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Nigeria: Political regulation theory-- The case of OGB in Imo State
Polycap Nnaji Garki, Abuja, Nigeria
Tuesday, January 17, 2004
It began just before the PDP National Assembly primaries, where Chief Ogbonnaya Uche, Chief Francis Arthur Nzeribe, Chief Douglas Acholonu, and Mrs. Catherine Acholonu were aspirants. Knowing fully well that OGB is the clear choice of Orlu people against Arthur Nzeribe, who was Governor Udenwa's choice, Udenwa and the Secretary to the State Government (SSG) Nze Ignatius Umunna started to fix the primaries. The following refers:
Unwholesome government influence on party primaries: Going by a series of events in the period preceding the primaries, there is abundant evidence that certain measures were put in place and some actions taken to project a particular candidate (Chief Arthur Nzeribe, the incumbent), thereby undermining the chances of a level-playing ground. The following instances refer:
The early signsShortly after Chief Arthur Nzeribe joined the party, rather dubious trinity posters of Obasanjo, Udenwa ,and Nzeribe were pasted all over the State. These posters were pasted freely within the Government House premises and in other public places in the State Capital. At a meeting of Orlu leaders held subsequently at the Multipurpose Hall, it was reported that the posters were pasted using a Government vehicle IMGH 130 (the official vehicle of Mr. Osakwe Ohaemesi -- the Personal Assistant to His Excellency Chief Achike Udenwa).
Pre-election signsFollowing the emergence of PDP delegates, a meeting of the zonal delegates was called by Chief Arthur Nzeribe on Sunday 15th December i.e. four days ahead of the senatorial primaries. Surprisingly some key agents of Government turned up at the meeting to address the said delegates. It is on record that some of these officials openly canvassed support for Chief Arthur Nzeribe, whom they proclaimed as the approved Government candidate for the Orlu senatorial seat come 2003. Specifically, Dr. Otuokere Njaka, Board chairman of Concord Hotels, and Mr. Green Iheka, PDP State Vice Chairman/Orlu Zonal Chairman, jointly advised delegates to vote for Chief Arthur Nzeribe in the forthcoming PDP primaries, stressing that Arthur Nzeribe was the specific choice of Chief Achike Udenwa and his endorsement is part of the package of the Orlu Agenda.
Election eveOn the eve of the senatorial primaries, i.e. Wednesday 18th December, 2002, a series of consultative meetings was held between State Executives and key party and Government functionaries to acquaint them of government interest in the impending primaries. Specifically the Government of Chief Achike Udenwa in conjunction with the leadership of the party in Orlu zone directed Transition Committee chairmen, PDP LGA chairmen, and government appointees to ensure that Chief Arthur Nzeribe is returned. Failure to do so would be visited with sanctions as the respective government appointees run the risk of losing government patronage including their appointments. Government also made available huge sums of money to the officials for distribution to delegates in their respective constituencies, most unexpectedly, on behalf of Chief Arthur Nzeribe.
Later the same day, further directives and disbursements were made at the house of the State PDP Vice Chairman/Orlu Zonal Chairman, Mr. Green Iheka. At that meeting, the government of Chief Achike Udenwa was represented by the Secretary to State Government, Nze Ignatius M. O. Umunna (who himself was persuaded by Chief Achike Udenwa to step down for Chief Arthur Nzeribe in the contest for the 2003 senatorial seat). It is on record that Nze Ignatius M. O. Umunna hitherto had collected senatorial nomination forms after paying the prescribed N1 million at the Standard Trust Bank, Owerri.
Election-day maneuversEven on the morning of Thursday 19th December, 2002, i.e. the very day of the senatorial primaries, the returning officers for the primaries were summoned to Imo Concord Hotel and briefed by some top government officials in conjunction with some party executives. Specifically, names of government candidates including Chief Arthur Nzeribe for Orlu senatorial ticket were made known to them. Understandably material incentives were provided to the said returning officers to ensure that the government candidates were returned without fail.
CONDUCT OF ORLU SENATORIAL PRIMARIESThe conduct of Orlu senatorial primaries were, to say the least, tainted with glaring irregularities, intimidation, deceit, open fraud, and corruption. The following examples refer:
Orlu Local Government AreaThis is the local government area of His Excellency Chief Achike Udenwa. There is evidence on video tape where government agents were directing voters to fill Arthur Nzeribe as the preferred candidate.
Oru West Local GovernmentThis is the local government area of the Secretary to the State Government Nze Ignatius M. O. Umunna. Government agents including the SSG himself, Chief Osita Izunaso -- the erstwhile Executive Assistant to His Excellency, and Mbadiwe Emelumba openly directed delegates to vote for Arthur Nzeribe as the government candidate.
Ohaji/Egbema Local Government AreaThere were no elections in this area. A report to this effect was lodged with the police. Surprisingly, Mr. Evaristus Igwe, the State Organizing Secretary of the party and a known protégé of Arthur Nzeribe who served as the returning officer in this LGA, is known to have turned in fake and ridiculous result in favour of Arthur Nzeribe and in keeping with Government mandate to deliver Arthur Nzeribe at all cost.
Nwangele Local Government AreaNo elections were held. But a result was produced in favour of Arthur Nzeribe.
Oguta Local Government AreaThis is the local government area of Chief Arthur Nzeribe. Here voters were harassed and asked to show their votes before casting. OGB agent was severely beaten and wounded on the orders of Chief Francis Arthur Nzeribe. The decampment to ANPP Following this illegal actions of the governor, OGB had no option but to quit PDP for another party. The morning after the PDP primaries, ANPP approached OGB and an agreement was reached to give OGB the ANPP ticket for Orlu senatorial seat unopposed. Despite the effort of Governor Udenwa and Chief Arthur Nzeribe to stop OGB from picking the ANPP ticket by paying the ANPP State Chairman Chief Edmund J. K. Onyewuchi a whooping N18 million naira (~ $145,000.00) bribe. It was well known in Imo State that Chief Onyewuchi was an agent of State PDP. He was in the government house payroll and lives in a house owned by Chief Emmanuel Iwuanyanwu, a member of PDP board of trustees.
The Secret Meeting at AmaifekeIn the evening of 31st December, 2002, there was a meeting held at Chief Achike Udenwa's country home at Amaifeke, Orlu LGA. In attendance were the governor himself, Nze Ignatius Umunna (SSG), Chief Festus Odimegwu ( Managing Director, Nigerian Breweries), Arthur Nzeribe, Dr. Udokwu (Chief of Staff to Udenwa) and senior officials of the INEC. In this meeting, Udenwa had asked the INEC officials what and how much it would cost to declare all the PDP candidates in Orlu zone winners in the forthcoming general election. INEC officials responded to them that it will not be possible without OGB in the deal. At this juncture, Chief Festus Odimegwu asked Udenwa, "If you know that this boy is very popular, why did you let him go?" There was dead silent in the room.
It was that night that Udenwa and Umunna (SSG) decided to regulate OGB out of politics. And for the fear that:
(1) OGB was in possession of documents implicating the governor in criminal activities dating back to his early days in Port Harcourt as a 419 kingpin, before joining MCC Company as an accountant and subsequent embezzlement of company funds which resulted in his sacking from the company.
(2) OGB was also in possession of document of all the properties Udenwa bought in Austin and Houston, Texas, Washington, DC and Virginia (USA), London, and Switzerland; also in possession of Udenwa's bank accounts in America, Switzerland, and London and his majority ownership of RHAS company -- managers of Imo Concord Hotel, Imo Standard Shoe Factory, and the multimillion-naira Orlu regional market and the N2 billion naira Imo Secretariat complex (under construction). This secretariat had an original contractual amount of N75 million naira per a building, but Udenwa inflated the contract to N175 million per building. There are more than twelve buildings in the complex.
(3) When OGB was the Commissioner for Commerce and Industry, he had on two occasions stopped Udenwa from transferring the money meant for his ministry to a foreign bank account with the help of a bank in Lagos. These episodes caused major fallout with his Commissioner and the subsequent transfer of OGB to the Ministry of Lands and Survey.
The Plot to Kill OGB Having failed in his attempt to stop OGB from picking the ANPP Imo West (Orlu) senatorial ticket, His Excellency Chief Achike Udenwa and Nze Ignatius Umunna (SSG) sought out the Government House hit man Mr. George Egu, who fronts as the political adviser to the governor. So in early January 2003, George Egu was summoned to the cabinet office, Owerri -- the office of Nze Ignatius Umunna, by Umunna himself. In this meeting George Egu was given the go ahead to assassinate OGB. Egu and Mr. Nwachukwu, who is the Director of Finance in the Cabinet Office, arranged to meet with Egu's trigger man. But the man declined, explaining that he had a New Year resolution never to engage in crime again. So they (Egu and Nwachukwu) contacted Mr. Ogueri (a.k.a. "Pastor") from Emii, Owerri North Local Government Area at his residence in Aba. Mr. Ogueri (Pastor) gladly accepted when Egu presented to him with an offer of N5.5 million for the job. He was brought to Owerri to meet with the Governor, Umunna, Chief Igwe ("Reagan Remedy") from Akaokwa, Ideato North LGA, whose wife is Okwesilieze Igwe (the PDP chairmanship candidate in Ideato North LGA). Mr. Ogueri was instructed to complete the job before 11th February, 2003 the last day that INEC set for the submission of candidate names by the political parties for the forthcoming general election -- to make sure that OGB's name would not go to the INEC.
Having received the order to kill OGB, Mr. Ogueri complained of the poor condition of his Mercedes 230E v-boot car to Mr. Egu. Egu and Nwachukwu took him to the Nekede mechanic village, where his car was fixed for the operation. On 8th February, they forced their way into OGB's house and went straight to his bedroom as if they had been visiting him. They met OGB in his bedroom and demanded some documents. When OGB enquired from them the documents they were looking for, they replied any government document in your possession and any paper concerning Chief Achike Udenwa. General BeliefIt is a shame and most dishonourable that the state machinery of a government to which OGB contributed immensely was used against him. It is pertinent to state here without equivocation that OGB had been a loyal member of PDP from the onset.
His immense contribution to the emergence of His Excellency Chief Achike Udenwa as governor on January 9th 1999 is not in doubt. In addition to setting up a logistics centre, which produced all the planning documentation for Udenwa's election, he was loyal to a fault in ensuring that Udenwa was not unduly rigged out. Against this background therefore, it is certain that OGB felt disappointed that the government in which he has served actively and contributed immensely to should allow its machinery to be used for such dishonourable act of providing uneven playing ground.
And at a tender age of 42 years, he was regulated out of politics with a bullet.
It is a shame!==========@@@@@@@=========
Editor's NOTE: KWENU has no way of crosschecking these submissions, but a news report from ThisDay of April 11, 2003 (see below) is very interesting and provides the official police version. Now, if at least one of those who killed OGB is "a top government official," inquiring minds will like to know how such a person became an armed robber in the run-up to to the reelection of his boss!
We publish the above piece because Nigerians no longer generally believe that these assassinations are the work of armed robbers who happened to be operating in the neighborhood -- as was again the case in Chief. A. K. Dikibo's murder. Even the Federal Government recently rejected the police conclusion that it was a "stray bullet" that nearly snuffed life out of NAFDAC's Dr. Dora Akunyili.
We also publish the official statement of Imo State Government signed by Nze I. M. O. Umunna.
You decide. ==========@@@@@@@=========
http://www.thisdayonline.com/archive/2003/04/11/20030411news06.html
=================================STATEMENT BY IMO STATE GOVERNMENT===================
OFFICE
OF THE SECRETARY TO THE STATE GOVERNMENT
A
STATEMENT BY IMO STATE GOVERNMENT ON THE KILLING OF CHIEF OGBONNAYA UCHE (OGB) For reasons yet to be clearly fathomed, the recent mindless and cowardly murders of Chief Ogbonnaya Uche (OGB) and Theodore Agwatu, principal secretary to the state Governor, have become veritable instruments of cheap propaganda by political opponents of the state government.
The State Government on her part has maintained stoic silence on these sad and unprecedented developments, largely due to the deep, devastating shock government functionaries suffered over the killings. We have continued to mourn the sudden and brutal demise of these men who at different times were part of this administration. In maintaining such dignified mournful silence, we also recognise that provocative and even emotional utterances, could one way or another impact on police investigations of the killings.
Unfortunately, political opponents, ostensible in a hurry to make political capital out of these beastly acts, have taken flight to the roof-tops, to unlash heinous propaganda against the State government . Some have gone to the out right criminal extent of directly accusing the State government of masterminding these killing. The arguments proffered their perpetrators.
In fact, one particular instance, one Chief Hope Uzodimma who claims to be the governorship candidate of A.D in Imo State, went as far as circulating fake documents to journalists in Abuja accusing State Government officials of killing OGB.
Not surprisingly, a few days after this, an illegal newspaper, "News network." was smuggled into the streets of Owerri with a banner headline on how Government killed OGB. IT HAS LONG DISCOVERED THAT TO ADDRESS AND TELEPHONE NUMBER ON THIS NEWSPAPER ARE NON-EXISTENT. As you all know, if the witch knows what happened to the child.
Government has also observed with dismay concerted efforts by some political opponents to unleash a regime of hardship on Imo citizens. One the 6th of this month, some political thugs vandalized transmission cables at Agbala near Owerri. Before NEPA could rectify the damage, they struck again on the night the Governor has his fundraising dinner. That was on Saturday March 14th. This time they broke down the high tension tower at Agbala on the Aloji- Owerri transmission line, throwing Imo State into darkness. Water supply to the state has also been disrupted as a result of this. Business and social life has since crumble and the Imo economy is the major victim. This is again happening a few days before a planned worker strike, on Monday. Surely, even the uninitiated can see through the game plan.
As such obviously demented minds continue to play to the gallery and seek to influence police investigations through wild and baseless allegations, it should begin to dawn on discerning minds that they may perhaps be playing out a script. It is a settled fact in conventional wisdom that those who by more than the bereaved are often the real suspects Again, experience has shown that in matters like this the guilty can sometimes be so afraid, if not jittery, that they jump the gun before the investigations are over, just to divert the attention of policy investigation. It is to be expected that the police is taking due cognisance of this curious drama even as investigation is on.
Imo citizens know fully well that this administration has been noted for its peaceful conduct of Governor. Gov. Udenwa has never been associated with violence. He won elections in 1999, neat and peaceful. Curiously, this spate of violence in Imo is coinciding with the entry into politics of men whose antecedents are questionable. It is not unlikely that these men are bringing their chequered heritage to bear in the heating up of Imo politics.
It is even more interesting to note that only last Friday nine supporters of the ANPP Governorship candidate in Imo State were arrested and arraigned in a Magistrate Court in Owerri for caring dangerous weapons. No doubt as events unfold, we shall soon know the politicians that are perpetrating violence in Imo State.
Government wants to assure all Imo citizens in particular and Nigerians in general that her hands are absolutely clean over these baseless allegations coming from perverted minds under the illusion that they will win elections through the unfortunate killing of OGB.
We remain convinced that sooner rather than later the police will unmask the killers of OGB and Agwatu. Surely history will vindicate the just and Imo people will know the true murderers.
May the souls of the departed rest in peace, Amen.
Signed
NZE I. M. O. UMMUNAH Secretary, Imo State Government
SECRETARY TO THE STATE GOVERNMENT.
Culled from: http://www.geocities.com/pdpimostatecitizens/
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