The member representing Ideato Federal Constituency in the House of Representatives, Hon. Ikenga Ugochinyere Imo on Tuesday declared that nobody will be allowed to rig the forthcoming 2027 election in his constituency.
Ugochinyere made the disclosure during a reception organised in his honour by the people of Ideato South Local Government Area of Imo State on Tuesday.
He however expressed reservations over attempts by local government officials to stop his reception.
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The reception was initially scheduled to hold by 1pm at Central School 2, Aforukwu, Isiekenezi, but later held in the evening at the private residence of a former Chairman of the People's Democratic Party in Ideato South, Chief Bonny Ebili, after heavily armed police men and Armoured Personnel Carrier.
When Ugochinyere and his supporters arrived at the original venue, they were refused entry which forced them to end up at the compound of Ebili for the reception.
A visibly infuriated Ugochinyere condemned the action, saying it was capable of truncating democracy.
He told his supporters that together they will fight and resist any form of intimidation during the electioneering process in Ideato federal constituency.
The lawmaker said he was focused and committed to provide basic amenities and infrastructure for his constituents.
He said "the Imo State Police Command and the state government, without any provocation, few hours to this reception sealed the venue of this reception. That is why my people are on the main road. I want every Nigerian to see the level we have degenerated, that why it's yet an election year, madness has started in Imo again.
"For long, I have stayed on my own, never looked for anybody's trouble, and my people called and said Ideato South wants to receive you which is within their constitutional right. The government released a statement that they have banned the use of all public facilities in Ideato.
"We wrote them and instead of being decent enough, they sent security men from Owerri. That is why it's difficult to convince people to buy into state police. And I told my people not to play into their hands.
"It's not our fault that our people like us too much. We cannot apologise about it. We have shown maturity; we have shown strength; but we cannot negotiate our constitutional right, nobody born of a woman can make us do that", he said.
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He called on the Inspector General of Police to beem his searchlight on the Imo State Police command, saying the people had suffered in their hands.
Ugochiyere said "it's high time the Inspector General of Police look into the IMO Police Command; we have suffered in their hands before; we don't want to suffer again. We will not succumb to this. This energy they are using, if they use it to fight criminals, Imo State will be better".
Speaking on the Imo political scene, the lawmaker said it will be impossible for politicians to stay somewhere and write results, even as he warned that it could collapse democracy in the country.
He said "it will be easier for them to write their will than to write result. It can never happen. It is situations like this, with other factors that led to the collapse of democracy in 1983. As lovers of democracy, we don't want democracy to collapse. Ordinary civic reception; that means they don't want people to come out for election and if you don't want people to come for election; then there is no democracy because you can't call it democracy when it's actually not", Ugochiyere lamented.
