By Henry Umahi
For Governor Hope Uzodimma of Imo State, the safety, protection and development of the people of Orlu zone will always be of utmost priority to him.
Maintaining that Orlu people are peace-loving, he remarked that the recent cases of killings and destruction of property in the zone that has portrayed the area as the epicentre of insecurity in Imo State are politically contrived to disenfranchise the electorate from there.
Uzodimma spoke at Nkwerre Country Club, during an event organised by leaders from Orlu zone, under the auspices of Orlu Zone Development Forum, to find a lasting solution to the issue of insecurity in the area, The governor regretted that what had befallen the people was simply an orchestrated attack to cause confusion in the place and render the zone politically irrelevant.
He, however, reassured his people that, with him in the saddle in Imo State, those behind the attacks and agenda to decimate lives and destroy property in Orlu will not succeed.
As part of measures to sustain the development trajectory associated with prominent Orlu people, Uzodimma challenged the leaders to set up a technical committee of eminent sons and daughters who will interface with the state government with a view to looking into the problems affecting the peace and development of the zone.
The governor, who was invited as the special guest of honour, advised the forum on the need to set up a think tank that would develop a blueprint on peace and development in Orlu.
He said: “There is (zero) peace in Orlu. Rather Orlu is under attack by perceived enemies of the zone who lost out in the last election and have refused to accept defeat.” To such politicians he said: ‘’I cannot be intimidated, because I have come to serve and would like to be remembered for good governance and lasting legacies that will mark me out from other politicians who are self-centred and self-seeking.”
Uzodimma described the summit as “a reunion that is long overdue,” and thanked the organisers for “the search for sustained and lasting peace, because east, west, north or south, home is the best. A man is better protected in the midst of his people.”
Uzodimma told his people that they have lost 16 years of developmental opportunities, having been governors of Imo State for a consecutive 16 years but without anything substantial to show for it.
He reiterated that God sent him to correct the wrongs of the past, emphasizing that “in my effort to make Imo people and Orlu zone better, no amount of provocation will lure me into killing and letting blood.”
He assured them that when he is done with the improvement on the infrastructure in Owerri capital, he would turn his attention to Orlu and Okigwe zones.
To further show that politicians were the ones attacking Orlu, he said those preventing them from going for their continuous voter registration exercise were enemies of Orlu and Imo State who cannot give what they do not have.
“In other words, it is a simple way of disenfranchising the people in the forthcoming elections,” he noted.
He said, with the APC at the state and national levels, it is given that Orlu and Imo State would be made better even as he promised “transparent APC primaries in Imo State, devoid of interference and undue influence.”
He further enjoined the forum to collectively work towards improving on the achievements of their fathers and forefathers, saying it is “the only way of assuring the next generation that there is a light in end of the tunnel.”
In a keynote address, an illustrious son of the zone, Chief Ralph Obioha, declared that the gathering was in search of peace, insisting that they would “find it and will get it.”
He said the causes of violence and youth restiveness in Orlu were traceable to joblessness, proposing the establishment of markets in Orlu that could accommodate 250,000 shops owned by Imo citizens, mainly those who were not properly engaged in Lagos alone.
In their different lectures with topics on Orlu people and the challenge of peace and development and Orlu zone, and the case for technological and industrial development by Prof. M.O. Iwuala and Prof. Francis Eze, respectively, the scholars agreed that the zone was faced with challenges of unemployment, lack of good education, lack of financial empowerment, lack of appropriate markets and inadequate infrastructure, all of which they said “have led to poverty as an intractable, obnoxious and dangerous issues which predisposes them to endemic conflicts, hunger and diseases.”
According to them, as soon as these issues are addressed, the peace and development sought in Orlu would be achieved.
In his welcome address, the convener of the summit, who is also the chairman of Imo State Council of Elders, Eze Cletus Ilomuanya, explained that “the summit is aimed at restoring peace and enhancing development in Orlu zone,” and that it demands collective determination and efforts to address.
He thanked the governor for finding time to be part of the summit and implored all to participate actively in the interaction to make Orlu zone better.
The chairman on the occasion, who was the former chairman, National Population Commission, Eze Duruiheoma, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, appealed to all to see the summit as an honest invitation towards charting a away forward in peace-building and development of Orlu zone. He also thanked them for being present and wished them fruitful deliberations.
In a special goodwill message, former Governor Ikedi Ohakim, who attended as a friend of the Orlu people, warned the zone to be careful not to derail the good work Uzodimma was doing in Imo State.
The summit was graced by many prominent sons and daughters of Orlu zone, most of whom eulogised Uzodimma for his good work in Imo State, particularly in the area of road infrastructure.