OBJ DISGRACED IN OWERRI

By Juliet Mimi Atedze

 

 

 

What would have been a bloody clash between supporters of the All Progressive Grand Alliance (APGA) and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Imo State was yesterday averted in Owerri by security agents.

The development was reportedly a fall out of grievances by the opposition against the PDP over the latter's refusal to allow the former use public facilities for its campaign rallies.

This resulted in the former president Olusegn Obasanjo and his chief host, Governor Ikedi Ohakim, being pelted with satchets of water.

In the melee that ensued, the entourage of both the governor and the former president sandwiched by security agencies meandered its way through heavy traffic gridlock on the road to the Dan Anyim Stadium for the grand finale of the PDP rally.

Trouble was said to have started when aggrieved protesters at the Okigwe Road Roundabout sighted the convoy of the former President and his host, Ohakim, they hauled sachets of pure water and stones at the vehicles.

Daily Sun reports that the APGA governorship candidate for the April 16 polls in the state, Owelle Rochas Okorocha, had earlfier fixed his grand finale rally at the Grasshoppers International Handball Stadium Owerri yesterday but the state Governor Ohakim suddenly rescheduled his own rally at the same venue on the same day.

Owelle later shifted the venue of his rally to the Township Primary School along Wethedral road, a short distance to the Dan Anyim Stadium but the state government announced that the new venue acquired by Okorocha would be used as parking lot for the PDP visitors, attending the PDP rally.

The APGA governorship candidate embarked on a road show with his teeming supporters on the major streets of Owerri that held the metropolis to a standstill for several hours. He later shifted his rally to Rochas Foundation Plaza along Okigwe road where he addressed party supporters on the forthcoming election. The teeming supporters of APGA candidate blocked all the major entrances, leading to Government House, shouting 'Na Rochas we know' under tight police protection.

He charged the people of the state to come out enmasse to vote for credible candidates that would deliver dividends of democracy and warned that the natives of the state would resist any attempt to disrupt the electoral process. At the Dan Anyim Stadium, venue of the PDP rally Obasanjo urged the electorate not be gullible and vote for men of character. He called on the natives of the state to vote massively for all PDP candidates to ensure continuity.

Obasanjo urged the people to shun candidates of APGA, Chief Rochas Okorocha, and Senator Ifeanyi Araraume of ACN in the Imo governorship election, because they could not be trusted. 'I know Araraume, Rochas and Udenwa. I have worked closely with them and Imo people should shine their eyes so that they don't fall for false promises,' he said. Obasanjo described Ohakim as a dynamic young man, who had worked diligently and transparently for the betterment of the people.

Ohakim, in his contribution, told PDP supporters not to be deceived by empty promises by those seeking elective positions, saying his achievement in the last four years spoke for him. He thanked Imo people for living peacefully, especially during the campaigns of various political parties, despite provocations, adding that if voted into office for a second term, he would do more for for the people.

'I have learnt on the job and moved Imo forward, next term we will take Imo to a higher level, having acquired enough experience.' The ACN chairman in Imo State, Bob Njemanze, accused Obasanjo of 'trying to re-eanact what he did in 2007 that put Imo State in its terrible mess today.'

Speaking with Daily Sun on phone, Njemanze added that Obasanjo should 'go back to Ogun State and resolve the problems he created there. We don't need him to tell us who to vote for. Obasanjo insulted our senses and sensibilities. His hatred for Igbos is pathological but he does not want to be seen or held responsible for what he did.'


source The Will.