My bosom friend of decades, my boss and benefactor, Steve Nwosu, writes a scintillating column, called Frank Talk. It is unarguably one of the best written columns in our clime. Incisive, humorous, and boldly frank, Frank Talk tells it as it is, with prosaic flowery delivery, yet with great punch and panache. That is what ranks Steve Nwosu as one of the best wordsmiths of our time whom God has often used to deliver me from career cul de sac.
So, when I set out to write this article, I could not think of any other headline because it is all about a frank story, as could be told by a non-politician; no more, no less.
The frank story has to do with my beleaguered state, Imo, which is often in the news for the wrong political reasons. After the last tragi-comic drama in Douglas House, the bewildered natives were yet to heave a sigh of relief from the ‘iberiberism’, before things skidded out of control on a dizzy scale. The most annoying thing is that the state has become a meal ticket for bohemian political tradesmen, creaming the state of monies that could be deployed to making lives better. Sadly, this is wasted on political battles that could have been resolved behind closed doors, as the buccaneers urge brothers on against brothers.
That is how the state has been set up for yet another battle. Although this time, it is restricted to a section of the state, Imo North, the ripples reverberate state-wide, needlessly dragging the governor and a minister into the fray.
The trouble began with the unfortunate death of Senator Ben Uwajumogu, the senator representing the zone in the Ninth Senate, before the end of his tenure thus necessitating a by-election, holding on October 31 this year. As usual, all manner of politicians have thrown their hats into the ring. However, the problem is really with the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), where losers in the primaries, obviously goaded by monetary swagger and conceit, refuse to come to terms with their loss and seem hell-bent on scuttling the party’s chances. Sadly, money has actually bought some souls and accentuated the cinders hatred among brethren.
It all began with the suspicious disqualification of some aspirants and confirmation by appeal committee under cloudy circumstances. Among those controversially disqualified on trumped-up claims was the front runner from the blast of the whistle, who had even emerged as consensus candidate in an exercise all aspirants willingly participated in but later reneged on. It is suspected that inordinate fortune hunters induced the development. The party, which had the final say in the matter, caught wind of the unfair dealings and decided to ignore the trashy recommendation, thereby throwing the race open for all contestants.
Having failed, the untiring tricksters went after the party committee mandated to supervise the primaries and divided its ranks.
A smelly can of worms was emptied on the exercise when, announcing the result of the primary election, committee chairman, Senator Surajudeen Ajibola Bashiru, disclosed that three of his seven-member committee absconded from their hotel rooms and, therefore, could not take part in the process that produced the eventual winner, Sir Frank Ibezim. Bashiru had explained: “Although we had a seven-man committee, since Thursday afternoon, I haven’t set my eyes on three members of the committee and as you know the rule of the committee, it is operated on a simple majority. I am the chairman and I have a secretary and two other members with me, which helped us to form a quorum to be able to do our work.
“The work started with the seven members until about noon on Thursday after the election was almost completed in all the 64 wards where the election held. The report we presented showed the composition of the committee and the engagement of stakeholders in Imo State. The election was conducted free and fair. There was no rancour. It was monitored by the Independent National Electoral Commission and the police and other security agencies. We didn’t receive any adverse report of a violent incident.”
However, Alhaji Umar Gana, one of the three ‘missing’ members, later resurfaced but instead of explaining his whereabouts, he was clutching a different result in favour of Chief Ifeanyi Araraume. The macabre dance gathered momentum when another contestant, Chidinma Uwajumogu, also claimed victory from her own primaries, though the party said there were no parallel primaries in the state.
Gana accused Senator Bashiru and others of staying in their hotel rooms to write result sheets instead of visiting any of the 64 wards where the direct primaries were held. But here was a man who, according to the committee chairman, was part of the exercise until his mysterious disappearance. Funnily, Gana also admitted that the results he submitted were not written on the results sheets given to the primary election committee by the interim leadership, led by Governor Mai Mala Buni of Yobe State, but on ordinary sheets of paper.
Nonetheless, the party could not be hoodwinked by the shenanigans and rightly upheld the report of the committee chairman whose exercise was supervised by both INEC and security officials, unlike Gana’s and Uwajumogu’s. This is not the end of the matter yet, as a group has gone to court, with many others applying to be joined in the suit.
It is really intriguing that somebody could be laying claim to a position to which he is not entitled simply because some absconding mischief-makers wrote his name on a roadside akara seller’s paper, in an apparent charade with neither INEC nor security officials as witnesses. Nigeria has since grown beyond this poorly scripted, macabre Nollywood drama by unschooled actors. Come to think of it, when an assignment is given to seven people and three decide to go have some fun elsewhere, abandoning their job, which the majority completed, what then is the case? The party’s hammer should have descended on the aberrant trio for playing truancy in old age.
My worry though is that despite rightly approaching the court of law, these die-hard losers are still sponsoring known political jobbers to carry placards, disturbing public peace. If not that, perhaps, Governor Hope Uzodinma would be accused of high-handedness, there was no reason the bedraggled motley crowd should not have been arrested for incitement and mischief. However, this common ‘politrick’ is dead on arrival. I don’t think the respected lordships would allow themselves to be arm-twisted and succumb to blackmail. One of the core reasons Imo has not yet got its bearing is the unhelpful practice of ‘your money, our vote’, resulting in the sale of conscience. Some money-miss-road people, who should deploy their wealth to better the lives of the people, only wait for election time before doling out handouts to miscreants to cause confusion. It won’t work this time because indeed a Daniel (sorry, Frank) has come to judgement. Okigwe is at the threshold of history, and October 31 is the date anointed for the reinvention of the zone. Not even those who trust in the power of money or horses and chariots of other gods can abort it because Ibezim’s camp remembers nothing but the Name of the Lord, and in that remains ever content and confident. So, let the frank story be proclaimed from the mountaintop, upon the hills and valleys that this is the man.
Frankly speaking, the FRANK STORY is not just about Frank Ibezim. That is why Team Frank has largely ignored the noisemaking in the backwaters and focused on its campaign, combing all crannies of Imo North to sell his candidature. Ultimately, Imo North shall surely know and jubilate that Ibezim’s head is fitly made for the crown. The FRANK STORY is one that no power can stop.
The FRANK STORY is on and, like an angry gale, it shall sweep through every home and hamlet and by the time votes are counted on October 31, there is no gainsaying that the rewriting of the history of Imo North and reinvention of the area will have started in earnest. That is the FRANK STORY being told convincingly, with zeal and candour, as no other story was ever told in the annals of Okigwe Zone. Be part of it!