Save for his recent outing among a crowd of agitators for the proposed Njaba state, not many people in Imo state have bothered to know the whereabouts of its immediate past governor, Chief Achike Udenwa.

Perhaps of all those who held sway as state governors between May 1999 and May 2007, Chief Udenwa is today one of the most unheard of. One major contributory factor is, of course, the fact that he, unlike several of his former colleagues, is not having brushes with anti-graft agencies.
On the fillip side, however, is that his current out-of-sight-out-of mind status is a direct outcome, first, of his not so impressive performance as governor and, second, of the fact that his lack of political focus nearly plunged the state into a deep political crisis at the tail end of his regime. But for the discerning capabilities of the good people of Imo state, Chief Udenwa’s inability to chart a right course for the emergence of his successor, nearly ruined Imo.

In the view of majority of Imo indigenes, it was the ex-governor’s decision to play hide and seek with those who aspired to succeed him that was principally responsible for the crisis that rocked his party, the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) after the party primaries of December 2006. For example, although the then governor was believed to have backed a certain aspirant from Okigwe zone, he still went ahead to give clandestine support for two aspirants from his native Orlu zone and this in spite of the general expectation that, with his eight years on the saddle, Orlu (zone) was ruled out of the 2007 governorship to the favour of either Owerri or Okigwe zone.
For this clear perfidy, not many Imo citizens, including many from Orlu zone, are ready to forgive Udenwa so easily or so soon.

Yet, it is on this that Udenwa recently tried to rekindle the people’s faded memory of his eight-year rule. This is precisely how the very discerning people of the state saw the recent interview he gave to a national daily in which he was quoted to have said that his successor, Governor Ikedi Ohakim, reached an agreement with the PDP to return to it (PDP) after he must have become governor.
From reactions by a cross section of Immolates, the ex-governor may have consciously and unconsciously, succeeded in resurrecting the anger and, indeed, frustration the people felt in the twilight of his administration for reasons already given at the beginning of this article.

From feelers, this renewed anger has less to do with the authenticity of his claim than on the relevance of it. Although the Progressive Peoples Alliance (PPA), the platform on which Ohakim contested and won the April 28, 2007 election has issued a statement debunking that claim, Udenwa’s real tragedy, as far as that outing is concerned, is that Ndi Imo see it as dragging the hands of the collective progress they have made in the past twelve months backwards Since after the publication of the interview, the refrain has been: “Udenwa again”? This reaction arises essentially because it reminds the people of the agony they went through during the last electioneering campaigns and upon which basis they made the avowal:” Never Again”. Since May 29, 2007, Imo state and its people are cited all over the country as one good example of a people who decided to put partisan differences aside to work under one page for their collective good.

This is the philosophy behind the total political equanimity that permeates the state today. It is the basis of the robust relationship between the State House of Assembly and the governor despite the negative prediction that it was a matter of weeks before the House throws out the governor. As a matter of fact, the current members of the Imo State House of Assembly are both individually and collectively rated the best in the entire country for their comportment and a profound sense of patriotism for their state, and this despite that all but just one member are of the PDP.

But it was not for nothing. The effortless manner in which the cordial relationship between the governor and the legislators was nurtured was essentially predicted on the fact that this determination of the people, including their 27 representatives, to work under one page was amply complimented by the governor’s demonstration of a good sense of mission.

Needless to say, Governor Ohakim’s further demonstration of a good grasp of the problems of the state and its people, coupled with a discernable flair for good governance, as evidenced by his performance in the last eleven months, completely cemented this affinity between the people and their governor. Put differently still, Ohakim’s performance within one year has been such that the progress made by the state so far could effectively make the people tend to forget their agony in the last days of Udenwa’s regime. Unfortunately, this is what the ex-governor had succeeded in doing through his recent utterances. The people’s anger over his recent utterances stem from the fact that such remarks are capable of infringing on the existing political harmony in the state and thus punctuating, if not outrightly stopping, the pace of progress now being witnessed in the state.

To be sure, it is not altogether a taboo to discuss the matter of the governor’s return to PDP. But its being brought to the fore at this point in time by a fellow like Udenwa is annoying for two major reasons. First is that, as we have seen, many see the former governor as the least qualified to talk about events of that trying period which many saw as a direct outcome of his own ineptitude and obtuse sense of tenacity. Second is that it is a needless debate because party or no party, Imo is making good progress under Ohakim.

In other words, Ohakim’s return to PDP should not be so much an issue as to warrant his immediate predecessor to go to town with.
Does the fact that Governor Ohakim is yet to return to PDP affecting his performances? More question still: Why didn’t Udenwa make the so-called agreement public knowledge when it was being entered into? In any case, it is on record that Chief Udenwa had in previous outings said he supported Chief Ohakim without any conditions. So, what is the hullabaloo about agreements now? Is it an after thought? Is the ex-governor jealous that Governor Ohakim’s performance in one year has shown that he virtually wasted the people’s time for eight-years? Does he now want to constitute a distraction himself? Questions Questions Questions.