REBUTTAL: THE OWERRI ZONE POLITICAL LEADERS FORUM (OZOPOLF) IS NOT THE POLICEMAN OF OWERRI ZONE, NOT THE CUSTODIAN OF OWERRI ZONE ASPIRATIONS, AND LACKS LOCUS STANDI TO DETERMINE WHO EXISTS OR SPEAKS IN OWERRI ZONE

The attention of the Owerri Zone Progressive Forum (OZOPROF) and the general public has been drawn to a presumptuous, misleading, and intellectually hollow statement issued by the Owerri Zone Political Leaders Forum (OZOPOLF), in which it brazenly arrogates to itself powers it neither possesses nor can lawfully exercise.

Let this be stated clearly, categorically, and without equivocation:

The Owerri Zone Political Leaders Forum has no constitutional, legal, moral, or political authority—no locus standi whatsoever—to determine the legitimacy, existence, or advocacy positions of any organization, association, forum, or individual within Owerri Zone or Imo State. Registration with the Corporate Affairs Commission does not translate into political ownership, ideological supremacy, or custodianship of Owerri Zone’s collective conscience.

The attempt by OZOPOLF to dismiss or delegitimize the Owerri Zone Progressives Forum (OZOPROF) as “unknown” or “unauthorized” is not merely laughable; it is a crude display of insecurity, entitlement, and political desperation. This same arrogance, repeatedly exhibited by a narrow clique, is what has steadily weakened Owerri Zone and eroded its credibility and bargaining power in the critical debate over the 2027 Imo governorship.

This conduct is neither accidental nor new.

Whenever individuals or organizations within Owerri Zone deviate from the narrow, self-serving agenda of a few serial political failures masquerading as leaders, they are predictably attacked, smeared, and subjected to coordinated attempts at public discredit. This entrenched culture of intolerance, suppression of dissent, and intellectual bullying is precisely the toxic environment that necessitated the emergence of the Owerri Zone Progressives Forum in the first instance.

It is therefore both ironic and deeply revealing that an organization which claims to champion equity now seeks to deny others the most basic democratic rights of association, expression, and advocacy. Equity cannot coexist with exclusion. Justice cannot survive intimidation. You cannot preach equity while practicing repression. You cannot invoke justice while enforcing silence.

On the substantive issue of the Imo Charter of Equity, the position advanced by OZOPOLF is fundamentally flawed, historically distorted, and intellectually dishonest.

Equity does not exist in isolation. Equity is inseparable from justice. Where justice is absent, equity degenerates into propaganda—selective, hollow, and weaponized for political convenience.

For over two years, Imo State has been subjected to a deliberately overheated and manufactured controversy driven by a document purportedly prescribing a Charter of Equity that neither emerged from democratic consultation nor benefited from open debate or consensus-building. This document was imposed on the Imo State Council of Elders and thereafter presented as a fait accompli, while dissenting voices were subjected to intimidation, blackmail, political coercion, and deliberate misrepresentation.

The Owerri Zone Progressives Forum aligns unequivocally with the position articulated by leaders of Okigwe Zone that equity cannot be achieved through manipulation, intimidation, or historical revisionism, and that any charter divorced from justice lacks legitimacy, credibility, and moral force.

The historical record is clear and incontrovertible. Okigwe Zone has borne the brunt of systemic marginalization in Imo State’s power rotation. Any honest, objective interpretation of justice and fairness points directly to Okigwe Zone as the rightful beneficiary of the 2027 governorship. To deny this reality is not equity; it is political opportunism draped in borrowed moral language.

The Imo Charter of Equity did not originate today. It existed, functioned, and guided political transitions until it was deliberately undermined and truncated. The circumstances surrounding that breach are well documented and established beyond dispute that Okigwe Zone was the principal victim of the collapse of the earlier charter, and therefore possesses the strongest moral and equitable claim in the present effort to revive it.

As aptly captured in the Igbo proverb referenced by Okigwe leaders, those who dismantled a deity cannot later invoke its powers without first making restitution. In the same vein, political actors who undermined the original Charter of Equity cannot credibly present themselves as its custodians without first correcting the injustice they caused. Equity demands sincerity. Justice demands restitution.

Beyond history and principle, the hard facts of electoral participation further reinforce Okigwe Zone’s position. Despite having only six local government areas, Okigwe Zone delivered 115,124 votes in the 2023 governorship election, representing a 28 percent turnout. Owerri Zone, with nine local government areas, produced 98,600 votes, amounting to a mere 9 percent turnout. These figures speak clearly to commitment, goodwill, and political sacrifice—factors that no credible equity framework can ignore.

The developmental realities are equally stark. Unlike Orlu Zone, which has benefited from producing governors, and Owerri Zone, which permanently enjoys the infrastructural advantages of hosting the state capital, Okigwe Zone has remained structurally disadvantaged. From 1999 to date, successive administrations have disproportionately concentrated development in Owerri Zone, further entrenching imbalance and mocking the very notion of equity now being selectively invoked.

The Owerri Zone Progressives Forum therefore states, without ambiguity and without apology, that it stands firmly by its publication and its position. We openly and unapologetically align with and support the leaders and people of Okigwe Zone in their just, reasonable, and historically grounded demand that power should rotate to Okigwe Zone in 2027 in the interest of justice, balance, and lasting peace in Imo State.

History consistently shows that zones which suppress internal debate, silence alternative voices, and elevate arrogance over strategy ultimately weaken themselves and lose moral authority. Owerri Zone stands at such a crossroads, and the politics of intimidation currently being practiced by OZOPOLF is not leadership—it is panic masked as authority.

Justice remains the bedrock of equity.

Without justice, equity is a fraud.

The Owerri Zone Progressives Forum will not be intimidated.

The Owerri Zone Progressives Forum will not retract.

The Owerri Zone Progressives Forum will not submit to political blackmail.

The future of Imo State belongs to fairness, not force.

Signed:

Comrade Chuks Okere

Chairman

Pastor Tobechukwu Ejimkoye

Secretary

Comrade Devison Asikogu

Publicity Secretary