When the results of the just concluded 9th March gubernatorial elections started coming in, people were just blinded by the urge to get rid of the Okorochas that they didn’t notice the birth of something no one in Imo State will ever have the power to stop.
Empires come in different shapes, some are built by an emperor, others are built by a group people yearning for power and no matter how you see it, power is the main motive of every empire. Just power.
Whiles some empires are controlled by just an emperor, others are controlled by a conglomerate of warlords who would do everything possible to retain power no matter how you see it.
A new one has been born in Imo and there is nothing we can do about it because the monkey already has the cup and the greatest challenge retrieving it.
“The problem is not giving the monkey water to drink, but getting back the cup”
And the monkey took the cup
It is scary to see that a candidate who won an election with 277002 votes got about 46% (127241 votes) from just three local governments. It is also scary to see that no one said anything about it and it scares me to see how the rest of Imo state has just admitted that 24 local governments can only produce 149761 votes for the winner which is just about 54% percent of the entire votes.
My worry is simply that if we all becomes realists, we will surely believe and admit that people grow; this simply means that in 2023, the Mbaise Nation can grow to give their preferred candidate up to 150,000 votes and I don’t see anyone complaining because we all applauded the architects at the foundation laying ceremony.
The impossibility we have all come to admit as a way of life will surely come back to haunt us, after all, knives are kitchen utensils but are also weapons in the hands of someone who needs to kill.
The so called Liberation of Imo State has been achieved and while most Imolite will be celebrating the defeat of Governor Okorocha and his Son-in-law, I don’t think this is our victory. The sound of victory does not sound like ours. Trust me.
This is a victory for the Mbaise nation who have finally made a statement haven been previously relegated as ‘just three local governments’. This audacious scheme started in 2015 when outrageous result from that area was cut down to see Hon. Emeka Ihedioha lose in that election, but the baby has now been born and I believe that the target should be about 60% of Imo State votes.
Mbaise Wuzi Eze
Should they achieve this via any means, every politicians must go on his knees at Mbaise before he could win anything at the state level and what it means is that they have demystified the ‘Orlu Wu Eze’ power code and it will now be whatever they want it to be. Take it to the banks now, ‘Mbaise Wuzi Eze’.
How do we get the cup back from the monkey without cutting off its hands? There are so far cases of multiple voting and non-use of the smart card readers which are all pure electoral frauds and till date no one can remember any report of violence in any part of Mbaise, yet there were hundreds of them. They kept their violence out of public eyes to make everyone believe they have the royal calm needed to be Power Emperors of the state.
We now know the unknown
Imolites will never know the implications of this until the next election. Mbaise nation is like the bottom of the sea where none of us can breathe; they tell you to protect their votes in your area and you are too busy doing it that you will never care about what they are doing. You dare not go there; you can never breathe under the water, so everyone stays away from them.
Every politician is happy to win elections by hook or by crook, but it is only a matter of time till we have one of them singing like a mocking bird, when he lives the ruling party.
It is pure fact that every emperor is power drunk, but any empire built for war will keep fighting even when the chances of victory are slim. You would never know, because every victory makes the empire bigger and stronger. This is their first victory.
My point
INEC should investigate the cases of electoral fraud reported in that area and ensure the smart card readers were used during voting.
Imolites should also resist the birth of this new empire. This is the kind we will never be able to stop because it is not just one person, but a group of people who have proven that they have the unity, calm and intelligence to be called a Nation.
God save us.
Chinedu Hardy Nwadike is a writer and blogger, he writes from Owerri, Imo State. eldiazpix@gmail.com.
