By Promise Uzoma Okoro
As Abia State inches steadily toward the 2027 General Elections, what should be a season of strategic engagement, ideological positioning, and democratic competition is regrettably being polluted by reckless theatrics and dangerous political conduct.
Let it be stated clearly: wishing death on a political opponent is not activism. It is not strategy. It is not courage. It is moral bankruptcy.
The recent protests allegedly sponsored against the Senator representing Abia North Senatorial District, Senator Orji Uzor Kalu have exposed a disturbing desperation within certain political circles. Protest, in itself, is a constitutional right. Citizens are free to disagree, criticize, and organize. That is democracy.
But when protests degenerate into women and youths publicly chanting death songs and invoking disappearance upon a political figure, the line has been crossed.
Elections are not spiritual battles fought with incantations. They are contests of numbers.
If Senator Orji Uzor Kalu has underperformed, defeat him at the polls. If there is a superior candidate, present that candidate to the people. If there is dissatisfaction, convert it into voter education, mobilization, and grassroots penetration.
Democracy does not reward noise. It rewards structure.
Those investing resources in orchestrating emotional spectacles would do better investing in ward coordinators, voter registration drives, issue-based campaigns, and coalition building across Abia North. That is how elections are won. Not by rehearsed chants of doom.
More importantly, history teaches a simple political truth: Nigerians are instinctively sympathetic to anyone perceived to be under coordinated attack. The more these protests drift into personal hostility and death wishes, the more sympathy they quietly generate for the former Governor and serving Senator.
What was meant to weaken him may very well be strengthening him.
Politics built on bitterness is a weak foundation. When campaigns lose focus on policy, performance, and alternatives and instead descend into hostility it signals intellectual exhaustion. It suggests the absence of a compelling counter-narrative.
Abia politics must not descend into a theatre of curses.
Today it is Senator Orji Uzor Kalu. Tomorrow it could be anyone else. When the culture of wishing opponents dead becomes normalized, it erodes the safety and stability of the entire political ecosystem. Those who sponsor such tactics should understand that the precedent they set today may consume them tomorrow.
Let us be clear: 2027 will not be decided by protest choreography. It will be decided by registered voters, PVCs, turnout percentages, ward arithmetic, and collation sheets.
If you seek change, organize, If you seek power, persuade and If you seek victory, mobilize.
But if your strategy is to sing someone into the grave, then you have already conceded intellectual defeat.m, Abia deserves competitive politics not destructive politics.
Political contests must remain about vision, development, representation, and measurable impact. The people of Abia North are not emotional pawns. They are rational voters. They will assess performance, alternatives, and credibility.
Let campaigns begin. Let debates happen. Let records be scrutinized. Let new ideas emerge.
But let us reject, firmly and collectively, the normalization of death wishes as a political tool.
Because in a democracy, ballots not bitterness, determine destiny.
Promise Uzoma Okoro, a Columnist wrote from Umuahia.
