By Odo Ijere, Okpotemba Ohafia
THE spontaneous burst of excitement, wild celebration and glee on the streets of Umuahia last night by Abia youths was enough sign for me to go to sleep and rest a bit.
The battle is over. The dust kicked up by Ikpeazu and his hordes of imbeciles was settling to at least abate the spectre of a total breakdown of law and order. The youths had come down to INEC in their numbers to defend their results and stop the criminals from killing their joy this time again.
All the results were out except the Obingwa specimen. Alibaba had reserved the Obingwa specimen as his joker and killjoy to be used as his instrument to plunder the people’s votes. What a criminal! But his intention was well read very early in the day.
Our modern-day Alibaba that bestrode Abia State like a nocturnal animal for the whole of 8 years is not particularly an intelligent thief. Everyone knew that he would use the same script taught him in 2015 and which he used again in 2019 to stake his electoral heists in 2023.
We knew it from his visionless dissonance and lack of innovation persona. A more clever person would have tried a new format and trick to pull his heist this time around. But not Okezie.
He even, this time, kidnapped the INEC officials, held them hostage in his kingdom with thugs and forced figures on them. His dead brain cells only taught him one cerebral methodology of stealing results, which is banditry.
But in the process, he became a national embarrassment and was celebrated yesterday as a kidnapper of electoral umpires which earned him a deserving cancellation of his specimen diadem. Now we expect INEC to read and declare the election results without the Obingwa heist and proceed with the criminal investigation and possible prosecution of the culprits in the Electoral Offences Tribunal set up in our electoral law for that purpose.
This is game over for the sit-tight PDP for now 24 years of governance debacle and kleptocracy. It is a celebration and party time in Abia from today, the 20th of March as the Egyptians of yesterday shall be seen no more.
All hail the rugged, consistently consistent, cerebral, technocratic, highly polished, widely connected, very intelligent, first-class brain, first-class economist, first-class banker, Dr. Alex Otti, the governor-elect of Abia State of Nigeria as we all tune in to his soon to be delivered acceptance speech.
- Engr. Odo Ijere, Okpotemba Ohafia is a public affairs commentator and can be reached on odoijere64@gmail.com