Indigenes Imo State living in Australia have endorsed the Labour Party (LP) candidate, Senator Athan Achonu, for the November governorship election in the state.
This is coming barely 48 hours after the LP presidential candidate Peter Obi, during the flag off campaign for Achonu, issued a quit notice to Governor Hope Uzodinma.
The Diaspora group known as Imo Technocratic Elite in Australia, in a statement, said the decision to endorse the LP candidate was reached after a careful perusal of the antecedents and resume of all candidates jostling for the position.
“We settled for Achonu based on his antecedents which stand out when juxtaposed with others,” the statement said, while decrying the state of affairs in the state.
According to the statement jointly signed by Professor Samson Ibekwe, and Dr Jude Nnabuikem, Chairman and Secretary of the group respectively, “Imo State is in coma and requires urgent resuscitation to avoid total decimation”.
“Senator Achonu has the capacity, exposure, experience and competence to re-launch Imo to the path of peace, stability and prosperity,” the statement added.
The group said that besides the personal antecedents of Senator Achonu who had demonstrated capacity for service while at the Senate, the massive transformation in the neighbouring Abia State which is a Labour Party-controlled state, “convinced us that Imo will advance under Labour Party.”
The group expressed deep worry over the precarious security situation in Imo State, likening the state to “a theatre of war and a slaughter ground”.
It lamented that Imo indigenes “have become refugees in their own land” following the senseless killings and bloodbath in various communities in the state.
According to the group many communities in the state have been deserted while the people now take refuge in the state capital and neighbouring states.
The group expressed deep worry that if nothing urgent was done to halt the dangerous trend, the state might not survive for too long.
According to the group, things went awry since the sack of a democratically elected Governor of the state by the court in 2020.
” Imo has become a theatre of war since
the people’s elected Governor was removed through the court in 2020. Ever since then, Imo has known no peace.
” Blood flows on Imo streets and villages with no end in sight. Nobody is taking responsibilities yet we have a Government in power which has failed to halt the menace. Non state actors have taken over the land of our birth. Pain and anguish have been unleashed on our people.
” Imolites have become refugees in their own land. Our communities are now deserted as unknown gunmen have turned them into slaughter ground. This is not the Imo of our patriarchs! Something urgent has to be done to liberate Imo from political hijackers behind our ordeals”.
The group also decried infrastructural collapse in the state as well as the condition of workers and pensioners who it said, had suffered gross neglect by those in power.
” Imo has become the laughing stock of the South East due to misgovernance and lack of visionary leadership. There is near-collapse of infrastructure. Workers and pensioners in Imo are treated as prisoners of war.
” Criminality has been on the increase, and this must not be allowed to fester. Time has come for Imolites irrespective of their political differences to jettison party affiliations and unite for our liberation. We must come together as a people and rescue Imo from anti-democratic forces holding us down.”
It, therefore, urged the people of Imo particularly youths to reject monetary inducements at the forthcoming poll and vote for competence and capacity.
” We appeal to our people in Imo irrespective of their political parties, to unite against political oppression and slavery. We must, like Abia State, take over our state from the hijackers for the good of all. Now is the to place the future of Imo above other considerations”.
The group promised to support Senator Achonu’s governorship bid until “it is actualised for the good of all”.
