By Gideon Njoku
The Rt. Hon. Emeka Ihedioha, has dismissed as a lie from the pit of hell, a trending article in the Social Media, attributed to him (as the writer) titled “The Tragedy Called Imo State”
Ihedioha, of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, declared the duly elected Imo State Governor by the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, in the 2019 Governorship Election, had his tenure cut short by the Supreme Court after only about eight months in office. The judgment gave victory to the Candidate of the All Progressives Congress, APC, Senator Hope Uzodinma. He has just won a re-election for a second term in office in the off-cycle Governorship election held on November the 11th, 2023.
Since his unexpected removal from office, Ihedioha has hardly commented on the state of affairs in the State, preferring to carry on with his normal everyday life. He had planned to take another deserved shot at the Governorship seat in the run-up to the 2023 Governorship Election, but feeling betrayed by the Leadership of his Party which, it seemed, did not want to give him the right of first refusal as naturally expected given the manner of his removal from office, and sensing the obstacles being thrown his way, as well as some subtle idle talks, he pulled out of the race and literally withdrew, completely, into his shell, especially, as far as the politics of Imo PDP is concerned.
His withdrawal from the race took a toll on the Imo Party, as it sparked an unprecedented run in its membership. A number of high profile Party members abandoned the it. One day, in a shocking move, seven key members of the Party’s State Working Committee, not only quit their offices, but also quit the party. And, as if that was not enough, they defected to the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC, and pledged loyalty to Governor Hope Uzodinma.
The crisis in the Party was worsened by Ihedioha’s indifference to its affairs. It is, also, one of the reasons the once solid Imo PDP performed abysmally in the just concluded 2023 Governorship Election in the State.
Now, surprisingly, on Friday, November 17, 2023, just about a week after the unprecedented loss of the PDP in the Governorship election, the article, bearing Ihedioha’s byline, surfaced in the Social Media, and went viral.
The article, now been dismissed as fake by Ihedioha, sought to knock his head against a group the fake writers identified as the “Nothern Islamic Oligarchy.” It expressed Ihedioha’s anger with the group which it said Ihedioha, allegedly, holds responsible for his removal from office on January 14, 2020. The write- up, also, alleged that Ihedioha is angry with the Imo political elite, and the Imo people in general, for their weak response to the Supreme Court judgment which removed him from office.
Said the article purportedly written by Ihedioha: “I was angry for two reasons. First I was angry with the Northern Islamic Oligarchy and her Feudal Lords who exploited the weakness of the Nigerian State and the gullibility of her institutions to manipulate and manufacture the tragedy that is Imo State today just to fulfil the feudal dreams of the Grand Madhi.”
The article, also said: “In four years of the impostors government, thousands of Imo youths have been ‘converted’ to Islam through government patronage and were sponsored to pilgrimage to Mecca with government funds.”
And much more. And worse.
In Ihedioha’s response signed by his Chief Press Secretary, Chibuike Onyeukwu, he dismissed the write-up as trash. The statement said the contents “are the products of the putrid imagination of its purveyors.”
The response reads in full:
REBUTTAL: MISCHIEF-MAKERS AT WORK
“The attention of the Media Office of His Excellency, Rt. Hon. Emeka Ihedioha, has been drawn to a mischievous story trending in the social media wherein an article entitled “The Tragedy Called Imo State” is being attributed to him. The piece of balderdash sent out in his name purports that he is angry with what the authors of the article called ‘Northern Islamic Oligarchy’ for removing him as the governor of Imo State. The forgers of the piece of cant also claim that he is angry with the Imo political elite and the generality of the people of Imo State for their docile response to the Supreme Court judgment of January 14,2020, among other infantile attributions.
“We state here, for the avoidance of doubt, and for the records, that the article in question was not written by Rt. Hon. Emeka Ihedioha.
“The opinions and sentiments expressed therein are not his. Instead, they are the products of the putrid imagination of its purveyors. Associating him with the poisonous views expressed in that fairy tale is not only cheap and disingenuous, it is mischief writ large.
“As a Nigerian citizen who has had the privilege of holding leadership positions in the political space, Rt. Hon. Emeka Ihedioha has not and can never descend into guttersnipes. He understands the meaning and value of good breeding. He is therefore not one to shoot irresponsibly into the public space.
“It is evident from the timing of this blackmail that the mischief-makers set out to exploit and cash in on the outcome of the just concluded governorship election in Imo State. The figment of their imagination must have led them astray, making them to believe, as they do, that Rt. Hon.. Ihedioha has an axe to grind with the election and its outcome. This poor reasoning can only emanate from tainted minds scavenging desperately for mischief. But they got it all wrong.
“It is on record that Rt. Hon. Ihedioha has never made any inflammatory or incendiary remark since he was removed as the governor of Imo State. His dignified silence is for a reason. He is a firm believer in constitutionality and the rule of law. He detests self-help. That was why he never went outside the purview of the law in his quest for justice and people-centered democratic order.
“It should be pointed out as well that the attempt to portray him as someone who harbours anti-northern and anti-Islamic sentiments is an act of bad faith. It is intended to put him on collision course with the northern political and religious establishment. But the mischief has failed disastrously. In his political journey over the years, Rt. Hon. Ihedioha has had a healthy association with Nigerians of various religious and political shades.
“At no time has he been associated with bigotry of any sort. Seeking to impose one on him smacks of bad blood on the part of its promoters. Nigerians who have associated with him both at national and sub national levels can attest to his centripetal disposition to national issues.
“We, therefore, call on well meaning Nigerians as well as men and women of goodwill the world over to disregard the piece of blackmail being woven around him. Rt. Hon. Ihedioha never authored or authorized to be authored any article in the mound of that being imposed on him by agents of mischief. The purveyors of the blackmail should be seen for who they are- loathsome mischief makers.”
Since 2020, Imo State holds the gold medal as the headquarters of “fabrication and forgeries of stories”, including the cloning of whole front pages of National Newspapers with fake lead stories.
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