“If the problems you have this year are the same problems you had last year, then you are not a leader. You are rather a problem on your own that must be solved.”
—Israelmore Ayivor
By Daniel Kanu
It will be appropriate to say that since his assumption of office as the governor of Imo State, two years ago, Senator Hope Uzodimma is yet to have a peaceful period in office.
Perhaps, to situate it better, ever since that dissenting ruling, when the Supreme Court dismissed the application for review of its January 14, 2020 judgment which removed Rt. Hon. Emeka Ihedioha as Imo State governor, and installed Uzodimma in his stead, that singular decision has, no doubt, continued to haunt the governor and the state.
If the truth must be told, what is happening in Imo State today is particularly frightening as the state’s political and security temperature has reached the boiling point.
Even a stranger would not need any comprehensive briefing to know that Imo State is not at ease. Indeed, the residents of the state can no longer sleep with their two eyes closed.
Read the newspapers, listen to radio news bulletin or watch prime television news and you will be confronted with the realty. Even the social media are awash with gory tales of killing and maiming in the heartland state.
Those from the state, but residing outside, who perhaps, are perceived as doing well were warned by their parents, relations, or friends not to come back during the Christmas/New Year celebrations despite assurances from the state government that it has stemmed the ugly tide.
Indeed, in some parts of the state many have taken flight out of the state for fear of either being kidnapped in a Gestapo fashion for ransom or be killed.
That is the tragedy of the state today, yet what comes out are blame games and counter-blames without insecurity actually abating.
Rightly or wrongly, there appears to be a consensus of opinion that the perception of Governor Uzodimma as “Supreme Court governor” is hinged on this fact that his government does not seem to derive its legitimacy from Ndi-Imo, but was an imposition on the people.
And, Like the Prof Anezi Okoro’s fiction: “One Week, One Trouble”, the absurdities witnessed in the state tend to happen in blistering succession, reducing the state to a theatre of ludicrousness.
It is either the security agents are engaging the youths, unknown gunmen against the police and youths, bombing of prison yards and police stations, one killer gang against the other or one royal father kidnapped, and in some cases the royal blood spilled.
Most objective commentators on the Imo debacle have tried to locate the piteous development in the state to the war of attrition among its political elite.
Evidence has shown that the majority of the politicians in Imo see the state as booty to be scavenged on. In the scramble, they take no prisoner, but go for a kill.
At all times, they have their eyes on target, not necessarily for the public good, but for what they stand to gain – selfish aggrandizement.
Most vicious in the deadly enterprise is the ongoing feud between Governor Uzodimma and his predecessor, Senator Rochas Okorocha as both have thrown civility to the wind in going about their consuming encounter, at the mercy of peace in the state.
There is this unreasonable display of ego and show of raw power in the state and against that backdrop; criminal elements have cashed into the situation to amplify the bedlam.
Political pundits are of the view that Governor Uzodimma would have made good use of the opportunity of the Fifth Imo Stakeholders meeting in Owerri on Tuesday as he promised to name and shame sponsors of insecurity in the state.
Of course, that failure after all the hype will remain a minus and a big blow to the credibility of the Uzodimma government.
But political commentators who spoke with Sunday Sun said that Rochas Okorocha also seems to be biting more than he can chew, given his display of arrogance and rude attitude on pressing issues concerning the state.
It is obvious that despite his good intensions there are some elements from the state working underground to undermine Governor Uzodimma’s vision for the state.
Of course, Uzodimma should know them and as the number one citizen of the state, sue for peace if he intends to leave lasting positive legacy.
Political watchers agree that the state has been in the news for the wrong reasons and what is required now to get the state back on track is committed leadership and a coalition of efforts from all Imolites of goodwill, irrespective of political and religious affiliations.
Unarguably, it is Governor Uzodimma that must provide the needed leadership as the bulk stops on his table.
As one that leads the Eastern heartland state, he is expected to have the vision to see beyond and above the ordinary eyes expected of a pragmatic leader so as to achieve the laudable goals articulated in his template.
It is indeed a welcome development during the week that respected royal father, Obi of Onitsha, Igwe Nnaemeka Achebe and the Methodist Archbishop of Umuahia, His Eminence, Chibuzo Opoko, in a statement are proposing to convey emergency meeting with Uzodimma, Okorocha, all former governorship candidates in Imo as well as elder statesmen in the state with a view to proffering a lasting solution to the problems.
it is an opportunity that must be explored.
Governor Uzodimma was born on December 12, 1958.
He attended Mgbidi Secondary School, Federal University of Technology, Owerri (FUTO), as well as the University of Washington.
He was in the Senate between 2011-2019 and was sworn-in as the executive governor of Imo State on January 15, 2020, after the Supreme Court picked him from his fourth position in the election and declared him winner.