{"id":21813,"date":"2018-10-24T19:16:44","date_gmt":"2018-10-24T19:16:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.imotrumpeta.com\/?p=21813"},"modified":"2018-10-24T19:16:44","modified_gmt":"2018-10-24T19:16:44","slug":"who-even-introduced-automatic-tickets-in-imo-apc","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.imotrumpeta.com\/?p=21813","title":{"rendered":"WHO EVEN INTRODUCED AUTOMATIC TICKETS IN IMO APC?"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"oga-kcc2\"<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Monday, the 22nd of October, 2018 was a regular opening day of a\u00a0working week in Owerri. As usual, residents of the state capital early in the day, jumped onto available motorable roads to undertake\u00a0various engagements.<\/p>\n

But before mid day, an obstruction had ensued at major roads barring easy movements. Road users couldn\u2019t move or operate again, especially for those who wanted to use the popular Assumpta Avenue spreading to Bank Road, Okigwe Road and Whetheral Road were worst hit as a circle formed by a group of protesters\u00a0at\u00a0the Government House Roundabout caused serious gridlock.<\/p>\n

A witness in a social media post I copied has this to say about the incident;<\/p>\n

\u201cComing back from World Bank Owerri earlier today, at Bank Road, I saw some guys smoking cigarettes and weed walking around the main road. As I enquired to know what was happening I saw another set of youths carrying placards with inscription “No Uju, No APC”.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt this point I was anxious to know what was happening, inside the Mini bus people started saying Okorocha and his people are doing protest and the hold-up was so much that I had to come down from the car to know what was happening, to my surprise I saw speakers numbering like 30 mounted around Okigwe Road roundabout.<\/p>\n

\u201cOne man was speaking and urging APC national chairman and NWC to reverse the names of Uche Nwosu, Uju Kingsley, Nnamdi Obiaraeri, Paschal Obi and Simeon Iwunze as authentic flag bearer’s of APC in Imo, I saw those guys smoking earlier with APC flag chanting “them no go gree oo” them no go gree ”<\/p>\n

\u201cAfter watching what happened today, I started asking myself, is this end of the emperor? A sitting governor taking his Party to court, a sitting governor mobilizing touts to cause traffic in Owerri in the name of protest, very shameful\u201d<\/p>\n

The account of the witness as was part of the nightmarish experience residents underwent that uneventful Monday.<\/p>\n

Reports have it that apparently irked over the absence of some names missing from\u00a0 the list, the All Progressives Congress, APC, submitted to the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, sympathizers of the Imo State Governor, Owelle Rochas Okorocha took to the road for a protest against the party leadership in Abuja. Okorocha had earlier picked and endorsed for National Assembly elective positions, certain profiled politicians either serving in his cabinet or his soul mates in the Rescue Mission political platform.<\/p>\n

From the final list submitted to the INEC by APC secretariat before the October 18 deadline, crucial names from the governor’s political camp, otherwise known as the Rescue Mission could not make it. The development precipitated a spontaneous<\/p>\n

street protest in Owerri with sympathizers of Governor Okorocha who trooped out en masse for the street show.<\/p>\n

The crux of the matter centered on the inability of those the state governor had unilaterally picked and endorsed to fly APC tickets for the 2019 election not finally getting the nod of the NWC to be party\u2019s candidate. Okorocha had in the past selected acolytes for each of the positions ranging from that of\u00a0Governorship to Senate of the three senatorial zones. Also, those for House of Reps and State House of Assembly were also handpicked for onward advance to the national party secretariat as candidates.<\/p>\n

But the turnout of events became awry for the Okorocha’s followers after the Thursday, October 18 deadline INEC gave parties for submission of National Assembly candidates, when it was discovered that names of the supposed anointed persons from his camp could not sail through.<\/p>\n

Therefore, one of the highlights of the Government House, Owerri, Roundabout showpiece was the lamentations of the Rescue Missionaries as the Okorocha’s followers are fondly called.<\/p>\n

The anti Oshiomole protesters asked\u00a0that the APC, NWC must quickly reverse its automatic ticket caveat to National Assembly incumbent members of the party so that their own adopted nominees made up of\u00a0 Nnamdi Obiaraeri, a university don, Uju Kingsley Chima, Paschal Obi and Simon Iwunze\u00a0 dropped appointees who earlier got the nod of\u00a0 Okorocha for the positions should be handed the tickets. While Obaraeri and Uju lost the tickets for the\u00a0 Senate of Okigwe Zone and Ohaji\/Egbema, Oguta and Oru West Federal constituency to Benjamin Uwajumogu and Goodluck Nanah Opiah respectively, another incumbent, Austin Chukwukere didn’t allow another anointed candidate of Okorocha for his Ideato Federal constituency; Paschal Obi get a ticket. Similarly, another crony of the governor, Simeon Iwunze, failed to have his name in\u00a0 after initial signal that he had the ticket, as a woman, Mirian Onuaha was successful.<\/p>\n

Feelers from the\u00a0 organizers of the Owerri protests are that it is not only intended to persuade the NWC of APC recognize the apostles of\u00a0 Rescue Mission faction of Imo APC seeking for tickets as the popular camp, but also frown at the automatic ticket stance which brings to the fore the issue of Automatic Ticket in Imo APC.<\/p>\n

Oshiomole mulled the Automatic Ticket disposition when quantum of defections hit the APC in the National Assembly. Following the departure of the party’s National Assembly members from APC to other rival parties, the NWC opted for a free Second Term ticket\u00a0as a means of keeping\u00a0hold of the remaining party members willing to remain with the broom party.<\/p>\n

It wasn’t surprising that Uwajumogu, Opiah, Chukwukere, Raphael Nnanah Igbokwe and\u00a0 \u00a0Chike Okafor got a back to back ticket of APC to the National Assembly as serving lawmakers.<\/p>\n

While this commentary has no intention to dwell on the processes leading to the emergence of the candidates and how the APC chose to arrive at the names submitted to the INEC since the party has constitution guiding its operations, it amounts to dissimulation on the part of Okorocha and his followers to raise eyebrows about Automatic Ticket if the manner leading to the emergence of\u00a0those they had wanted their names listed to INEC as authentic candidates\u00a0is considered. Moreover, Okorocha’s knack for disregard to due process, rule of law and flagrant abuse of laid down procedures in choosing the said\u00a0persons and others from his camp remain an aberration to democracy.\u00a0 There is no gainsaying the fact that Okorocha is the architect of the “automatic ticket”\u00a0his followers protested against on the said day.<\/p>\n

Except the Rescue Mission followers are exponents of hypocrisy, their reasons for calling the NWC members unprintable names in the Imo case may not be unconnected to the fact that few of the beneficiaries of the APC National Assembly tickets were not part of the Okorocha’s Automatic Ticket beneficiaries he had earlier applied in picking his candidates.<\/p>\n

Going memory lane, all the 2015 election candidates of APC were those the governor penned down in line with the policy his associates are kicking against today. More pronounced was the case of governorship ticket of the party. Four years ago, watchers of politics in the state can vividly recall that no primaries was held for the election of any candidate for the governorship. Okorocha who was the beneficiary had put his eyes on presidency race with no one contesting the party’s ticket for governorship. It was left open without a contestant. Ironically, the moment Okorocha lost the ticket to Buhari, news filtered in minutes later that APC Guber primaries has held and son in-law to the governor, Uche Nwosu emerged winner. The next second was the breaking news that Nwosu surrendered the ticket to Okorocha to run for the plum position for a second time. Meanwhile, the contest for the primaries was not a public one and not even open to APC members and die hard followers of the governor. The end result was granting of an automatic ticket to Okorocha through subtle means.<\/p>\n

As the build up to the 2019 elections\u00a0 commenced, indications that Okorocha is favourably disposed to automatic ticket emerged when he created factions in Imo APC family by inventing “Agburu” brand of politics\u00a0which initiated division and associated schisms within the rank and file of the party. The governor attempted to exclude those opposed to his desire to pocket the soul of the party and even went further to boast of “retiring”\u00a0egg heads of the\u00a0 \u00a0party because of differences in the battle for the control of the structures.<\/p>\n

At the various meetings of the Agburu Rochas political camp also known as the Rescue Mission faction of APC, the outcome, it was gathered that the governor’s unilateral decision to handpick anointed aspirants among the lot seeking for elective positions for 2019 elections dominated proceedings. Some of those whose names finally made the list of APC to INEC are also products of the Okorocha’s automatic ticket policy.<\/p>\n

For instance, as part of the game plan to entice and hook\u00a0his second in command, the Deputy Governor, Eze Madumere\u00a0into backing the attempt to have his son in-law become next governor of Imo State, Okorocha promised an automatic ticket of Owerri Zone senatorial ticket to him. Addressing journalists at a press parley concerning those opposed to his desire to allegedly “colonize” and make his son in-law successor,\u00a0the governor revealed how he promised to make Madumere Owerri Zone senator through APC. If that plot had worked, doesn\u2019t it amount to Automatic Ticket? After that\u00a0failed attempt, one of his commissioners, Emma Ojinere received Okorocha’s automatic ticket anointment, today, Ojinere’s name and others adopted in the Okorocha\u2019s Agburu camp made it confirming the origin of automatic ticket in Imo APC.<\/p>\n

Impeccable sources have it that in one of such meetings preceding the collection of nomination forms, Okorocha reeled out names of the beneficiaries of his supposed automatic ticket. In most cases he was reported to have asked some of the aspirants to drop their ambitions for the benefit of the anointed\u00a0ones the tickets have been reserved for in the APC system.<\/p>\n

For the Owerri Federal Constituency race, three loyalists of the Governor; Obinna Mbata, Chukwuemeka ILoyd and Mike Umezuruike showed interest but Mbata emerged through the automatic ticket principle in his camp. Majority of House of Reps aspirants\u00a0 Okorocha backed were products of automatic tickets in the Rescue\u00a0 Mission camp of the governor.<\/p>\n

Details of how members of the Agburu political camp were asked to abandon their return ticket ambitions to the Imo State House of Assembly are still fresh. In the spirit of automatic tickets, the likes Emmanuel Orie ( Ohaji\/Egbema), Uche Ejiogu (Ihittee\/Uboma) Chinedu Offor (Onuimo) Chika Madumere (Nkwerre) Marx Odunze (Orlu) Onyewuchi Ikonne (Owerri West) and others were asked to quit and allow Okorocha\u2019s automatic ticket holders run the race.<\/p>\n

I will liken the Rescue Missionaries and their heads as blatant hypocrites judging from the recent development in Imo APC. They share same ideology with acclaimed communist oriented governments who condemn oppression and uphold themselves as \u201cLiberators\u201d and champions of justice\u201d and yet communist regimes have been the most oppressive in all of history. No other regimes have imprisoned as many people, executed as many victims, deliberately starved so many millions, erected huge institutions of oppression, etc.<\/p>\n

This commentary can\u2019t end without recalling one of the famous quotes of Francos de la Roche Foucauld, a French thinker of the old who came up during his time to state that \u201cHypocrisy is the homage vice pays to virtue\u201d.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

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