Uchechukwu Okoroafor, Abuja
The dictatorship of some governors in Nigeria knows no bounds. They have scant regard for the opposition. In their quest for power by all means they set out to suffocate the opposition. This exists at the national level but it gets worst in the states.
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Some of the worst examples was Rivers State under the leadership of former governor Nyesom Wike and in Lagos State under Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu where the opposition parties were denied space to fix their campaign billboards during the 2023 general election campaign and in the case of Rivers they were also denied access to government venues like schools, stadium, unless they made hefty payments in millions of naira.
Ahead of the November governorship election in Imo State, Governor Hope Uzodimma, has also exhibited his intolerance of the opposition by demanding that opposition parties must pay the sum of N54 million to obtain permission to erect campaign structures in the state.
This unfortunate development came to the fore when recently, the chairmen of the opposition parties, consisting of Accord Party, PDP, Labour Party, APGA, Action Alliance, ADC, NNPP, SDP, YPP, ADC, and APP, made this known through their spokesman, Chief Uchendu Ahaneku, when they addressed newsmen in Owerri, the Imo State capital. They operate under the aegis of the Inter-Party Advisory Council (IPAC-G12) Imo State, comprising 12 political parties in the state.
Describing the fee as outrageous, the chairmen also said that the move represents an attempt by the state government to stifle opposition and ensure that only the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) was given a space to breathe in the state.
In a document that emanated from the Imo Signage and Advertisement Agency (IMSAA) and signed by its general manager, political parties were instructed to seek a permit with the sum of N54 million before mounting campaign structures, including billboards, posters and other means.
Titled, “‘Schedule of Rates and Terms for Political Advertising and Ancillary Signage Displays in Imo State for Gubernatorial Campaigns 2023,’” the document also mandated candidates to pay the sum of N100,000 as Form/Processing Fee; N50,000 for site inspection and N150,000 as approval fee.
The document also came with the stipulation that IMSAA reserves the right to reject approval of the erection of campaign structures even after the payments.
To put it mildly this policy is obnoxious, violates the Electoral Act and Constitution of Nigeria. This issue is not only peculiar to Imo State, therefore there is the need for the federal government, in this case President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, who is yet to have an attorney general and minister of justice to call Uzodimma to order, because what he is doing is a violation of the electoral act and the constitution. The attitude of some of the state governors constitute present danger to our democracy if their excesses are left unchecked.
On Uzodimma himself, he should remove his knees on the neck of the opposition and allow them to breathe. Democracy is nothing without the rule of law. What he is doing is averse to the rule of law and Nigeria being a nation of laws he cannot be a law unto himself. The political space muse be opened up in Imo State preparatory to the November’s governorship election.
In Abia State it appears that the former ruling party in the state, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) is yet to come to terms with the fact that its ruinous years in power in the state is over. The party seems to have forgotten that they are the reason why Abia State is a laughing stock among comity of states in Nigeria in terms of development.
Governor Alex Otti has recently been elected to rebuild Abia that was destroyed by PDP in its over two decades in power and does not need any distraction from anybody, the least of which being the PDP.
Recently, a former majority leader of Abia State House of Assembly, Hon Solomon Akpulonu, went public criticizing the leadership of Abia State House of Assembly claiming that the corrupt and thieving PDP should have been allowed to form the leadership in the House claiming that they have majority of the members. Obviously running when no one is pursuing him, he was shouting that he was being intimidated by the leadership of the House that is rightly at the control of the Labour Party. We support the action taken by the speaker of the Abia State House of Assembly to contain his rascality.
The speaker of the House, Hon Emmanuel Emeruwa, had during plenary, recently announced the suspension of Akpulonu for allegedly inciting other members against the leadership of the House. According to the speaker, Akpulonu, a fourth term lawmaker and the longest serving member of the 8th Assembly, committed the offence by addressing the press without clearance from the leadership of the House.
Akpulonu is misguided in his insistence that there is no way the majority party in the House will become the minority saying that he would continue to speak out against the ‘injustice’ until it is addressed.
The PDP has since June been protesting against the House’s appointments of members of LP and the Young Progressives Party (YPP) as the majority leader, deputy majority leader, chief whip, and deputy chief whip.
The former ruling party has persistently argued that with 11 members against LP’s 10, YPP two, and the All Progressives Congress one in the 24-member House, it should be allowed to produce the officers. Akpulonu is yet to come to terms with the fact that Abia people have rejected PDP and in any case with YPP and LP working harmoniously in the interest of the state they are the majority compared to the PDP’s 11-member lawmakers.
The sorry state that the PDP left Abia State does not give room for unnecessary partisanship that is being fueled by Akpulonu and his sponsors. Abia State is a failed state, failed by the PDP. It is unfortunate that PDP which should hid its face in shame in Abia State is unnecessarily drawing attention to itself all in the name of seeking for House leadership. What Abia needs from the state House of Assembly is an Assembly that would provide maximum support to Governor Alex Otti in his rescue mission in the state.