ISIEC: OKOROCHA’S
GOVERNMENT OFFICIAL RACKETEERING AND THE FLEECING OF IMO PUBLIC
Racketeering is simply organized crime.
Official racketeering is therefore a criminal abuse of office.
Imo is bedeviled with very high unemployment
and underemployment rate, simply because Imo remains basically a rural state
with no industrial sector. Consequently, on the average, over 90% of tertiary
institution graduates in the State never return back to the State to reside
after their National Youth Service. This is mostly responsible
for the
vanishing Igbo Language because these 90% eventually reside and try to irk out
a living in the industrial Southwest and North central. Eventually meaning that
they marry and raise their children in these geographical areas of the nation not
Igbo speaking.
However, this article focuses on the 10% of
tertiary institution graduates that return to reside in Imo State after
National Youth Service. This ten percent (10%) seek alternative employment
including but not limited to self employment and informal employment is
political sector. This phenomenon is partially responsible for the thuggery in
elections.
Politics as a vocation in Nigeria is seen as
one of the most lucrative vocations or better yet, the fastest road to riches
in an economically depressed state like Imo.
This makes political offices both elective and
appointive, the most attractive employment to the overwhelming majority of the
residents of the State. Just like our psychological disposition to greed as
human beings are daily exploited by 419ers in spite of one’s level of
skepticisms or cynicisms, the chance to occupy an elective office with tenure
has rendered the entirety of Imo public to preys for official criminal
racketeering perpetrated with the announcement of local government election or
any type of election for a political office. The announcement of an election by
any government, be it local government election or even election into the
illegal community Government council acts as such as strong afrodisiac akin to
Viagra or “magani burantashi” to the Imo public that we lose all our
inhibitions.
This propensity of Imo public has become the
source of fleecing the unsuspecting public by the current illegitimate Imo
State independent electoral commission (ISIEC). When Okorocha introduced what
he called commercialization policy of his administration, the unsuspecting Imo
public has no way of knowing what such a policy entails in practice. But recent
revelations have shown that it is actually a policy of “returns” to the boss
akin to “akpata ekee”. Maintaining your appointment in this administration is
not based on your ability to make input into the good governance of the State;
this is why it has been severally stated that the Governor does not hearken to
advisee, rather based on your ability to raise money from the unsuspecting Imo
public legally and otherwise.
The current chairman of the illegally
constituted ISIEC Barrister Akwari does not have to entertain any fear of being
replaced because in spite of his legal education and training he understands
Okorocha’s mode of illegal administration through and through.
ISIEC members by law have five years tenure.
The ISIEC chairmaned by Barrister Emma Nwoye had hardly completed a years and
half in office when it was dissolved illegally by Governor Okorocha. The
dissolved members led by the chairman went to court to challenge their
dissolution since their tenure of five years was yet to elapse. The case is
still to be resolved when Okorocha constituted this ISIEC, chairmaned by
Barrister Akwari.
In a nutshell, therefore, this pertinent
ISIEC’s legitimacy and even legality has just to be authenticated before it
embarked on the various legal functions of ISIEC. First, it announced that it
was going to embark on creation of new wards in the State, for this, it
advertised in all the local newspapers that it was embarking on creation of new
wards and interested communities should apply. The application fee was pegged
at N50,000.00, while administrative fee was another N250,000.00 making a total
of N300,000.00) for each community.
Newspaper reports stated that 353 communities
applied for new wards. Imo State already has 305 INEC wards upon which election
was conducted in 2010. With 353 communities applying for new wards, this INEC
raised N105.9m. Not one single ward has been created at this point and the same
ISIEC announced during the first week of this January that local government
election will be conducted in 600 wards in the state by April 27, 2013.
By law, election must be announced by the election
umpire 90 days before the actual date of the conduct of the election. This
really means that any political ward not created at the time of the
announcement of the election by the umpire cannot legally be part of the
election. In spite of this obvious legal fact, ISIEC is deceiving the
unsuspecting Imo public that election will take place in six hundred wards
(600) by April 27 2013. Why would ISIEC engage in such public deceit? The
answer is simply the commercialization policy of this administration.
ISIEC has become a money spinning commission
in consonance to the acclaimed commercialization policy of Okorocha’s
administration. Whether funds are raised legally or illegally is not the
concern of the government.
Only about a month ago, there was a scheduled
election into the elective offices of the community Government council. I
advised them through my Radio commentary on Heartland FM that no election will
take place. I further stated in private to friends and colleagues that the CGC
election was just a ploy to raise Christmas bonuses for the commission through
fees charged on candidates. I was vindicated when after charging the fees, the
election did not take place, and not one penny was refunded to the candidates.
Anybody that pays attention to public issues regarding the law of elections in
Nigeria would have made the same conclusion.
First, political parties were not allowed to
sponsor the so called CGC election. It is settled since Amaechi’s case that
only political parties win election under our constitution. It is further made
clear in our constitution that there is no such thing as independent candidacy.
So how can ISIEC really conduct election into CGC without political parties
sponsoring candidates?
The unsuspecting candidates into the aborted
CGC election were first charged N3,000 naira each and later N1,000 election
application fee. As you may recall, the elective offices in CGC are three,
namely President General, Youth leader and women leader, in essence three
elective offices for each autonomous community. Imo State has 637 autonomous
communities. With about five contestants for each of the three elective offices
in CGC, you have an average of 15 persons in each autonomous community who four
thousand (N4,000) naira was fleeced from by this ISIEC. When you multiply
N4,000 by 15 candidates or aspiration in each autonomous community in the state
it gives a total of N60,000 naira for each autonomous community. Now, with the
637 autonomous communities of Imo State it gives N38,220,000 naira which is the
estimate of what Barrister Akwari’s ISIEC made from the fleecing of Imo public
through the deceitful CGC election.
In less than two months, or between October–
December, Akwari’s ISIEC raised 144.1 million naira by official racketeering and
fleecing of the innocent Imo people and their communities.
But it does not stop there. In spite of this
obvious deceit, many are ignoring warnings of well meaning Imolites and again
marching towards April 27 alleged or promised local government election.
Evidence of how it will eventually turn out is being ignored due to the
desperation of Imo people. Desperation borne of lack of traditional employment.
For this ISIEC to announce that it was going to conduct the local government
election in 600 wards means that the fix is on.
First, it cannot conduct a legal election,
even if it has the requisite legitimacy and legality in more than 305 wards
since no ward has been created before the announcement. You cannot announce an
election as ISIEC in a ward yet to be created by law.
Furthermore, how can Imo State pay the
salaries of six hundred councilors their entitlements and allowances? The
monthly total benefit of each councilor as set by each RMAC is a little over
N300,000. Can Imo State pay such amount in six hundred places from the local
government allocations and still meet the recurrent expenditure of the local
councils in the State?
Both Barrister Akwari and the rest of the
civilized world know that election cannot be conducted in six hundred wards.
That the only reason ISIEC stated that election will be conducted in six
hundred wards is to make as much money as it could before the courts throws its
members out of office like they did the TC Chairman.
I have concluded that the only reason that any governor could overlook such blatant fleecing of his public is because he or she may be enjoying returns from this illegal racketeering simply because of the situation with the road contracts.
I have concluded that the only reason that any governor could overlook such blatant fleecing of his public is because he or she may be enjoying returns from this illegal racketeering simply because of the situation with the road contracts.
The Imo government House is still pushing Jeff
Imo as SOLAD of my LGA even after N255.6 million was embezzled under his
stewardship. If the government would support Jeff Imo to return, the rumour
that these illegal T. C. Chairmen are required to make returns must be true.
Because no governor or government would support the return of such appointee
back to office which is now the alpha and omega, while when he was just a
chairman of a committee, he succeeded in embezzling 255.6 million. With the
evidence of payment of contract to a company yet to be incorporated by CAC,
such a person should not be roaming about lobbying for another appointment and
no responsible government House should push such person for confirmation by the
House.
IMO MUST BE BETTER.
WE MUST RETURN IMO BACK TO THE HANDS OF GOD.
WE MUST RETURN IMO BACK TO THE HANDS OF GOD.
DR. KELECHUKWU OKPALAEKE
No comments:
Post a Comment