Two eminent political leaders, Chief Emeka Charles Kalu, a Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) chieftain, and Bishop Funso Awe, the 2019 governorship candidate of the National Conscience Party (NCP), have said that the warning that the November 11 Imo governorship election will witness state sponsored violence and manipulations should be taking seriously by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and security agencies.

Bishop Awe also warned that the Kogi State governor­ship election holding same time will also be violent and highly manipulated, noting that both incumbent governors of Imo and Kogi states are from the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), and that the two states have been volatile, especially in election periods under their watch.

Chief Emeka Kalu, the National Coordinator, Peoples Democratic Party Coalition (PDP Coalition) and Director General, Global Initiatives for Good Governance (GIGG), who sees himself as a personal friend of Governor Hope Uzodimma, maintained that the power to elect the governor lies with the people.

He stressed that the people of Imo State should be allowed to exercise their franchise and elect the leader after their own heart in a conducive atmosphere, devoid of violence and manipulations.

Kalu, who once vied for the Abia State governorship, and the Founder and Director General, Atikulated Movement, one of the campaign platforms of PDP presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, stressed: “The power to elect the next governor of Imo State lies in the electorate with their PVCs who are qualified in law to thumbprint for their respective choice of candidates.

“INEC on its part must stand to be fair in handling the election to avoid rigging and other irregularities ranging from provisions of data sufficiency for polling units presiding officers, BiVAS machine under good working conditions, being mindful of over voting, avoidance of vote buying and provisions of adequate security during the election.

“Past performances, good character traits, level of focus, blueprints for governance will determine whom the people will massively and popularly vote into office as their next governor.

“Imo State needs a change of leadership to be able to transform the state from pollution of crimes, killings, economic downturn and kidnapping.

“It is left for a party candidate to organise himself and let the people see how genuinely committed he is to govern them when voted into power.

“The era of using violence to win elections, ballot box snatching, etc, has expired fol­lowing the current Electoral Act in force.

“The power to win always belongs to the people and there is no way a party flagbearer can claim victory without feasible and countable votes in his favour.”

Kalu maintained that state sponsored violence to disrupt and manipulate electoral processes in favour of a candidate is akin to taking Nigeria back to the era of darkness and po­litical immaturity.

He stressed: “Violence in an election, be it sponsored or generated in polling centres, confirms the fact that INEC is not prepared to conduct such an election.

“The commission’s elec­toral equipment are detectors of fraud which must not be allowed to prevail over genuinely scored votes.

“When you kill people to remain in power, the truth is that your government must lose focus for fear of reprisal. I advise other parties in the election to delete fear from the screens of their heart, contin­ue in campaigns, speaking to the electorate on the impor­tance of voting to change the narratives in Imo State.

“On the side of the Federal Government, it should provide water-tight security against any form of sponsored vio­lence clandestinely made to obstruct the smooth conduct of the election.

“If the people of Imo State allow fear to envelope their mind, they must prepare to remain in disarrayed gover­nance by allowing a wrong candidate clinch victory in the polls.”

On the PDP’s chances of winning the election, Kalu, himself a frontline party chieftain, said: “PDP like every other party fielding candidates in the election, must be proac­tive in detecting hidden plans of electoral manipulation and airing it to the public.

“Chief Samuel Anyanwu, as the PDP candidate, is ex­pected to have a sound mani­festo to attract the support of Imo people to vote him in the election.

“Political power belongs to the people and the mantle of their action is their voter cards. PDP must work to get Imo State see its sincere plans on the table to revitalise Imo from darkness when voted for.

“The party should work closely with their grassroots stakeholders to enable them to reach out to the locals to sup­port the party.

“Any campaign for support that is not rooted down to the locals in their various com­munities, will fail the very candidate.

“Victory is never secured by driving around the city with police escorts, lavish­ing millions of naira in hotel meetings, travelling round the country by hired private jets. No and Never.

“It is the ability to maximise the bundled support of the grassroots, visiting them in their hut houses, spending time to discuss their challeng­es and convincing them on what they should expect when you win an election.

“With this, they will be touched to line up and release their votes. So, unity in the par­ty is cardinal while reaching out to the electorate in the vil­lages to crown it all in terms of the possibility of getting their votes during the election.”

Bishop Funso Awe, Bish­op of the Orthodox Anglican Church, Lagos Mainland Diocese and Vice Chairman, Civil Consciousness Global Initiative (CCGI), he has also foreseen that the Imo election will be violent and highly ma­nipulated by state agents.

Awe said: “We have seen it coming. Based on what we saw at the presidential and governorship elections, the antecedents of the incumbent governor, Hope Uzodimma, you do not need to be a proph­et to predict what will happen in the Imo governorship elec­tion.

“It is not only in Imo. It will also be so in Kogi State. The governorship elections will be holding in the two states the same time, in November.

“When you talk of state sponsored violence, in Imo, the incumbent’s party occupies the seat at the federal level. It is the same scenario in Kogi State.

“The Governor, Yahaya Bello, even cut a road because of election. Elections have has always been violent in Kogi since Bello’s administration.

“But, it will be a test case for Tinubu’s regime on how they will conduct future elections. But, Tinubu has a penchant for holding on to power, espe­cially when judges by his an­tecedent in Lagos.” (Sunday Independent)