Rufus Omeire claimed incumbent lawmaker Ikenga Ugochinyere emerged through the choice of voters rather than a rotational agreement.
A former member of the House of Representatives, Rufus Omeire, has rejected claims that the Ideato Federal Constituency seat in Imo State is subject to a zoning arrangement between Ideato North and Ideato South.
Mr Ugochinyere, who represents Ideato North/South Federal Constituency, is the Chairman of the House Committee on Petroleum Resources (Downstream).
In a statement issued in Abuja on Wednesday, Mr Omeire argued that Mr Ugochinyere did not emerge through zoning but through the decision of voters in the constituency.
“Ikenga is not a product of zoning. He is a product of our people’s decision to elect a messenger they have confidence in, even while he was in exile,” he said.
Mr Omeire, who is from Ideato South, said the constituency had never operated a formal zoning arrangement for the federal House seat.
“We don’t have zoning, and he can’t be a product of what does not exist,” he said.
He cited Mr Ugochinyere’s victory in the 2023 election over the then incumbent, Paschal Obi, who is from Ideato South, as evidence that voters in the constituency had not been bound by a rotational arrangement.
“His closest challenger, who was the incumbent, was from Ideato South, went even up to the court, and Ikenga defeated him,” Omeire said.
Mr Omeire said he had personally attempted to secure a second term when he represented the constituency from Ideato South, but was not returned, which he cited as further evidence that there was no binding arrangement guaranteeing successive terms to a particular area.
According to him, voters should be allowed to determine who represents them based on performance rather than geographical rotation.
“The people love Ikenga because he is a light and a messenger who will one day host the Ideato flag at the centre of national and international politics,” he said.
Mr Omeire argued that repeatedly replacing representatives after a single term could undermine continuity and development in the constituency.
“We are short-changing ourselves in this quest to always change our Reps after one tenure. We can never achieve any meaningful development from the federal level like this. We have finally gotten it right with Ikenga, so he should continue the wonderful work he is doing,” he said.
The former lawmaker also defended Mr Ugochinyere’s record, particularly his role in attracting federal attention to infrastructure in Ideato.
He credited the incumbent with securing President Bola Tinubu’s approval for N26 billion for the Ideato Bridge, claiming the intervention was obtained before the Imo State Government subsequently approached the Ministry of Works to take over the project.
Mr Omeire challenged the Imo State Government to identify projects it had initiated independently in the federal constituency.
“Until they start the Amanator-Isiekenesi-Dikenafai Road and finish it, nobody can say they have done anything for us,” he said.
Mr Omeire, however, dismissed Mr Ugochinyere’s critics as “roadside clowns,” accusing them of mounting what he described as a “kindergarten attack” against the lawmaker.
He urged those behind the agitation to abandon what he called an attempt to create unnecessary tension and attract political attention.
“This desperate show of shame was only an act to beg for the extension of their tenure, which has already expired,” he said.
Mr Ugochinyere was declared the winner of the 2023 election by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) after polling 13,026 votes. Mr Obi, who contested on the Labour Party platform, came second with 5,696 votes, while the All Progressives Congress candidate (APC), Chika Abazu, scored 2,368 votes.
The election was subsequently challenged at the tribunal. In September 2023, the Imo State National and State House of Assembly Election Petitions Tribunal ordered Mr Ugochinyere’s removal and a supplementary election after ruling on the validity of his nomination. However, the Court of Appeal later overturned the tribunal’s decision and affirmed Ugochinyere’s election.
The disagreement over zoning is not entirely new. While there is no evidence of a formal statutory or legally binding zoning arrangement for the federal constituency, available records show that the seat has historically alternated between politicians from the two LGAs, although not in a strict one-term-each pattern.
Records of the Fourth Republic show that ThankGod Ezeani and Patricia Udogu, both from Ideato North, represented the constituency between 1999 and 2007 before Mr Omeire, from Ideato South, took over from 2007 to 2011. The seat returned to Ideato North with Eddie Mbadiwe and was subsequently retained by Austin Chukwukere, both from Ideato North, between 2011 and 2019. Paschal Obi, from Ideato South, won in 2019 before losing to Mr Ugochinyere in 2023.
The zoning argument resurfaced in 2026 as political activity ahead of the 2027 elections intensified. In April, a group identified as the Ideato South Political Forum publicly adopted Mr Ugochinyere for another term, saying it had consulted communities, youths, elders and political actors before reaching the decision. The group expressly argued that Ideato South should not sacrifice what it described as quality representation for zoning.
