Few months into Governor Hope Uzodinma’s government in Imo State, disquiet has ensued in Ngor Okpala Local Government Area over alleged lopsided Appointments by the governor in the Area.
The President of Ngor Okpala United Front, comrade Emmanuel Onyeukwu, who spoke on behalf of the group while fielding questions from journalists in Owerri on Thursday faulted the governor’s ‘decision , adding that out of the five Court Areas in the local government ,only one, -Okpala court area, wards one and four had benefited from the governor’s appointments .
According to him, “Worst still is the fact that all those appointed are members of the CAMPHOPE organization. The trend is like that in almost all the local government areas in the state. I wonder who is advising the governor on some of these things.”
Comrade Onyeukwu, regretted that in -spite of their collective efforts in ensuring the victory of APC, the governor failed to recognize any other group than his loyalists in Camp Hope.
On his local government area, he lamented that some of the other Court Areas had for long suffered marginalization from successive administrations and urged the governor to look into it for justice and fair play and to consult with the people on issues that concern them.
He said, the Apex leader in Ngor Okpala is supposed to be Sir George Eche, deputized by Dr TOE Ekechi. Chief Barr Enyinna is the only APC party state executive from Ngor-Okpala and he wondered if any of these gentlemen were contacted before the appointments were made. “Our people want to know if Ngor-Okpala leaders were consulted before this lopsided list came out.”
“What of If elections were to HOD tomorrow, would these two wards alone deliver the governor or any other APC candidate in Ngor Okpala? Our governor should know that he has been misled and these anomalies need to be corrected as soon as possible.”
Onyeukwu said “while we commend the governor for the appointment given so far, we appeal that an embargo be placed on these 2 wards so that other wards can as well benefit.”
Moreover, the member representing Ngor-Okpala in Imo State House of Assembly is also from the same area, ward 4 to be precise.
“So among other court areas Okpala houses ward 1 and ward 4 are the beneficiaries of the present Gov Hope Uzodinma’s appointees. Barr Enyinaya Onuegbu and Mrs Chika Ibekwe are from ward 4 while Blyden Amajirionwu and Chimezie Nwaeke are from ward 1. Ngor-Okpala has eleven wards, with the present appointments 9 wards are left without a single appointment so far.
Some party members who pleaded anonymity said they want another set of loyalists to have a taste of the power they wrested from the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in 2020.
Sources revealed that a sizeable chunk of the party members who were in court everyday from from tribunal to Supreme Court and played key roles to bring Uzodinma to power are feeling betrayed and abandoned.
