden, and politically progressive in the East until “the 1996 Otokoto Ritual/419 Saga,” when Chief Vincent Duru and his crew used eleven-year-old groundnut trader Ikechukwu Okonkwo for ritual and killed him on September 19, 1996. The tale also degraded the State’s ethical culture and spawned a culture of severe corruption and immorality that continues to this day.
It also produced problematic characters in most of the State’s elected and appointive governmental posts. Following the 2019 Imo Governorship roguery and Nigeria’s Supreme Court “canonization” of the current governor in January 2020, the State politically deteriorated and became a killing field. Imo State has become a “killing field and South-East capital of political banditry and corruption” since then.
Democrats Must Save Imo
Democratic forces must unite to save Imo State from another four terrible years under the governorship incumbent. The continued sponsored political defections, assassinations, maiming, abductions, disappearances, and property violence should worry Imo’s democratic forces and supporters, especially uncompromised CSO and media leaders and activists. APGA, PDP, and Labour must avoid transactional/money politics and work together to save Imo State. Nigeria’s top politicians’ defections have tarnished their reputations.
Political defection is meaningless in democratic elections in Nigeria. Most Imo defectors lost their legislative seats in the recent elections. Thus, Imo State must be saved together. The three political parties must verify their candidates are not moles and scoundrels. To realize “it is not business as usual,” the choices must be democratically reformed. Such candidates must also be capable of being widely and credibly voted for and recognize that “the repercussions of the Obedient ballot tsunami” have proven that the period of grabbing gubernatorial seats via the window or backdoor is gone forever, especially in South-East Nigeria.
Sponsored Political Party Crises Must Not Block Presidential Poll Court Procedures
The incumbent APC and its “INEC-declared President-elect” are suspected of sponsoring Laboir Party problems to destabilize the Party and halt the 2023 Presidential Election Petitions at the Court of Appeal. The Labour Party group under APC clandestine sponsorship has hurriedly and hastily addressed a media or written to the PEPT, urging it to “dismiss the pending case filed by the Party and its flag-bearer against the declaration of Mr. Ahmed Tinubu as “president-elect.” This is circumstantial evidence of the sponsorship. The moves as mentioned earlier, invite chaos and must be exposed.
Intersociety is concerned because Nigeria has become a country where anything may happen, especially under the present APC-controlled political dispensation. The Supreme Court declared a fourth-place finisher in a governorship poll “Governor of Imo State” before our eyes. After a controversial Catholic Bishop was presidentially hired to say, “I see hope coming to Imo State,” Therefore, if Nigeria’s Supreme Court could make a fourth-place finisher a governor by usurping INEC’s functions and awarding figures that never existed, is it not correct to say that the APC clandestinely sponsored LP’s factional leadership’s call on PEPT to throw away the Party and its flag-presidential bearer’s petition may judicially get through if allowed or not unmasked?
The remote macabre dance of APC in the Labor Party’s leadership crisis was similar to that of the then APGA over the Anambra Governorship Poll petition in 2004/2005, when PDP planted internal wrangling through the offering of bribes worth millions of naira to scuttle the petition, leading to the bought-over party leadership withdrawing its involvement and participation in the Petition and Court’s proceedings and expr The Judge Nabaruma-led Tribunal and Justice Mohammed-led Court of Appeal, Enugu Division overthrew the Ngige government in August 2005 and March 2006.
Signed
For: International Civil Liberties and Rule of Law (Intersociety)
Criminologist/Researcher Emeka Umeagbalasi
Board Chair @Intersociety,
Obianuju Joy Igboeli Esquire,
Head, Intersociety Civil Liberties and Rule of Law Program,
Chidinma Udegbunam Esquire,
Intersociety Campaign and Publicity Director.
Ositadinma Agu
Chief, International Relations and Mobilization, Intersociety.
