By Sunday Ani
Youths from Ohaji Egbema Local Government Area of Imo yesterday, stormed the state’s Government House, Owerri, to protest against alleged plan to manipulate the upcoming chairmanship election in the area.
The protesters, who stormed Owerri in their hundreds, accused a former minister of state for Education, Mr. Goodluck Opiah, of plans to manipulate the election in favour of his preferred candidate.
Leader of the group, Mr. Lucky Onyiri, told newsmen that “the people of Awarra Court Area are sick of Opiah’s undue interference in our activities.”
But Opiah described the allegation as mischievous, saying, “as a member of the All Progressives Congress (APC), zoning of party offices is a party affair.”
Onyiri alleged that Opiah was conniving with the sole administrator of the local government area, Chief Princewill Onyeaju, to impose an unpopular candidate on the people.
According to him, the people of Awarra Court Area were carrying out the protest because they know that the former minister for state wants to control the area due to its rich oil and gas deposits.
“Opiah tried to manipulate the chairmanship election which was earlier zoned to Awarra Court Area by Chief Charles Orie and other stakeholders of Ohaji/Egbema, including Prof. Vitalis Nwulu.
“He manipulated the newly appointed Sole Administrator to appoint new Presidents-General without proper consultation because he wants to control the oil and gas business in Ohaji/Egbema.
“Our protest is a strong warning to the leaders to stay away from trying to manipulate the process and instigating crisis in Ohaji/Egbema in the face of severe insecurity,” Onyiri stated.
He appealed to Governor Hope Uzodinma to sack the sole administrator, adding that they were not against the directive on the conduct of free and credible local government elections in the state.
He further urged the governor to urgently intervene in the matter to stop Opiah and Onyeaju from unduly interfering in the election.
The protesters, who caused traffic gridlock in Owerri, the state capital, carried placards with varying inscriptions including: “The people’s Gov should remove onyeaju as sole administrator of Ohaji Egbema LGA,” “Abacheke in Ohaji Egbema is on fire because of Opiah,” “Opiah should steer clear of Ohaji Egbema,” and “Opiah should go and make peace in his community, Abacheke.”
Receiving the protesters at the Government House Owerri, the Chief of Staff to the Governor, Mr. Nnamdi Anyaehie, who led some other government functionaries, assured them that the government would respond positively to their demands.
In a telephone reaction, Opiah explained that since 1999, elective political seats in the area have usually been shared between Ohaji and Egbema districts.
According to him, when an Ohaji man occupies the House of Assembly, the Egbama man occupies the local government area.
“So, if it is zoned to Ohaji, the three zones in Ohaji will have to decide, and if it is zoned to Egbema, the three zones in Egbema will equally have to decide where the candidate will emerge from.
“There is no issue of marginalisation because at one point or the other, each of the three zones in Ohaji and Egbema has always produced one person or the other for elective positions.
“This is a democracy where nobody lords his opinion over the other person. There is no high handedness, no imposition and there is no cause for alarm,” Opiah maintained.
The Imo State Government had announced September 21 as the date for the conduct of elections into the 27 local government areas in the state.
The post LG chairmanship: Ohaji/Egbema youths protest against ex-minister, administrator appeared first on The Sun Nigeria.