— As OPAC Declares Amadi Persona Non Grata Across Orlu Zone, Says He Is Unfit to Hold Public Office in Imo
By Joshua Ugwu, Umuahia
The political battle between the Action Peoples Party (APP)candidate for Imo East Senatorial District, Mazi Chima Matthew Amadi, and Prince Collins Opurozor, Special Adviser to Governor Hope Uzodimma on Electronic and Creative Media, has taken a dangerous turn, with the Orlu Political Action Committee (OPAC) accusing Amadi of dragging the police into his self-serving political war. Speaking through its Secretary General, Comrade Wisdom Nwosu, in Orlu on Friday, OPAC declared that Amadi had “touched the lion’s tail” by seeking police intimidation against Opurozor.
The group fumed Amadi could not spend more than a year attacking the government, its officials and its policies, and then turn to the police when one of those officials began answering him with equal force. According to OPAC, what Amadi intended as an attempt to gag Opurozor has instead provoked a wider political backlash across Orlu Zone.
Nwosu said Amadi had shown that he could dish out political attacks but could not take the same bitter pill when it was served back to him. He said Opurozor did not start the political confrontation but merely responded to issues Amadi had repeatedly thrown into the public arena through town hall meetings, church engagements and political campaigns. OPAC recalled that Amadi had been subjected to public scrutiny over questions surrounding his wealth and antecedents after he entered the political space, including attacks from the Greater Imo Initiative (GII) in September 2025. The group said Amadi disappeared from the state during that controversy and only returned after the death of the individual who had publicly accused him, before turning around to accuse the Uzodimma administration of being behind the allegations. OPAC said Opurozor was right to question why Amadi remained silent for nine months while his accuser was alive, only to become vocal after his death.
The group also reopened the question of Amadi’s academic credentials, pointing to what it described as a glaring contradiction between his public claims and the qualifications submitted to INEC. According to OPAC, Amadi has said he possesses three PhDs, yet not one of the three PhDs was submitted to INEC as part of the qualifications supporting his candidacy. “If you have three PhDs, where are they in the documents submitted to INEC?” the group asked. Publicly available reporting on the Imo East Senate race has listed none, while campaign materials associated with him have publicly used the designation “PhD.” OPAC said this was not a matter that should be settled by intimidation, blackmail or police intervention. It is a straightforward question of documentary evidence, and the group insisted that a man seeking the mandate of the people should be prepared to answer questions about the credentials he has presented to the public.
Nwosu also condemned what OPAC described as Amadi’s incendiary political rhetoric, particularly his reported declaration that the 2027 election would be a “matter of life and death.” The group said a candidate who uses such language cannot turn around and complain when his political opponents subject his statements to intense scrutiny. OPAC accused Amadi of trying to create an atmosphere in which he could attack the government freely while attempting to use security agencies against those who stand up to him. The group said Opurozor had refused to be intimidated and would continue to interrogate Amadi’s claims, antecedents, political rhetoric and public record.
To OPAC, the police petition is not evidence of political strength but a sign that Amadi may have underestimated the consequences of picking a fight that will bury his political ambitions now and in the future.
In its strongest declaration, OPAC announced that there would now be a state of full-blown political hostilities between the people of Orlu Zone and Amadi. The group further declared him persona non grata across the 12 local government areas of Orlu Zone and said any political platform associated with him is no longer welcome in the zone. Nwosu described Opurozor as “the apple of Orlu’s eye,” insisting that “one thousand Chima Amadi cannot stop him”, accusing Amadi of exhibiting what it described as an authoritarian, despotic and intolerant approach to politics.
