AS residents of Imo State continue to recover from the aftershock of the raging allegation of voodoo allies in Governor Ikedi Ohakim Government
, the Expanded Executive Council (EEC) has taken a bold step to arrest the oath-taking saga, National Daily can reveal.
The desperate bid to get detractors beat a retreat followed the uncomfortable trend which has shown growing distrust among the Ohakim’s supposedly inner caucus.
It would be recalled that in recent weeks, there were reports that all appointees of the Imo State government may have embarked on a fetish oath-taking exercise to stay in line and prove their loyalty and allegiance to Ohakim.
However, National Daily gathered after all that it is a fuss over mere oath of allegiance executed through an undertaking signed by 63 members of the Expanded Executive Council of the Imo State government excluding the Chief Press Secretaries of the Governor and Deputy Governor.
The signing of the undertaking has been referred to as a “priority directive” from government sources.
This is reinforced by the fact that the Deputy Governor, Mrs. Ada Okwuonu and the Secretary to the State Government (SSG), Chief Cosmas Iwu top the list of signatories to the undertaking.
The undertaking which was later published as a disclaimer partly reads: “…we have been offered opportunity to serve our state by the Governor in various capacities. That we owe him and this state 100 per cent loyalty and allegiance. That we are not members of Destiny Organization, Redemption Organization etc…”
This oath of allegiance have however elicited questions from political pundits who are wondering what happened to the oath-of-office these appointees took on assumption of duty. Some political analysts insist that the first oath-of-office was for the Government and people of Imo State, while the recent exercise is for the Governor, Chief Ohakim.
“Unless they are telling Imo people that a gulf of distrust and a possible crisis of confidence, as speculated, are indeed threatening the cohesion of this administration,” an observer queried.
The composition of Ohakim’s enlarged cabinet has earlier been described as an “amalgam of strange bedfellows.” This is because while most are driven by conflicting ideologies, some others exhibit no ideological leaning whatsoever, thus, breeding friction.
Commenting on the issue, Dr Jude Ohanele of the National Vanguard for Democracy (NVD) stated: “We know paper oaths do not guarantee loyalty, but what we need to find out is if anything unlawful or unbecoming has taken place behind the scene. Beside that, I think the appointees have a right within the law to express their loyalty and allegiance to any person, or institution they so desire.”
Another school of thought believes that the exercise is a political design of Ohakim to rid his administration of all the cronies of both Chief Achike Udenwa and Senator Ifeanyi Araraume, respectively, of the Redemption and Destiny Organizations. Both men, in recent times, by virtue of their headship of the two largest political structures in Imo State and their new alliance have constituted nightmare to Ohakim.
From National Daily