states in Nigeria where the fast approaching 2015 elections will hold.
Strong indications that residents of the Eastern Heartland, as the
state is fondly called, are sitting on a keg of gunpowder ready to
explode any moment have emerged.
The fiasco that characterised Wednesday's botched debate arranged by
the Catholic Archdiocese of Owerri was another eye opener to the
growing animosity among governorship candidates and political parties
in Imo State. The dastardly acts of fighting in the House of God as
well as the desecration of the Altar and molestation of a Catholic
priest at the Maria Assumpta premises, venue of the debate was the
climax of the much anticipated warfare among the warring factions. The
skirmishes which portends for Nigeria's nascent democracy implies that
theatre of war is imminent in the political hemisphere of Imo in the
weeks ahead. The desperation among political parties and their
henchmen to the extent of taking their bloody war to the altar of God
is a strong warning that troubles and the concerned stakeholders are
not willing to play by the rules of God further increased the belief
that the 2015 elections will be free-for-all.
Prior to the inglorious Catholic Debate saga, there have been periodic
altercations among the parties in the state. On Sunday, APGA and APC
chieftains locked horns in the streets of Owerri over billboards to
the extent that the governorship flag bearer, Capt Emma Ihenacho
according to reports escaped blows from top government officials who
outnumbered him at the office of the Deputy Commissioner of Police for
Operations when both parties were invited for peaceful talks over
billboards destruction.
Only recently, widows who came on a protest to government house Owerri
were battered by persons suspected to be hired APC thugs who inflicted
various degrees of injuries on them. The widows where victimised when
it was alleged that they were either PDP members or recruited by the
PDP to discredit the rescue mission government piloted by Okorocha.
Trumpeta was reliably informed on Wednesday that APC members and their
suspected hired thugs also pummelled to death an APGA supporter
sporting uniform of the governorship flag bearer moments after he left
the Maria Assumpta premises when the debate failed.
It was however learnt that in the build-up to the elections coming up
in few weeks time, parties have turned higher institutions in the
state to fertile ground for recruitment of thugs and members of
various secret cults for the election. The newspaper was informed that
money bag politicians hire the students with petty stipends and gifts
to join their rallies and campaigns. The students and cult groups are
also converted to "attack boys" intermittently.
This newspaper however gathered that a first class Commissioner in
Okorocha's government, said to be powerful in the governor's campaign
outfit and cabinet (names withheld) uses his youthful disposition and
status as an alumnus of a higher institution in the state to recruit
political thugs for the party. Trumpeta learnt that the suspected
thugs who vandalised the Altar at the Obiri Odenigbo debate ground,
and attacked priest and women at the venue were recruited by the said
Commissioner from Imo State University, IMSU, Federal University of
Technology Owerri, FUTO, and Federal Polytechnic Nekede for the job of
extending assault of perceived political opponents in the state.
The students spoke to our reporter at the Maria Assumpta Cathedral
confessed about their recruitment by a government official in the
state for the purposes of becoming their "hit men" in the coming days
as activities heralding the elections unfold.
Trumpeta however gathered that the initial alarm raised by opposition
elements in the state that the ICAPS is a training ground for
pro-government militia troops may have element of truth following the
involvement of operatives of the state-owned Imo Security Network,
ISN, and Imo Community Watch (ICM) in government activities. The two
ICAPS-trained security outfits, according to opposition camps in the
state not only provided security to government officials during
fisticuffs with others, but also fought on the side of rescue mission
at the Catholic debate ground.
Spokesman of Emeka Ihedioha campaign outfit Bar Enyinna Onuegbu
alleged that the gun-totting ISN provided cover for the APC women, he
accused attacking other women at the venue.
Read more at Trumpeta:
http://www.imotrumpeta.com/?p=13665
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