NIGERIA DEMOCRATIC CONGRESS (NDC)
OGUTA LGA CHAPTER, IMO STATE.
APC Oguta At It Again: Setting the Records Straight—Not Everything Is Politics, Even When the People Know Better; Peter Obi Would Win Imo in a Landslide Without Campaigning
E-ISSN: 2354-4481
By Rita Onuoha
The attention of the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC), Oguta LGA Chapter, has been drawn to a publication emanating from the All Progressives Congress (APC), Oguta LGA, following its meeting in the LGA, where the serving House of Representatives Member, Hon. Engr. Eugene Okechukwu Dibiagwu, representing Ohaji-Egbema/Oguta/Oru-West Federal Constituency, addressed the gathering.
Ordinarily, the NDC Oguta is not in the habit of unnecessary social media stunts or press releases aimed at marketing its candidates on political platforms. We have hinged our campaign engagements on issue-based politics. However, when a piece is written by a personality of worth in the media, public affairs and communication industry, such as the serving Senior Special Assistant to the Governor on Media and Public Communication, Hon. Sir Collins Ughala, a celebrated journalist and savvy communicator, and published for public consumption, it becomes morally and politically expedient, in the interest of the sanity of information and human progression in the court of public opinion, to ensure that such information is factual. Hence, the preoccupation of this response.
There is an aphorism that says, "A good market sells itself." In the Igbo language, it is translated as "Ahịa ọma na-ere onwe ya." The time of futile political gimmicks is over. Nigerians, Imolites and Ndi-Oguta are now in the era of political evaluation. By now, everyone knows the political product called Bola Ahmed Tinubu, from Maiduguri to Anambra.
The NDC, led by our National Leader, Senator Seriake Dickson, has presented to Nigerians what we consider the best ticket for practical political evaluation and national progressiveness in the persons of Peter Gregory Obi as the Presidential Candidate and Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso as his running mate. This ticket is whole and complete, an exact reflection of what Nigerians are looking forward to. On that decision, Nigerians would largely support and vote come Saturday, 16 January 2027.
THE POLITICAL REALITY OF 2023 AND THE 2027 PRESIDENTIAL EXPECTATION
In the said article, Dibiagwu was credited with making comments that cannot be substantiated politically or before voters in Imo State based on leadership performance, but which can be interpreted as "unholy political solidarity" against the commoners.
While advancing an argument in favour of Governor Hope Uzodimma's performance and debunking the Rainbow Coalition in Imo State, particularly concerning the FCT Minister, Nyesom Wike, the leader of the Rainbow Coalition, Dibiagwu was quoted as saying:
"We will prove him wrong by winning Imo convincingly for the President," he said.
At this point, it is better to state what the internet, the people of Imo State and the Southeast at large would forgive one for saying, as it does not require much explanation.
In 2023, during the first tenure of Governor Hope Uzodimma, President Tinubu was sold to Nigerian voters as a master strategist and uncommon leader, using Lagos State, where he governed from 1999 to 2007, as a political laboratory. However, Peter Gregory Obi won Lagos State and several other southern states during the 2023 presidential election.
Therefore, it is politically a misnomer and a watery argument to tell the public that Imo State would be won by the APC for Tinubu in 2027. Peter Obi does not need to campaign extensively in Imo State to defeat Tinubu and would win in a landslide come 2027. Save the date!
Again, Dibiagwu, in the publication, was quoted as saying:
"Igbo men alone cannot make an Igbo President. We need to build lasting bridges for us to get it," he said.
While it is important to emphasise the politics of national spread and healthy alliances, it is equally worth noting and commendable to refute the sheer deceit, self-demeaning attitude and low self-esteem with which some leaders of the Southeast have presented the region since the latter Republic, unlike the years when the Southeast was represented by men and women of great distinction, with the vision of advancing the political interests of the people.
In a polite pose, one is compelled to ask: "Is the Southeast region only good for political alliance since 1960 to date?"
Why can't we be supported by other regions? Or why can't our representatives brace the madness to change the odds? Is it fair enough to canvass for Imo State to support President Bola Ahmed Tinubu over a better and more politically acceptable candidate like Peter Gregory Obi on the shambolic reasoning of "political alliance", as if the Southwest or the North does not need the Southeast to produce the President of Nigeria?
THE SOUTHEAST, NATIONAL POLITICAL PARTICIPATION AND THE PRESIDENCY
Moving the argument generally to the South, Hon. Eugene Okechukwu Dibiagwu, in the publication, was further credited with saying that the South should understand the importance of completing its tenure in the national political arrangement and that the Igbo should understand the need for national political participation and the credibility of gaining the trust of other regions.
He was quoted as saying:
"As your representative, I should be at the discussion where it was discussed that the Igbo people will rule Nigeria for four years, and you know that it is not true and you want to paint us as people that cannot be trusted," he said.
In response, the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, as amended, provides a clear constitutional framework for presidential tenure.
Section 135(2) states:
"Subject to the provisions of subsection (1) of this section, the President shall vacate his office at the expiration of a period of four years..."
The provision further explains that the four-year period commences from the date the President takes the Oath of Allegiance and the oath of office.
Furthermore, Section 137(1)(b) provides that a person shall not be qualified for election to the office of President if "he has been elected to such office at any two previous elections."
These provisions establish the constitutional framework for a maximum of two elected presidential terms, ordinarily amounting to eight years.
In this case, where the presidential position, under the unwritten understanding of political power rotation, still resides in the South, it is not a political sacrilege for Igbo leaders, on the grounds of governance and equity, to demand for it.
This is particularly important when considering the present performance of the Bola Ahmed Tinubu administration, which, in our political assessment, has lowered the bar of governance when compared with other Southern presidents, such as Olusegun Obasanjo (1999–2007) from Ogun State and Goodluck Jonathan (2010–2015) from Bayelsa State.
Secondly, the primary business of a lawmaker is to represent the people, participate in parliamentary debates, sponsor bills and motions for the benefit of his constituents, and advance governance generally in the country.
Assuming without conceding, is it not a representational aberration that Hon. Eugene Okechukwu Dibiagwu has failed to bring the burning issue of the marginalisation of the Southeast, especially its inability to produce a President of Nigeria of Southeast origin, to the forefront of national political discussions?
The point is that it is Nigerian voters who will determine who becomes the President of Nigeria, not any lawmaker.
Again, Nigerians will vote for Peter Obi and Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso come 2027.
EJEMEKWURU/AGWA/OBOKOFIA ROAD: ANOTHER PROMISE OR A REAL COMMITMENT?
Against this backdrop, I was a bit taken aback when I read lines in the same article crediting Hon. Dibiagwu with saying that the State Government had officially awarded the Ejemekwuru/Agwa Road and that work would soon commence.
I paused for a while to recall the postulation of a popular saying:
"You can fool all the people some of the time, and some of the people all the time, but you cannot fool all the people all the time."
With the interest of not boring readers with the Agwa/Ejemekwuru Road, which has become a political campaign manifesto, let me quickly remind the public of the promises made by the APC-led government concerning the position of the said road.
On September 25, 2026, during the burial of late Hon. Chief Sir Ethelbert Nze Nnanna (Watch Out), former Member of the Imo State House of Assembly and former Chairman of Oguta LGA, Hon. Eugene Okechukwu Dibiagwu, Hon. Gilbert Chiedozie Nwosu, the serving Member of the Imo State House of Assembly representing Oguta, the immediate past Oguta LGA Chairman, APC Oguta Party Chairman, Hon. Collins Ughala, among other party leaders, publicly announced, in the presence of the Parish Priest of Holy Trinity Catholic Church, Uwaorie Agwa, and other attendees, that the Governor had awarded the Ejemekwuru/Agwa/Obokofia Road and that work would commence on or before the first week of October.
In addition, considering that the burial of another illustrious son of Agwa and the then Apex Leader of Oguta APC, Bishop (Dr.) Gideon Uchechukwu Nwaeze, was scheduled for October 9, 2026, it was further announced that remedial work would be carried out on the road to ease vehicular movement.
Ironically, the Agwa/Ejemekwuru/Obokofia Road remains in that abandoned state till date.
Is it not insulting to the people of Agwa, Ejemekwuru, Obokofia and the entire Federal Constituency to read the same promise in the media again, credited to the same political leadership?
The people of Agwa and other communities that depend on this road deserve more than repeated political announcements. They deserve tangible development, visible construction work and a government that honours its commitments.
The road is not merely a political campaign manifesto. It is a critical infrastructure project that affects the movement of people, economic activities, community development and the general well-being of the people.
THE PEOPLE WILL DECIDE IN 2027
We understand the pressure to be re-elected again, but that choice is left for the voters of Ohaji-Egbema/Oguta/Oru-West Federal Constituency and, at large, the people of Imo State and Nigeria to make concerning the re-election of Hon. Eugene Okechukwu Dibiagwu and His Excellency, Bola Ahmed Tinubu (GCFR), come Saturday, 16 January 2027.
The die is cast!
His Excellency, Peter Gregory Obi, the former Governor of Anambra State, and His Excellency, Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso, are the choice of Nigeria come 2027.
With respect to Imo State and Oguta, Obi will win in a landslide, even without campaigning extensively in Imo State, while the NDC in Oguta and the State at large will work towards forming the next government in Imo State.
It is important to put the records straight to protect the feeble hearts and unsuspecting members of the public from misleading political narratives.
The NDC will provide service to the people, and Nigeria will be OK!
John Mbonu Uchenwoke-Ekperechi
Publicity Secretary,
Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC),
Oguta LGA Chapter, Imo State.
