Don faults Imo council of elders’ power rotation proposal

A Professor of law, fellow and visiting scholar, Human Rights Institute, Columbia University, the United States, Nnamdi Obiaraeri, has faulted some areas in the recently submitted Charter of Equity for power rotation in Imo State by the over 200-member Imo Council of Elders to the governor, Hope Uzodimma.

The council, a creation of Imo law, led by the monarch of Obinugwu, Orlu, Eze Cletus Ilomuanya, accompanied by Emmanuel Iwuanyanwu, among others, last week, submitted the charter to Uzodimma, endorsing the governor for second term in the coming November 11 governorship election in the state, and proposing that rotation among the three zones (Imo East, Imo North and Imo West) should commence after the governor completes his second tenure in 2028.

But Obiaraeri, a former Dean, Faculty of Law, Imo State University, Owerri, while criticising the power rotation document in his submission, titled, ‘The Inequities in Imo Charter of Equity 2023,’ obtained, yesterday, by The Guardian, said it would propagate Imo West’s 20 years in power, while other zones has remained allegedly cheated and marginalised in the governorship seat since beginning of the current democratic dispensation in 1999.

The former commissioner, who variously served in ministries of Information, Lands and Survey, said the elders should have observed some grey areas in the charter before submitting it to the governor for implementation. He said: “I wanted to keep quiet, but ancestors would not agree in the face of obvious misapplication of principles of equity in the Imo Charter of Equity 2023.

“Equity does not endorse inequity. He who comes to equity must come with clean hands. I come in peace.
 
“Imo people will not vote Uzodimma for second term based on mawkish reasons of equity and or zoning, as these two criteria do not favour any person from Orlu zone presently. The governor is coincidentally from Orlu zone.

“Aside performance, another factor that may enhance Uzodimma’s re-election bid is political expediency, forged and promoted by the political class, not zoning or equity.

“Zoning is antithetical to domination. Zoning promotes equity, natural justice and good conscience. It is fairness, and it promotes participation of all constituent parts of the state or community in the governance process.”