IGP OGBONNA ONOVO, THE REAL REASON WHY HE WAS REMOVED!

In a short two word sentence - election 2011. Plans by the Jonathan cabal to easily retain President Jonathan in office in 2011 caused the removal of IGP Ogbonna Onovo from office and the subsequent catapulting of AIG Hafiz Ringim to the high office of the IGP.Hafiz Ringim, a man who had once, as then commissioner of police in Bayelsa State, helped the then deputy governor Goodluck Ebelechuku Jonathan successfully execute a civilian coup alongside Olusegun Obasanjo against his former boss, then Governor DSP Diepriye Alamieyesigha. Now the same hatchet-man Hafiz Ringim is being positioned to facilitate the smooth and unhindered 'election' of President Jonathan as Nigeria's president in 2011?

Icheoku says the cries and shouting of President Jonathan about an impending free and fair elections in 2011 notwithstanding, the facts on the grounds suggests that rigging of the coming elections have already begun; with this Hafiz Ringim as the icing on the cake of a rigged election. The cries of 'free and fair election' tactics is being deployed as a ruse to confuse the Nigerian public over a predetermined outcome by a president who has learnt so well from his political godfather Aremu Matthew Okikiliomo Olusegun Obasanjo. Icheoku says any Nigerian thinking that President Goodluck Jonathan is a saint or political novitiate must be delusional and might as well have landed from Mars where he has been since 1999 not to appreciate the conniving qualities of this cool as cucumber political operative from Bayelsa State now president by providence of Nigeria Republic.

Talk about rigging the forth coming elections and the hand-writing on the wall is not good; as the promised free and fair elections cannot be guaranteed nor was it meant to be achieved. With the notorious Mr. Fix It Anthony Anenih directing operations from within the "Elect President Jonathan campaign establishment," which has now led to the appointment of Hafiz Ringim in an all out bid to retain President Jonathan in office come 2011, there is no way in Hell the 2011 election will be free and fair. What other place to start in paving the way for rigging of the coming elections than to start removing every suspected and perceived stumbling blocks that might constitute a hinderance on the way to Aso Rock 2011. Bleeping on their radar of obstacle finding is the disciplined former IGP Ogbonna Onovo who has through elections conducted in Edo, Ekiti and Anambra States proved that he cannot be compromised and that free elections is still possible in Nigeria. Team Jonathan's decision, take care of this apparent "spoiler" before it is too late as they are not ready to accept or even entertain the possibility of yielding Aso Rock in 2011 and anything that poses any possible snag or threat must and should be taken care of immediately and now. Their verdict, IGP Onovo has to go and in order to make it appear normal, the service chiefs has to follow in tandem since they are not prepared to take any chances as the 2011 date with history approaches.

Convinced that IGP Onovo will stand his ground and not play ball when the time comes, they decided to shove him aside to make way for their team-player - a tested and trusted hand who have been used before on a similar assignment. Team Jonathan settled for a junior officer, an AIG, below seven other senior DIGs and an AIG; a person who is more pliable and who can be easily used to achieve a certain predetermined outcome in 2011. Icheoku is emphatic that election riggers of Nigeria who populate the PDP especially the Tony Anenih led Jonathan's campaign insiders advisory team were responsible for the sacking of IGP Onovo to make way for their malleable right hand man Hafiz Ringim. Icheoku is urging Nigerians and the Igbo nation to disregard the dummy sold to them that it was because of the young IGP Onovo's administration inability to completely reign in banditry of armed robbery and kidnapping especially in the South East that he was removed. If still in doubt, ask yourself this innocuously simple question, if truly it was because of the unabated criminality particularly in the South East that led to IGP Onovo's removal, why then on earth was it that the same AIG Hafiz Ringim in charge of South East Zone 9, who was tasked by Onovo with policing the same South East that was now elevated to the new IGP position? Where is the logic that an AIG that had direct responsibility to tackle crimes in the South East was spared the rod but his boss in Abuja was held responsible for his deficiencies of direct policing that led to the increase crimes in the South East; and to make matters worst, the same AIG is now rewarded with the post of the IGP, instead of also being fired assuming the logic and reason of high crimes and incompetence is true.

It does not make any sense and defies every logic, clear thought and common sense applied towards understanding the permutations of IGP Onovo's removal. It would have been otherwise if another AIG of another zone was made the new IGP; but for Hafiz RIngim who was in charge of the crime-infested South East Zone 9 to now replace IGP Onovo who was accused of not ridding the South East of criminalities, it smells very fishy. Nigerians will only come to find out when it is already too late after the 2011 elections with police-assisted massive rigging that President Jonathan took them for a sucker with this firing of IGP Onovo and the appointment of Hafiz Ringim. There are smoking guns everywhere which points to some other ulterior motives behind IGP Onovo's unexplained removal and the appointment of Hafiz Ringim as a replacement, except that Nigeria lacks investigative journalists who could rifle out buried facts; as many of them have now settled for news for cash or news that comes with special packaged "transport money" and have thus compromised the quality of news they disseminate. Just try to add it up and it is impossible to get a working sum.

It would also appear that the Igbo nation has not particularly fared well under President Jonathan's administration with successive Igbo men and women removed from office and replaced by other peoples of Nigeria. Also his ministerial list did away with the Igbos occupying prominent positions unlike during the late President Yar'Adua's era and even during Olusegun Obasanjo's government when Igbos featured very prominently. Foreign Minister Ojo Maduekwe was replaced with a non Igbo; NCC Ernest Ndukwe was replaced with non Igbo; INEC's Maurice Iwu was replaced with non Igbo; NSE Onyiuke was replaced with non Igbo; Chief of Defence Staff Dike was replaced with non Igbo and now IGP Onovo has now again been replaced with non Igbo. It is also on record that no Igbo person is a member of the President's inner "kitchen" advisory team such as special adviser or assistant or a minister within the presidency.

During Obasanjo time in office, Igbos were Central bank governor, Finance Minister, Foreign Affairs Minister, Special Assistants, Aviation Minister, Economic Adviser, Defence Minister just to name a few. During Yar'Adua's administration, Igbos were appointed as Ministers for Foreign Affairs, Education, Health, Commerce & Industry, etc as well as junior ministers. Admitted that under Jonathan administration, Igbos were appointed to Internal Affairs, Immigration and now Army Chief, but compared to other zones, the South East has not faired any much better under his administration. Even the expected elevation of Barthlomew Nnaji as Power Minister never materialized as a Northerner was later brought in to head the ministry after Jonathan relinquished control. The same applies to all the board and parastatals membership being filled by Jonathan's administration; and when you think that the second River Niger bridge is still a pipe-dream as well as the deplorable condition of roads in the South East including the Oji River power station which has not been activated, then the whole picture is painted of someone not particularly warmed up to the Igbo nation.

Icheoku also finds some agreement with the assessment of the former Lagos State commissioner of police Alhaji Abubakar Tsav that the "appointment of Hafiz Ringim, an Assistant Inspector-General (AIG) as the new Inspector-General of Police is insincere and a payback to someone who aided President Goodluck Jonathan to begin his journey to the presidency." According to Tsav, "we are talking of reformation of the police, and Mr Ogbonna Onovo who is doing his best to achieve this is not only removed but all his Deputy Inspector Generals DIGs and senior AIGs are being swept away by the tide to create room for an officer who made it possible for Jonathan to succeed Alamieyeseigha as governor after Obasanjo's carefully schemed impeachment." What a bulls-eye analysis of the politics behind IGP Onovo's removal; anyone still groping for the reason behind IGP Onovo's sudden removal should look no further as it lacked any plausible explanation due to who was appointed in his stead; - a junior officer tainted by then Deputy Governor Goodluck Jonathan's civilian coup in Bayelsa State and the unabated criminality in his controlled South East Zone 9.

It also does not make sense that an AIG who has less than 18 months to his retirement from the force would be a preferred choice for the office of the IGP when they are several DIGs and a senior AIG with much longer time left in their service; who would now be forced to summarily retire to make way for their junior officer to freely deliver on the assignment of a Jonathan's 2011 presidential election. The only plausible explanation for this convulsion is that AIG Hafiz Ringim is a hatchet-man being deployed for a specific assignment - to allow President Jonathan's people a free reign with rigging the next 2011 election in his favor, period! And if as some of his apologists are wont to argue that he rightly swept away all the chiefs including IGP Onovo, Icheoku asks why did he spare the Customs chief, a man allegedly working with a forged certificate? Why was Alhaji Abdullahi Inde Dikko not removed if the mass sacking is true and not a targeted removal just to cut some people to size and not allow them two voices in the security council? Why was Petrini retained, etc. But Nigerians should seize themselves of one commentator's observation that "Jonathan’s wholesale tinkering with the leadership of the armed forces, law enforcement and security agency adds to the perception that the first stages of the rigging may well be underway." And whether or not Icheoku's fears and suspicions as well as that of other commentators are well founded lies in the womb of time of the 2011 elections; and how it will go down as the most rigged election in the annals of Nigeria democratic history!