The journey of a thousand miles, an adage says, begins with one step. This could be said of the 2019 general election that actually began on May 29, 2015. The journey to February 16 began when the President Muhammadu Buhari government was installed, not the day the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) officially lifted the lid on politics.
Incidentally, it is like that date with history took long in coming. However, it is here with us at last, mere five days away. It would be a time to elect backwardness or progress, stagnancy or advancement, mediocrity or meritocracy.
One clear thing no one will take away from these politicians is the fact that some of them have all worked hard, even the purported sickly among them, traversing from coast to coast during their campaigns and laying bare their scorecards and future plans, if elected, regardless of the also-rans, doing their masters’ spoilers’ bidding. Most of them were deceived by the mammoth crowd that thronged their campaign venues, which they mistook for supporters and may be grossly disappointed with the outcome of a fair deal.
Actually, a greater number of these crowds came to see the scarce faces of the August visitors that last visited four years ago. They wanted to see if these people that caused their pain or gain were humans or spirit. Some came to see the grit and determination of this rare breed of men, surmising that whatever made them to ramble through the horrific roads to the communities must be dear to them. And, of course, some came because of the rent they collected to swell the same amoebic crowds that haunted different campaign rallies.
The electorate have suddenly become important and this is the time to go for the kill, a time to utilise their power to maximum advantage. Imo people, particularly, now have opportunity to shred tragicomedy in governance. They now have a chance to entomb swashbuckling perfidy and all that is associated with it. All its vestiges must be dismantled, from the state government where it is angling to install a puppeteer juvenile governance to rentier outposts of stillborn dynasty, which hopes to bag the likes of Okigwe South Federal Constituency as outlier colonies.
Thankfully, the people are alive in spirit and energised in the flesh. They have howled in one unmitigated voice, “Tufiakwa! May our eyes not behold our ears.” That is why the majority have queued behind Hon. Chukwuemeka Nwajiuba, fondly called HCN, and doing everything to bring the lost to reason to ensure a near unanimity in the choice of this colossus whose giant strides have capacity and punch to elevate the constituency.
It is his capacity that has made him the target of villainy. Nwajiuba, a chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC), was forced to run on the platform of Accord Party by an amalgam of evil. Unfortunately for his traducers, rather than deplete his wide network of support in both the APC, the chicanery by the powers that be in the party actually gave him a tremendous fillip, as he added Accord Party to his groundswell support base. He is well connected to the national power grid (not electricity, but real power, where decisions affecting even electricity are made). He is President Buhari’s man and enjoys unrivalled connection anywhere power talks across the nation.
The pedigree of this lawyer-turned-politician and former lawmaker is awesome. He holds a doctorate degree in law and is thus equipped in the nitty-gritty of lawmaking. This has made the race that of Nwajiuba versus the rest contestants but he is still poles ahead.
Okigwe South cannot miss this epochal opportunity by going to Sokoto to search for something inside their sokoto. That will be odd and foolhardy, especially when the Sokoto quest is a puerile and infantile contraption of foreigner landlords. And if it is not foolish to make a stranger the landlord of their patrimony, I wonder what is.
Surely, Okigwe South is endowed with discerning men, who have read through the lines of the army of hireling contenders with sole purpose to stop Nwajiuba. They know that this is their life and destiny; their today and their children’s future that must not be mortgaged under any circumstance. HCN is the only man that can get to the root of the many abandoned projects, littering the constituency many of which have been fully paid for. This is the only man that can call the receding government of Okorocha to provide answers to the whereabouts of the equipment of Nsu Tiles its agents carted away, resulting in the resonating refrain, “#BringBackNsuTiles”!
Nwajiuba’s Victory Campaign Movement combed through the nooks and crannies of the constituency and now has firsthand report of the rot caused by timid representation of a constituency that could be the food basket of Imo State, and Nigeria. It has no access roads, no electricity supply, no potable water, nothing.
Nwajiuba’s quest also seeks to rectify the anomaly in the constituency, comprising three local governments, Ehime Mbano, Ihitte Uboma and Obowo. Currently, the Senate and House of Representatives seats are occupied by Ihitte Uboma and Obowo, respectively. This means that the two local governments that constituted the old Etiti are in control of the two seats, leaving Ehime Mbano bereft. Therefore, in the name of equity and justice, it is only fair that one of the seats be relinquished and, strategically, Ehime Mbano has opted for the House of Representatives. Thankfully, lovers of truth and justice, even from Obowo, have queued behind Nwajiuba so that greed does not bring bad blood into brotherly affinity.
Nwajiuba is tested and proven. He has outlined his mission to the House in a social contract he signed with the people, touching everything that is at the soul of Okigwe South. His proposed People’s Assembly is novel and unique and will for once make representatives accessible and accountable. He promises to empower youths through skill acquisition and job placements. He has big dreams for farmers and agriculture, including the inclement ecology for which he would move for declaration of state of emergency in the area, and many more altruistic desires.
The trump card is his likely elevation to the number one position in the House. Incidentally, he is number one on the INEC list of contestants, his party, Accord Party, is also number one on the ballot paper. This is more than coincidence but rather an indication that there may be divine seal on this. Therefore, as you cast your vote for the number one on the ballot, you would invariably be pushing HCN to the number one position in the House. This accomplishment cannot but make Okigwe South the Nazareth of our time. Only wise Okigwe South sons or daughters can make that milestone possible. And, borrowing from the slogan of Nsu Economic Council, together Okigwe South will achieve much more. Ya gazie!