Ngor Okapala, Onyeagocha and Nonsonkwa

With the outcome of the recently held bye-election in Ngor Okpala, there is now this mantra that the people of the area have been “liberated” from the grip of a cabal that held them politically captive for years. There is a sense in this but I am somehow reluctant to describe the situation so precisely because it goes beyond just that. As far as I am concerned, the people of Ngor Okpala are perhaps the most republican among all the sections that make up the Imo society.

So, talks of bondage and liberation are, for me, more of superlatives than the precise state of affairs.

What happened was that some outsiders, of course in active connivance of some elements within, took advantage of the good nature of our people. I give one illustration. In 1999, there was an agreement between Ngor Okpala and Aboh Mbaise to rotate the Aboh Mbaise-Ngor Okpala federal constituency seat between the two areas. It was on the basis of this that Hon. Greg Egu, who won the election in 1999 on the platform of the then All Peoples Party (APP), stepped down after doing only one term between 1999 and 2003.

In 2003, Mr. Emeka Ihedioha of Mbutu town, in the Aboh Mbaise local government area, took over on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). What followed for the next twelve years is common knowledge; which is that Ihedioha did a straight twelve years, against the spirit of the earlier agreement between the two areas that make up the federal constituency.

Although that sabotage was in active connivance and collaboration with a section of the political elite in Ngor Okpala, there is a limit to which the latter can be blamed.

When an incumbent, ab initio, makes up his mind to cling to office, there is always a way to find excuses to go against the will of the people.  It is true that some of our people looked the other way but they probably were overwhelmed by the ferocity of an incumbent who had set his eyes on something. I am aware that in 2011, Ngor Okpala leaders unanimously rallied round an indigene of the area to take its turn but that became a tall order especially because that was the very season Ihedioha was positioning himself for the ultimate – the office of the deputy speaker of the House of Representatives.

This notwithstanding, the federal constituency seat issue was not, in my view, the major problem that confronted our people. The issue, as far as I am concerned, was that some elements outside the Aboh Mbaise-Ngor Okpala federal constituency, similarly taking advantage of the docile nature of our people, hung on them a toga of what they are not.

The general impression in the state is that Ngor OKpala people can be used to do odd political jobs especially electoral malfeasance. But nothing can be further from the truth. Take what happened during the 2011 general elections as an illustration.  Till date, there is this impression that it was Ngor Okpala that was used to stop Governor Ikedi Ohakim from going for a second term. But that is a big fallacy. What stopped Ohakim had absolutely nothing to do with Ngor Okpala.

Yes, there was no election within Ngor Okpala local government area on April 26, 2011, due to late arrival of materials, but that did not constitute an issue because the results were duly compiled without votes from Ngor Okpala, as is statutorily allowed, and Ohakim defeated his closest rival, Rochas Okorocha, squarely. But because the powers that be in Abuja did not want him back, they came up with the magic of a supplementary election, the first of its kind in the electoral history of Nigeria, where the plan was perfected.  It had nothing to do with Ngor Okpala contrary to the false narrative that the plan to stop Ohakim was hatched and executed with the connivance of and collaboration with the people of Ngor Okpala.

Unfortunately, some of our people innocently and naively accepted this false narrative and ascription because it suited a few so-called leaders in the area who wanted the rest of the state to see them as invincible. Today, it is not uncommon to see a typical Ngor Okapala youth beat his chest to boast of how his area can stop an aspirant from ascending to the office of governor of Imo state. With due respect, that is living in an exaggerated and false opinion of ourselves.

Thus, with the result of the last bye-election, those who fed on the wrong narratives about their own people have been stopped. Ngor Okpala people will henceforth be whom and what they are. Not accepting what they are not. No pretences, steadfast and honest and no more the toga of spoilers.

Yes, Ihedioha has a fair share of the blame for pursuing a personal ambition at the detriment of his Ime Nne – his mother is from Ngor Okpala – but there are people outside both Aboh Mbaise and Ngor Okpala who also used our people as cannon fodders in their political shenanigans. Here is another illustration: A bulk of the  so-called Owerri zone sees Ngor Okpala as part of the Owerri federal constituency. Once they mention Owerri North, Owerri West and Owerri Municipal, the next thing you would hear is “INCLUDING NGOR OKPALA”. But with the victory of APC in the bye-election under reference, the political lexicon has changed. Ngor Okapla can no longer just be included; it has become a power bloc on its own; to be courted and negotiated with.

Needless to say, a PDP victory in the last bye-election would not have achieved this for the people. A PDP victory would have meant a maintenance of the status quo; in the sense that the area would still be looked at through the prism of an Ihedioha who was wrongly beholden as the political oracle in Ngor Okpala and the alpha and omega of PDP. Similarly, a PDP victory would also have meant that some folks in the Owerri federal constituency would continue to see Ngor Okpala as an annexure of that bloc. Not anymore.

In any case, witness that the PDP could not find an Ngor Okpala indigene competent enough to head its campaign for the bye-election under reference. It drafted Senator Ezenwa Onyewuchi, a native of Orji in Owerri North, for that job; which goes without saying that a PDP victory would have been credited to him or people of his federal constituency. Conversely, the APC victory was home made. As is well known, the APC had a Director-General as well as a chairman of its campaign council both of who are Ngor Okpala indigenes.

Back to the election proper, it is not surprising that the PDP leveled allegations against the APC for manipulating the results using state power. It would have been strange if no such allegations were made. But the thing to note is that if the APC had a premeditated plan to manipulate the election using government machinery, it would have started in my own ward or in the of the ward of the PDP candidate. The PDP candidate won very handsomely in his ward.

The question then is, if APC had wanted to use government power, was he in a position to stand that? Coming to my own ward, which was the main battle ground, being the home of the honourable member representing Aboh Mbaise-Ngor Okpala in the house of representative, the APC would have similarly directed its arsenals there. But rather, it was the PDP that attempted to perpetrate an electoral heist in the ward. In my own booth, two PDP agents bolted away with the ballot box just about when voting was being concluded. But they were caught up with and overpowered by vigilant APC agents and the box was retrieved.

Two other PDP men grabbed the INEC ad hoc official handling the BVAS and made for the house of a chieftain of the party just adjacent to the polling area.

The BVAS handler was later rescued by a team of police men and brought to my house from where the INEC officials and the election materials were taken to the collation centre; even though I later heard that it was alleged that I opened the BVAS and altered its records before the material  were taken to the collations centre. Haba! Just a few days ago, I met a PDP chieftain in the state who told me that he laughed and laughed when he heard the story. He was amused because he knows I couldn’t have been involved in such a thing. How could that have happened? How could we or I, who had no training on the use of the BVAS, have succeeded in opening it and manipulating the records inside? Could even the INEC ad hoc officials, who were trained for probably just a few days, been able to manifest such ingenuity?

So long for the election, however. Recently, a popular radio presenter in Imo state, who goes by the stage name, Nonsonkwa, was sanctioned by the National Broadcasting Corporation (NBC) not only for unprofessional conduct but also for being a quack. But while Imolites, generally known for taking measured steps on issues, were trying to get fully acquainted with the development, a former secretary to the Imo state government, Hon. Uche Onyeagocha, characteristically jumped into the fray and accused Governor Hope Uzodimma of being the mastermind of the sanction. It is not a hidden matter that Hon. Onyeagocha is known for making ill digested comments but elsewhere, politicians of his standing would show proof of his allegation; such as a copy of a petition written by the governor or any member of his administration to the NBC.

Hon. Onyeagocha is also well known for lacking in both tact and sophistication in his utterances but assuming without conceding that the state government had a hand in the matter, was he suggesting that Imolites are not knowledgeable enough to know that a government or an individual has the right to seek redress against perceived wrong conduct of media practitioners that affect their wellbeing?

In the instant case, the NBC also sanctioned the media house, OZISA FM, under whose employment Nonsonkwa was practicing his quackery. Even though I generally rate electronic media practice in the state lowly, it is unfortunate that the station found itself in such a situation. In a state where there abound young men and women with even post graduate degrees in Mass Communication and Journalism, what were the owners of the radio house doing with a quack? We learnt that the NBC directed that the chap in question should proceed for formal training and that he can only be allowed to practice after a successful completion of his training. Agreed, a fellow can rise from a small beginning to the top but from available evidence, neither Nonsonkwa nor his employers made efforts to get him properly equipped for the job; a rather strange thing because the Catholic Church, which owns  the radio station, is known for running the best institutions the world over.

I can see more radio outfits in the state and their employees being sanctioned. In the course of my job as an orientation agent in the state, I have had the opportunity to advise some electronic media outfit managers on the need to caution their presenters against drifting on air. Most often, presenters of the numerous live phone-in programmes do all the talking themselves; voicing opinion that even the most vociferous critics would be reluctant to say on air. Worse, we often have a situation where a participant in a phone-in show would take over ten minutes hauling abuses on individuals, more so government officials, without the presenter or anchor calling him or her to order. However, this is hoping that relevant lessons have been learned from the instant case by all that are concerned.