By: Sam Onwuemeodo
We shall continue to call a spade, a spade no matter whose ox is gored. You build the nation when you say the truth. Truth, would also set you and me free. Ask me again, I would say, tell the truth and build the nation. And moreover, to the glory of God. I am going somewhere. But I will be brief. Very very brief.
There is one sensitive and repeated claim which Chief Emeka Ihedioha has never refuted or made any counter claim. He has never denied that claim, either in writing or in words. And none of his handlers has also disputed that claim. What is the claim? That, he did not meet the constitutional requirement of having twenty-five percent of the votes cast in two-third of the Local Governments in the State. And that is, Twenty-Seven Local Governments. And the two-third of the Twenty-Seven is eighteen (18). That is to say, Ihedioha didn’t have 25 percent in 18 Local Governments in obedience to the provision of the Constitution. He only had 25 percent in twelve Local Governments. Falling short or having deficit of Six LGAs. He has never said or claimed that he met this requirement. Even his legal team has been mute on that and painstaking about that. In other words, those who declared him winner of the 2019 gubernatorial election defaulted. They toyed with the people of the State. They toyed with the Constitution of the Country. They toyed with the nation. They toyed with the nation’s democracy. He became governor without meeting the Constitutional specification for that.
And since this important issue came up, right from the day Ihedioha was declared winner, neither Archbishop Anthony Obinna nor the Anglican Bishops in Imo raised their voice or voices to say, it was wrong to have declared him (Ihedioha) winner in violation of the provisions of the Constitution. They kept quiet because PDP was involved. Yes, I know what I am saying.
Some of the Bishops or Pastors in Imo and even beyond Imo especially in the South-East do not like APC and Muhammadu Buhari. So, they transfer such hatred or animosity to any governor on the ticket of APC. They exhibited the hatred against Rochas Okorocha and have also transferred the dislike to Hope Uzodinma. To these clergy, the APC governor or the APC guys in Imo or the whole of South-East are agents of “Boko Haram” or “Herdsmen”. Some of us have gone through needless gang-ups in the hands of some of these Pro-PDP Priests. Before you, they would be praying against APC and against Buhari and when you complain, they declare war against you. But they are not God. That is the Consolation.
None of the Bishops or Pastors raised a voice to say it was wrong to have declared Ihedioha winner in an election he had fallen short of the provisions of the nation’s Constitution. Instead, they began to eulogize that administration with that baggage, until the Supreme Court sacked that aberration, with all the wickedness and vendetta it came with. These Bishops or Clergy did not also see the high level of wickedness Ihedioha’s government enthroned in the State. They had condoned it because it was PDP and not APC.
But the moment the Supreme Court sacked Ihedioha, they began to raise alarm. Bishop Obinna spoke. The Anglican Bishops in the State spoke, all in condemnation of the Supreme Court Judgement that favoured Uzodinma. They didn’t care how Uzodinma, son of the soul, would feel about their Condemnations of the Supreme Court Judgement in his favour. Reason being that APC was involved. For the first time, the Anglican Bishops in the State would do such a thing and their only reason being that Ihedioha is an Anglican. You can see clearly why the bible says, “if the days are not made shorter, no soul would be saved”. They all Condemned the Supreme Court Judgement.
Again, when Ihedioha became governor, some Assembly members defected from their original Political Parties to the PDP including the Speaker, Rt. Hon. Collins Chiji who moved from APGA to PDP. Hon. Kenneth Ibeh moved from AA to PDP. And others. The Bishops kept quiet. They saw nothing in those defections. But the moment some of the House members moved from their parties to the APC, they became loafers and failures to the Bishops. These Bishops took them to the cleaners because APC and perhaps, Uzodinma, are the beneficiaries.
I have every reason to be glad that the Judgement of God will come. And everybody will be subjected to that Judgement. No exception. Sam Onwuemeodo will appear before the Judgement throne of God. All the Bishops, Pastors and all, will appear. And God would execute Judgement. It is going to be great. Even, awesome. Very interesting. God will Judge me with all I have written as a Journalist and all I have done as a human being. And the Bishops will also be Judged according to their actions, inactions and utterances. If you ask me, I would say we all need repentance. If the Condemnation had come when some House members defected to PDP from other Parties under Ihedioha, perhaps, they would not have defected under Uzodinma. But they kept quiet when they did that under Ihedioha but chose to Condemn the same act, under Uzodinma. How do we reconcile all these, brethren?
If Rev. Fr. Ejike Mbaka had given that Prophecy in favour of Ihedioha, it would not have generated the kind of attacks it did from these high placed Priests in the State or in the South-East. But because the Prophecy was in favour of APC and Uzodinma they have been demanding for the head of Mbaka. But Mbaka is not as clannish as they are. He is better than his accusers.
Ihedioha is now back to the Supreme Court for a review of the Judgement that sacked him. Which also means that he has gone to equity without a clean hand. He has no moral claim or conscientious claim to hold unto. He took the governorship through a lopsided process and cannot beat his chest to say that he won the 2019 governorship election in the State. Somebody or some people or a Candidate or some Candidates were hurt with his being declared governor without meeting the Constitutional requirement. When Jacob collected Esau’s blessing from their father Isaac by default or deceit, he paid dearly for it in the long run. He didn’t go scot-free. You reap whatever you sow.
I have always had the feeling that there is a missing link between the prophets or priests or men of God of the old and new testaments as recorded in the bible and those of today. Bishop Enoch Adebayo hit the streets on protests over insurgence, whereas Prophet Elijah ordered that there would neither be rain nor dew in Israel for three and half years and it happened. After he called on the heavens to release the rains and it also happened. The same Elijah divided River Jordan just by smiting the River with his mantle (II Kings 2:8). When the King of Assyria, Sennacheribe wrote to Hezekiah, King of Judah, threatening fire and brimstone, Hezekiah spread the letter before the Lord and prayed. The Lord heard Hezekiah and said “the King of Assyria shall not come into the City nor shoot an arrow… by the same way he came, by the same shall he return” (II Kings 32:33). The rest is history.
Is God no more the same, yesterday, today and forever? God is the same. The problem is that those meant to always seek the face of God for the good of all, have joined the bandwagon. Join them, if you cannot defeat them. What stops these Bishops commanding and these Boko Haram elements would even begin to kill themselves. We have such cases in the bible. In the case of the four lepers, God raised artificial soldiers for them that sacked the enemies of Israel from their military camps. (2 Kings 7:3-20). They should stop being partisan no matter their reason(s), While we shall Continue to clap for Jesus.
Sam Onwuemeodo is a veteran journalist, a former Chief Press secretary to Imo state government and publisher of Imo-based newspaper, The White-Paper.
