COVID-19: I WISH WE HAVE A PROPHET.

As a born-again Christian, I have always tried not to get engaged in some controversial topics or discussions involving the church and the pastors especially when I sense that the original intent is to bring the church to ridicule. But, for some time now, even before the unfortunate ravaging Corona Virus, there has been a heated argument and dissenting opinions among the Christian community and also people who are not within the Christian religious circle as it concerns the church, the churchgoers, and more especially the pastors (men of God). After the outbreak of COVID-19, the controversy has become multi-faceted.

Anytime I read or listen to the arguments, or extremely put, the wars against or in favour of men of God and their denominations during this COVID-19 pandemic, the only thing that hits my mind is “I wish we have a prophet.” To continue in this article, let me make reference to a story in the Bible which I like so much, and it will have a lot of relevance to my opinion as put in this piece: “Then Aaron took it as Moses commanded and ran into the midst of the assembly; and already the plague had begun among the people. So he put in the incense and made atonement for the people. And he stood between the dead and the living, so the plague was stopped”. Numbers 16: 47-48.

From the creation of the world, there have been times of famine, plagues and pestilences. But something significant is that God had always alerted His people through His prophets and servants who were close to Him. Whether it was a plague brought by God Himself, or one caused by enemies, God had always been on the lookout for His people, and would always speak through His servants who were privy to the secret things. Psalms 25: 14, “The secret of the Lord is with those who fear Him, and He will show them His covenant.” God reveals secrets or impending dangers to those who are close to Him to save them and the entire people from such harm as COVID-19. Look at what happened in the Bible, Genesis 18:17, “And the Lord said, shall I hide from Abraham what I am doing.” Even in God’s anger against Sodom and Gomorrah, He remembered that there was a man so close to Him who should know about the doom coming against the country. It has been in the nature of God to reveal to His people any danger in the form of war, plague, famine, etc, through His prophets/servants. Look again at what happened in 2 Kings 6:8-23, the king of Syria was planning war in his chamber, and God was revealing all his strategies to Elisha who was far away in Israel, and Elisha was revealing the same to the King of Israel.

As COVID-19 ravages, I keep asking myself, “Don’t we have a prophet?” Is there no prophet close enough to God whom God could have spoken to? Even if it was artificially developed in a Wuhan laboratory in far away China to kill Africans as some people have claimed, is there no prophet in Africa; Nigeria, Ghana, South Africa, etc, and even USA or Europe who was so close to God that He could have revealed it to? Even before its breakout? At the beginning of 2019, lots of “prophesies” were released from “men of God” who had claimed to have spoken what God had for the people. Within the year as a whole, all denominations held various prophetic programmes and annual spiritual events where the glory of God was supposed to have overwhelmed, and in all, non heard from God directly concerning the coming plague. The 2020 new year “prophesies” came too, and no man of God or a Christian was in the secret place of God to access the information on the pending pandemic. Do we really have a prophet here? Or, do we still have such Christians so close to God that God can say “How can I hide this from my son…”

Now that the plague is already here, is there no prophet who can stand in the gap to make an atonement to quench the plague? From the place I cited in Numbers 16, God told Moses that a plague was coming upon Israel, Moses asked Aaron to run into the nation to make atonement for the people, but before Aaron could get to the people, the plague had started. Then Aaron ran into the midst of the people and made atonement, “and he stood between the dead and the living; so the plague was stopped.”

As no one got the revelation of the Corona Virus plague before it started, don’t we have a prophet who could make an acceptable atonement for the people? The plague has already begun, is there no man of God who is close enough to God who can run into the midst of the people of Nigeria and Africa to stand between the dead and the living so the plague can be put to stop?

It is pretty disheartening that what we get today is the direct opposite of what we read in the Bible. So in this challenging health crisis, instead of us to get direct messages or prophesies from God with unaltered utmost precision, we are getting guesses and false prophesies. We are hearing messages born out of sentiments, human instincts and personal idiosyncrasies of the preachers. That is why we get flying prophesies concerning the disease which turn out not to happen. With the susceptible false declarations, they further endanger the already troubled church. They indirectly attack the image of the church of Christ and breed doubts over the power of God. But glory be to God that He is God almighty, and no man can bring Him down. They speak their minds to either support what they like or castigate what they hate, and not the mind of God. God is not a liar, if He says that COVID-19 will end today, it will not exceed 11.59 pm today. That’s how mighty He is.

Instead of us having prophets who will run to make atonement to bring things to normalcy, and save this generation by standing between the dead and the living, we have men of God who deploy all their energies towards castigating the governments and their measures to curb the virus. Instead of having men of God who will go back to God and hold Him as Jacob held God in Paniel, no, we have them put up fights against the government for shutting the doors of the tabernacles. They leave the main fight which should be against the demonic plague, and chasing shadow. All of us are aware that the Nigerian government has turned the whole thing about the virus up-side-down using it as means of embezzling funds, violating human rights, violating democratic principles, arbitrary orders and obnoxious rules, but we should focus on striking down the enemy instead of its instrument. Pastors who have turned their pulpits into platforms for attacking the government are like attacking a headache instead of attacking the malaria parasite causing the headache.

TRACING INSECURITY ISSUES IN THE NORTH WEST NIGERIA, AND THE MILITARY'S INTERVENTIONS UNDER LT. GENERAL TUKUR BURATAI

 

The North West region of the country is a densely populated area which, unfortunately, has been ravaged by insurgency. As one of the zones with a very huge verse landmass, the population is put at about thirty-five million.

The region, with seven states; Katsina, Kano, Jigawa, Zamfara, Kaduna and Sokoto states, is predominantly a Hausa-speaking region. However, the zone has diversified ethnic groups like the Kanuri, Fulani, Zurur, Jabba, Baju, Gbagyi, Zara, Maguzawa, Dakarkari, Kataf, Gwari, Kaje, Kambari, Zabarmawa and Gungawa.

The zone thrives in agriculture – the pastoralists and the farmers – who have eventually been at the centre of major conflicts the North West zone is experiencing till today. For several decades, the zone has faced various degrees of criminal activities perpetrated by different bandit groups. The deteriorating security atmosphere in the zone has, over the years, raised a serious public outcry and threatened the overall national unity, and the Nigerian military is daily engaging the criminals.

Obviously, the region has witnessed various degrees of criminal activities and conflicts like farmers-herders conflict, livestock rustling – majorly cattle-, terrorism, kidnapping, illegal arms importation, and rural banditry.

Notably, the conflicts in this zone pre-dated the country’s independence but a major post-independence attack took place in Yar’ Galadima, Zamfara, in April 2014 when 200 people were killed. That was a snowballed effect of unchecked deadly conflicts between farmers and herders before 2014. As the clashes remained, they turned into armed banditry. The armed bandits moved into the criminal acts of kidnapping people for ransom, cattle rustling, terrorism, and other criminal activities.

Since the criminalities are thriving, and the perpetrators are making fortunes from them – like cattle rustling and kidnapping - they have been entrenched. The stolen cattle are hidden in the forest at Zamfara’s border region with Kaduna and Niger states until they are sold for slaughter. The rustlers make quick money from this.

The bandits brazened up and got to the level of calling or sending notice letters to the villagers before some of the attacks are launched. When Amnesty International visited some of the communities in the zone, a villager from Gidan Goga in Zamfara State told the group that the bandits called him on the phone to demand that the community should pay them the sum of five hundred thousand Naira, if not, they would kidnap either him or the village head of Gidan Goga. The villagers of the various communities in the region constantly live in fear due to this level of banditry; raiding and killing the citizens of the affected communities.

Abdulaziz Yari, the former governor of Zamfara State, raised alarm over the level of devastation that part of the region was facing. From what the former governor said, over five hundred villages and thirty thousand hectares of land have been devastated, and two thousand eight hundred and thirty-five people were killed between the years 2011 and 2018. The criminal operations are carried out from eight major camps across Zamfara State with at least ten thousand armed bandits and cattle rustlers.

The bandits operating in the Northwest region are having a safe haven in Zamfara due to the many forests surrounding the state and then bordering it with other states in the region. The Rugu, Kamara, Kunduma, and Sububu forests have over time aided the criminals’ operations who emerge from there to attack highway users, towns and communities within the zone, and they also hide the stolen cattle in the forests.

Farmers-herders' conflicts escalated over time into claiming several lives of members of both divides. Initially, the nature of the farmers-herders crisis was different from the other conflicts – rustling, kidnapping, terrorism and rural banditry - carried out in the area. It was a mere strive between two groups struggling for space to carry out their agricultural activities. As the conflicts prolonged unchecked, the herders engaged in arms bearing, killing farmers and villagers of the conflict areas.

Others like rustling, kidnapping, and rural banditry are pure acts of criminality with the outright motive of killing natives of given communities, annexing villages, making fortunes from their kidnap victims, extorting money from the victimized communities, and raising large sum of money from rustled cattle. Most of the successful attacks by the bandits were deadly. Attacks like the March 28, 2018, on the Bawan Daji community of Anka Local Government Area saw more than thirty people dead. On February 15, 2018, gunmen intercepted a vehicle conveying bridesmaids and traders to the Birane village market, killed all n board, proceeded to the market where they fired indiscriminately, and about forty-one people were killed.

April 11, 2018, Kuru-Kuru and Jarkuta villages in the same Anka Local Government Area were attacked by gunmen, and twenty-six people were killed. After that incident, villagers of Kaboro and Danmani caught and killed one of the bandits. Then, in a reprisal attack, the cattle rustlers invaded the villages and killed twenty-seven people in that single attack. Another circle of attacks were launched across eighteen villages in Zumi Local Government Area on July 27, 2018, after those eighteen villages were taken over by the bandits in June of that year. They were in Zamfara State alone. There are handfuls of other conflicts around the North West region.

The numerous attacks and criminal fanfare didn’t go on without responses from the Nigerian military. The army, together with the Airforce, has been repelling and curbing the criminal activities in the zone with the available resources. There were reactive responses from the military. After the attack on Bawan Daji, the Nigerian Air Force deployed Special Forces to Zamfara on the 4th day of April 2018, and the army launched an attack on the bandits in Tungan Daji on April 5, killing twenty-one bandits. Two soldiers were killed in that operation.

Under the leadership of the current Nigerian Chief of Army Staff, Lt. General Tukur Buratai, the army mobilized troops to attack the herders and the rustlers in their camps within the zone. A combined operation of the 35 Battalion, 3 Brigade and 1 Division launched a manhunt on the syndicates under Operation Sharan Daji, and lots of the bandits were dislodged and captured.

Other strategic areas in the zone have also witnessed increased criminal activities over the years. the Birnin-Gwari Kaduna highway turned into a dead zone for travellers and residents of the communities around there. That area witnessed frequent violent incidents like ambushes, abductions and kidnapping of road users for ransom. Abuja-Kaduna highway is another notorious axis. Taking advantage of the large expanse of land and forest there, about 150 kilometres, the criminals used it as safe haven. The bandits operated at spotted areas away from military spots or patrol spots at a time along the road. The bandits operating within the axis operate with motorbikes. They station their motorbikes at strategic places in the forest, and once they kidnap their targets, they move them to their hideouts with the motorbikes through the bush tracks.

When Lt. General Tukur Buratai was appointed the Chief of Army Staff by the President, Muhammadu Buhari, in July 2015, the COAF appointed Major General Adeniyi Oyebade as the General Officer Commanding 1 Division in August 2015. The 1 Division of the Nigerian Army is the base that covers the entire North West region and some parts of the North Central region. The area covered by 1 Division is about 267,000 square kilometres in landmass. Saddled with the responsibility of fighting criminality in the zone, the division mounted a lot of attacks against the criminals – both reprisal and manhunt.

The G. O. C. 1 Division, Major General Adeniyi who spoke at a time about the activities of the division in the zone said, “We dealt extensively with criminality (in) the North West zone such as retreating bandits escaping from the onslaught in the North East and cattle rustling, banditry, kidnapping and all levels of criminality.” During the periods, he introduced various code-named operations to tackle security challenges. It was during this period that Operation Sharan Daji was launched to check cattle rustling. The GOC said that the army through the Operation “recovered thousands of livestock; cattle and sheep, and others which were given back to their owners.”

Other code-named Operations; Operation Harbin Kunama, Operation Diran Mikiya, and Operation Puff Adder were also launched by the army to tackle banditry in the North West region. The army also introduced Operation Cat Race on February 15, 2018, which was used to tackle armed banditry, kidnapping and cattle rustling. It conducted the OCR in conjunction with other security agencies like the Department of State Services, the Nigerian Police Force, and the Nigerian Security and Civil Defense Corps. The OCR was also code-named in the Tiv language as Operation Ayem Akpatuma. Afterwards, Operation Whirl Stroke 1 an 2 were introduced as follow-up operations to Operation Cat Race. It also continued earlier operations by previous authorities of the Force like Operation Safe Haven which was launched in 2010 with the aim of maintaining peace and security in the zone.

Apart from launching attacks on criminals, the army adopted other strategies to check criminality in the zone. GOC 1 Division, Major General Adeniyi, adopted what he called ‘Soft Power’. He engaged with the major principal players in the region, especially the areas of conflict. It was in that arrangement that the ethnoreligious conflicts which ravaged parts of Southern Kaduna that resulted in the loss of lives and properties were brought under control. Talking after some recorded successes of the peace moves, he said that “the issue of the herdsmen and farmers clashes (were) also dealt with, and of course, as GOC, we organised so many peace initiatives which we actually kick-started, and I am proud to say that under my leadership of 1 Division, we achieved quite a lot. We recovered thousands of weapons and ammunition. Hundreds of bandits who are criminals laid down their arms; which led to the amnesty and peace initiative in Katsina and which led to the destruction of hundreds of arms that were in our possession and surrendered by bandits.” He also initiated such peace movements in Niger, Kaduna and Zamfara States.

The army also adopted what Major General F. Yahaya, the Military Secretary, tagged as a “multifaceted line of operation”. When he talked about it, he said, “We have this line of tracking. We have lines of other agencies including informants, but above all, our own is aggression, systematically taking all the camps that we can. All the ones that we can identify, also being careful not to visit violence on innocent people. Why I’m saying so is that sometimes when you go to a typical village, if you are not careful, you won’t distinguish Fulani Settlement with (from) bandit Settlements”.

At some points, he sent some of the force men to the communities under disguise to get information about the criminals but that strategy always failed because the villagers already knew themselves, and also those from the military. So, they would decline to give information for fear of being victimized or even killed by the bandits. More challenges kept militating against a successful elimination of criminality in the North West region. Again, inadequate and insecure reporting systems posed a major challenge. Members of the community who knew some of the criminals would not report to the police or even the military. The people had no confidence that if they report to the police, their identities would be protected because they believed that the security agents would reveal their identities to the criminals.

Some of the citizens were even informants to the bandits. That was why troops would be at a place making inquiries on the whereabouts of the bandits, the bandits themselves would be getting firsthand information that the troop was at that particular place making inquiries about them.

Again, some of the bandits were converted local vigilantes. In Zamfara, some youths of the villages were recruited by the state government to augment in places where the police fail to secure them. They were equipped with motorbikes, uniforms and locally-made single-shot hunting rifles. The government was not meeting up with their payments and supply of ammunition, and some of the vigilantes converted to bandits. So, the informal security setup members turned out to be criminal gangs terrorizing the villagers. They in turn engaged in criminal acts of robbery, kidnapping, unlawful confiscation of people’s properties, and human rights abuses.

Corruption was another major challenge which fed criminality fat in the region. An air force officer had arrested a person with AK47, and he handed over the man to the police in the area. After some time, he returned from Zamfara where he had gone and then arrested the person again with an AK47. What happened was that the man sold cows from which he raised N1.2 million for them. They released and he went back to banditry. Some captured criminals who were taken to court got bailed because almost every offence has bailing provisions. Once they secured their bails, they returned to business. It was like recycling criminality.

Also, the poverty ravaging most of the communities made it easy for criminals to recruit more youths into their gangs. There are no significant developments in the communities, and the zone is consistently being de-industrialized, and the situation worsens the poverty level. In the zone, there are porous borders which have made arms movement and smuggling very easy. Some of the herders use their cows as vectors carrying arms into the zone unchecked.

The security crisis in the region has almost crippled economic activities in the region. Food production in the zone has dropped drastically due to the farmers-herders' constant conflict. Most of the farmers have been driven to IDP camps with their farmlands destroyed. Those who are still in their communities are afraid to go to their farms for fear of being attacked, kidnapped or killed by the bandits. Cattle rustling have driven the remaining genuine herders away as most of them lose their lives during attacks by rustlers. As noted earlier, industries located in the towns ravaged by the crisis have all relocated to safer areas for fear of losing their properties or lives.

The military has recorded various degrees of success in tackling the security crisis in the North West zone of the country. In one of its operations in March 2018, the army killed a notorious cattle rustling and kidnapping gang leader named Buharin Daji. Also, it was in one of the onslaughts of the 1 Division, in early 2016, under its Operation SharanDaji that about thirty-five armed bandits were killed, and thirty-eight of them were captured and handed over to the police for prosecution. The Operation led by the division’s GOC, Major General Adeniyi rescued over six hundred cattle, sanitizing the area at that moment. The operation further raided forty-nine camps of the bandits across the states of Kaduna, Niger, Kano and Katsina. Several weapons were recovered, and it was in one of those operations in Katsina State that the army captured Abubakar Mohammed, a known notorious cattle rustler and kidnapper, alongside his co-perpetrators; Anas Gora and Bello Sani.

The army has also succeeded in repelling bandits who had sacked residents of some communities in the zone and returned the communities to the villagers.

THE EXPECTED HOPE OF IMO

By Lawrence Agbasoga.

The name Chief Hope Uzodinma, the Senator from Orlu zone of Imo State has gone down in the history of Imo State as the leader who rescued Imo State at this time from the iron grip of an Emperor who had cowed virtually everyone in the state into submission to his insistence on running a dynasty here in the eastern heartland. Like Moses of ancient Israel, God had sent him to deliver His people of Imo State who had been subjected to extreme poverty, deprivation and inhuman treatment in the hands of an emperor who had found it unnecessary to partner with them in the task of developing the state or in the business of governance.

According to Woodrow Wilson, the 28^th American president, "the ear of the leader must ring with the voices of the people". That is Chief Hope Uzodinma! As a leader his ears had been saturated with the voices of his people and he could not help but respond.

The "deliverance" of our dear state from the tight grip of Governor Rochas Okorocha whose insistence on succeeding himself by proxy through Uche Nwosu is an indictment on our so-called leaders who, at the most critical time in the life of this state, preferred to do nothing but only complain, Complain alone could not achieve much. Action was needed and the man of action came on board and the result is the joy across the state in all homes. As a result of the acceptance of Chief Hope Uzodinma's governorship bid, a royal father I met last December told me he was not a member of APC but that he would vote for the senator, just for being able to confront and engage Okorocha squarely and defeat him, setting the state free from the injuries inflicted on it by the present administration.

The politics of Imo State today is of individuals and not of political parties or zone of origin. It is a weak and infantile argument for anyone to say that Orlu zone should not produce a governor again. Where were the so-called astute, dogged politicians from Owerri, Okigwe and even Orlu zones when Chief Hope Uzodinma took on Okorocha for the sake of Imolites? Why did they just look on when Okorocha was carefully perfecting his plans to succeed himself through his son-in-law, Uche Nwosu? The intervention of Senator Uzodinma proved his love for the state. Materially, he is comfortable. But like our saviour Jesus Christ who left his comfortable abode in heaven and became human, just for humanity's sake, to save us, even so chief Hope Uzodinma counted his personal comfort as nothing when the generality of his people of Imo State were crying and in pains as a result of injuries inflected on them by bad governance. He could not isolate himself from our excruciating pain, hence his intervention!

The argument of zone of origin remains weak. Chief Sam Mbakwe of blessed memory still holds |he record of achievements in the governance of this state. He hailed from Obowo in Okigwe Zone.

Today, when Chief Sam Mbakwe is mentioned, Obowo or Okigwe zone is not mentioned or remembered. This is because Mbakwe did not consider himself as coming from Obowo or Okigwe zone. He saw the entire state as his constituency and regarded everyone in it as brothers and sisters. He did not run a family government, neither did he treat Obowo or Okigwe zone as special. He is remembered today for his good works which were possible due to his leadership skills that made him place the best brains around into positions of responsibility. That is good leadership. The opposite of this is Governor Okorocha's style of considering members of his family first, associates, and then people from Ideato nation. This is wrong and leads to poor performance as in the case of Okorocha. From the same Okigwe zone as Chief Mbakwe came Ikedi Ohakim as governor. He didn't do well and in 2011 even people from his own Isiala Mbano joined forces with other Imolites to sack him. It is not about zone of origin, but about a leader's heart. Hope Uzodinma is not materialistic. I was once told that since he became Senator in 2011, this Oru East born "deliverer" has never bought any piece of land or house, but has committed himself to serving humanity. Imo needs such a leader who is not sectional. We need someone who will allow the people's common wealth to spread across board. Imolites don't need a leader who will stockpile their commonwealth for the purpose of financing the next election and deceive them with sub-standard infrastructure. We need a true servant -leader who will see the entire state as his immediate constituency. Hope Uzodinma represents what this state needs at this time, hence everyone sees him as the expected Hope of this state.

The choice of Prof. Piacid Njoku as running mate and the recent Imo Stakeholders meeting facilitated by Senator Hope Uzoinma depict a leader eager to deliver on his electoral promise.

At the stakeholders meeting, Senator Uzodinma required of Imo people themselves to articulate a way forward for the State. He is not a man that claims to know it all. The expected governor of the State believes that no person is a repository of knowledge. Senator Uzodinma has on many occasions- by words and action -agreed with former president George W.H. Bush who said thus: ^uuse power to help people. For we are give power not to advance our own purposes nor to make a great show in the world, nor a name. There is but one use of power and it is to serve people".

Imolites must get it right this time. Out-fashioned sentiments like zoning must be abandoned, especially now that our dear state is in a critical situation. We must not toy with our lives today and in the future. This state needs a true patriot in the class of Chief Sam Mbakwe to re-position the state after years of plunder and mismanagement. Hope can be trusted. He loves our state. He is an Imolite who hates injustice, man's inhumanity to man and greed. As an individual he has touched lives<cross the state. Igbos believes that certain names have something divine associated with them. When the parents of Senator Hope Uzodinma named him, they had no thought he would one day be the expected Hope of a great state like ours. There is really something divine in Senator Uzodinma's intervention in the governorship affairs of our state and we must not lose sight of that. Imo needs him now. He listens, fears God, cares, not materialistic, and he is one of us.

IMO APC BLASTS OKOROCHA, CONDEMNS ENDORSEMENTS OF UCHE NWOSU

The stakeholders of All Progressive Congress (APC), Imo State, has dissociated themselves from what they call indescriminate endorsement of Hon. Uche Nwosu by few biased members of Imo APC. The stakeholders under the aegis of The Restoration Coalition, APC, Imo State in a communique released in Owerri on Wednesday, March 7, 2018 described the activities of the Rochas Okorocha's led government as unfortunate, stating that it is capable of bringing disgrace to the party in the forth coming general elections.

The group which rejected the endorsements said that they were "obtained by blackmail, coercion and intimidation".
Part of the communique reads

"4.     However, having been seeing and witnessing contemptible, despicable and condemnable happenings in our great party in the state in recent times, we are convinced that unless urgent steps are quickly taken in calling certain people to order, the APC is headed for a shameful, abysmal and colossal failure in the state in the 2019 elections - this will tragically cut across and regrettably affect the Presidential, Governorship, National Assembly and State House of Assembly chances. We sincerely, call on Governor Rochas Okorocha as the leader of the party in Imo State, to instill law, order, discipline as well promote peace and tranquility as the party gets set for the all important primaries in the state.
5.     Certainly, we totally, without any reservation, condemn the clandestine Endorsements, indiscriminate Adoptions and wanton "Anointments" of certain elements in the party without due processes and without any regard to laid down procedures and respect for party leadership and discipline. It is quite disturbing that these endorsements obtained by Blackmail, Coercion and Intimidation are taking place in the hallowed orbit of the Imo State Government House under the watch of the Governor. We are embarrassed because this theatre of the absurdity, as we have confirmed, has the full backing and financial muscles of Imo State Government as the persons being endorsed, one Chief Uche Nwosu, his Son In-Law is also his serving Chief of Staff. As a matter of fact, this is an anomaly and  points to a dangerous and destructive party politics of APC in Imo State. We, therefore, call our members to caution as endorsements do not frankly reflect the true picture of Imo APC. We call on Governor Owelle Okorocha to act as a true unifier, a leader to ensure a level playing field for all APC aspirants in all positions. To that effect, we reject in its entirety the endorsements of Uche Nwosu as being currently carried out in our party. This is so because these leprous endorsements have the capacity and capability of truncating and dismantling the very cord that binds us together as family. We respectfully urge Governor Okorocha to be very sensitive to the name, integrity and sanctity of Imo as an entity and the thrust, honour and dignity that go with the governorship enterprise.
6.     We wish to insist that natural justice, equity, fair play and democratic norms must take their natural course as we step closer to the Imo State APC primaries and subsequently, the elections thereof. It will be politically suicidal for the Imo State Governor to emerge from Orlu zone after Governor Okorocha’s eight years rule making a total of 16 years of ORLU GOVERNORSHIP. This  is improper and if imposed will be resisted by all responsible and conscientious members of the Party."

The coalition also condemned the recent attack on Archbishop AJV Obinna, the Bishop of Owerri Catholic Diocese, by some group of men purported to be working for the state government.
"It is our opinion as a party that we take exception to the insinuations emanating from the media crediting the actions to APC. That is not our Character as a Party.", the coalition said.

NO GOING BACK ON YOUTHS POLITICAL PARTICIPATION - Abia Youths Vow

 By Chukwudi Obi 

The Abia State chapter of Young Visioneers' Association of Nigeria, YVAN, a national youth  pressure group, has called on youths in the state to participate actively in both politics and the process of choosing their representatives.

This is even as the group has rolled out activities to ensure massive public enlightenment and mobilization of youths at the grass root level.

Speaking during their monthly general meeting in Umuahia, the state capital recently,  State Coordinator of the group, Comr Stanly Nwankwo reiterated the group's commitment to ensuring active youths participation in the electoral process in the state.

Comrade Nwankwo who stressed the need for more young people to be actively involved in politics, noted that part of their enlightenment campaign will focus on building the capacity of the youths such that they can hold elective positions as well as hold elected officials accountable apart from participating actively in the electoral process in the state.

According to Nwankwo who urged youths to shun selling their votes for any amount of money, the best way to enthrone true democracy in the state is to ensure that all stakeholders including the youths are active participants in the process of electing their officials.

Nwankwo, however lamented the nonchalant attitudes of many youths in the state to the on going voter registration exercise across the country adding that the figures peddled on some social media platforms indicate that the south east has the lowest number of registered voters.

In his own speech, the state Publicity Secretary of the group,  Ambassador Duke Imandu averred that the group will embark on the sensitization campaign as part of its community mobilization project, insisting that youths who have not registered for their voter's card will be encouraged to do so.

In his words, "YVAN will select some local government areas in Abia that will be visited in the first phase of the sensitization campaign. After that, another group of LGAs will be selected for the next batch."

The Publicity Secretary added that the campaign will expose the youths to the benefits of political participation and dissuade them from being paid agents or mercenaries of desperate politicians whose wish is to kill and maim in order to win elections.

Ambassador Imandu opined that the enlightenment programme will also offer opportunity for the youths to learn financial intelligence, budget tracking and good governance apart from teaching them leadership and management skills even as he hinted that the group will liaise with the Abia State INEC Commissioner and other officials at Local Governments level to ensure a hitch free voter registration exercise in rural communities.