By PAMELA EBOH, Awka

The International Society for Civil Liberties and Rule of Law (Intersociety) has called on people from the Southeast to draw a home-front electoral agenda and have it kick-started in this 2022 as a way of rejigging governance in the zone.

The group said it was an incontestable fact that whoever becomes or was going to be voted as governor of the remaining four southeast states would be a strong determinant to the territorial, boundary, forest, bush, farmland and urban security, protection and safety of the each of the five Southeast states in particular and the Southeast Region in general.

Intersociety maintained that the fundamental agenda for the people of the Southeast Region was to launch“operation sweep away bad governance, weak and conformist leaders” in 2023.

Citing the Anambra November 6 governorship election as a test case, it observed that there was likelihood that majority of her representative voters had voted against retention of ineptitude and governance failure status quo and voted for status quo with agenda for change and perceived capacity to adopt protective territory and hi-tech development as its major policy direction.

“Anything in the contrary is an invitation to chaos and ‘Oderaa era Governance Brigandage’,” it added.

A statement signed by Intersociety Board Chairman, EmekaUmeagbalasi,Head of Democracy and Good Governance, Chinwe Umeche Esq, Head of Campaign and Publicity, Chidimma Udegbunam, Esq and Deputy Head of Policing and Law Enforcement, Comrade Chibueze Nwajiaku, partly reads: “In Imo State, it will be an electoral taboo and security and safety dangerous to retain Hope Uzodimma or not to sweep him away and erase traces of his leadership legacy in the forthcoming Feb/March 2023 Governorship Poll.

“In Ebonyi State, there is a mandatory need to vote in a bold, independent and service inclined Governor with clear-cut legacy or footprint departure from the incumbent Government. This is as it concerns security, protection and safety of the People of the State and their territories, boundaries, forests, bushes, farmlands, urban centers and their faith beliefs.

“In Enugu State, Ugwuanyi may have fixed some critical public infrastructures such as strategic connecting road network across the State, but the boundaries, forests, bushes, urban centers and faith beliefs in the State are very insecure, unsafe and threatened.

“As a matter of fact, in the area of security and safety of the above mentioned, Ugwuanyi’s philosophy is “anything goes” including ‘weeping in Enugu today and smiling and laughing at Aso Rock the next day’. Therefore, a new bold and courageous leader is mandatory needed in Enugu come Feb/March 2023 so asto clear the mess.

“In Abia State, the People of the State have a strong task to find and vote in a strong-willed and independent-minded new leader in 2023. The State has not been governed independently and developmentally since Sam Mbakwe and Ogbonnaya Onu's era. It has been corrupt and stooge governance all through.

“In the case of Anambra State, though the congregated and aggregated votes of the Nov 2021 Poll were not ‘majoritarian’ representative of what ought to be in a popular democratic poll, but it is better to have 10,000 living votes than to have one million dead votes.

“In other words, massive vote riggers and their planned one million plus robotic votes were gallantly stopped from entering INEC strong rooms at Awka and Abuja.

“Such gallant stoppage must be replicated in Imo, Ebonyi and Abia come Feb/March 2023 for purpose of ensuring the emergence of leaders who are truly reflective of ‘majoritarian’ citizens’ electoral wishes with capacity to roar and be feared by external enemies especially those who suck blood in the name of religion and tribalism.”

Intersociety pointed out that one of the worst undoing of the Southeast Governors since 2015 is not being in charge of their gubernatorial seats and offices in matters of locations, movements and postings of security personnel, their heads and formations in the Southeast Region and beyond same.

It also said that they have also never protested openly or discretely to higher quarters against obvious ostracization of their own people during recruitments, promotions and postings in the country’s security forces.

It added: “They have also feigned ignorance and looked the other way in matters of flooding of the Southeast Region with enemy combatants and their commanders. They don’t even care if all security formations in their Region and their headships are flooded with ethno-religiously hateful, clannish and murderouspersonnel.

“Totality of these is not only act of cowardice but also grave endangerment and enslavement of their own people and their rural and urban properties and heritages. As was the case in Anambra State, the rest of the people of the Southeast must congregate and aggregate now so as to unchain the region and her people from shackles and manacles of weak and bad leaders and their leaderships.”