The governorship election in Imo state slated for November this year has an interesting angle to it. A recently retired general of the Nigerian Army is a candidate in the election and is deemed a front runner amongst the list of those warming up to slug it out with incumbent Governor, Hope Uzodinma. Another leading candidate is also believed to have a rather distant relationship with the military, this time by virtue of ‘playing prominently at the war front’ during the civil war which ended in 1970 – as the story goes.
The connection here is that the Imo governorship election is predicted to be likely tension soaked, given the insecurity in the South-East region as well as the unending allegations of violence by the other parties against the party in power and the government as the countdown to the election begins.
For various stakeholders in Nigeria, South East and Imo state in particular, the coming Governorship election in Imo state should in every thinking be free from violence, the usual ballot box snatching and intimidation of voters on voting day will not play out this time. Same thinking goes for Bayelsa and Kogi states – the latter is always a story for voting day violence in recent memory.
“ With a retired Army General fully involved as a candidate in this election, can ballot-box snatching, stuffing, voter intimidation and other vices be allowed under his nose ?”, an influential businessman and stakeholder in the coming election in Imo state, asked last week.
To him, there is hope for the right candidate to win the election when violence, snatching of electoral materials are not allowed on November 11.
Their reason is the involvement of retired senior military and security officials directly and indirectly in the election to elect a leader for Imo state. Among others, the candidate of the Action Alliance (AA), Jack Ogunewe is a retired Major Gen of the Nigerian Army. Athan Achonu, the Labour Party (LP) candidate is generally described as a one harm general. While there is no evidence to confirm the military status of Senator Achonu, the story is that he lost one of his arms during the Nigeria civil war, where he is said to have been an active soldier.
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The Governor and candidate of the APC, Senator Hope Uzodinma is believed to have several serving and retired senior military and security officers in his team; so is Sam Anyanwu, the PDP flagbearer. Anyanwu’s PDP has always been known to have a large number of senior security and military officers – having been in power for the first 16 years of Nigeria’s return to constitutional democracy.
The calculation in the thoughts of these stakeholders and analysts is that the participation and presence of these candidates in the election should be enough to deter any party, candidate or power of incumbency from unduly influencing the election.
“For the incumbent Uzodinma, who is the chief security officer of the state and of the ruling party has a security advantage that can be deployed positively or negatively , to impact on the election, says Peter Chikwe, a retired senior security officer. Chkwe who is based in the South East, believes that the onus is on “the very senior officers involved in the election, to bring sanity into the process by ensuring that the election will be free from violence, intimidation and snatching of election materials”