IMO STATE AND POLITICAL PARADIGM SHIFTS

Around this time in the year of 2011, the people of Imo state rolled out en masse to show the political strength of the citizenry and place whoever they wished in the seat of power of the state. They proved to the most people all over the country that power still belonged to the electorate when they remain true and focused on their purpose. This stance was backed up by propaganda and mind manipulations by both religious institutions and political power houses that were either tired and or not included in the run of things. The wielding of this power saw an incumbent governor, Chief Ikedi Ohakim, on his knees and out of the prestigious Douglas house; he never believed that his wish would be trampled upon and conquered by the wish of the majority of people as he trusted so much in the few political lords as at that time who he believed would do the necessary magic to ensure he emerges. He forgot so easily how he came to become governor; he was employed as an option of the last resort to stop Senator Ifeanyi Ararume from winning the governorship in 2007 by the stakeholders of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) who agreed Ararume, being a political powerhouse on his own, was going to be a case of them biting more than they could chew if he eventually finds his way into Douglas House. The outcome of the elections of 2011 was so shocking that Ohakim didn’t realize what hit him until he left the seat and eventually the political scene; he so much alleged that those who were around him ganged up against his aspirations that he was the first to shamelessly run up his successor to warn him of the ‘Wolves in sheep clothing’.

His successor, Owelle Anayo Rochas Okorocha was presented to the people of Imo state like the proverbial ‘one and only true king’, he rode on the luck of the misdoings, the loss of the support of the majority of citizens and the deadly propagandas against his opponent and danced away with what would potentially be Ohakim’s undoing. Like the death that was about finishing off a dog and not letting him perceive the smell of excreta, Ohakim indirectly continued making Owelle popular and more pronounced by applying every means to frustrate his campaign; this moves even made it easy for the population to believe in the lies told against him. It was only about a matter of time and moments before Okorocha was declared the governor of Imo state unseating the incumbent and carrying the embodiment of the desires of the people of how they wish a new Imo to be. Before the elections, the people of Imo state never had the time or care to checkmate the substance, personality and political capacity of the man they wished to replace the incumbent with; all they cared about during those times was to find means to whisk Ohakim away and Owelle was the best in position to achieve that means. Owelle understood how heavy it was going to be to see to the implementations of the desires of the polity considering that it was their reason for changing the status quo in the first place, there was serious work to be done. It would have been easy if he had come in through the effort of half of the many, but all of the many fixed him in such demanding position and he was expected to touch every aspect of the government as much as possible; so he decided to act it if he wasn’t going to be able to work it.

In that situation, Owelle was just about the man to work it and act the rest out in the most manipulative fashion. If truth be told, Owelle was the man of the every moment, a certified philanthropist; he had a new ideology at each turn to distract many from the main point of focus, a congenital orator who spoke every language that mattered in our immediate Nigerian society and was one man who had every fashion necessary to play out and be seen as god. Owelle started work and played out the script just as he figured out will please the populace; he doled out the free education policy, cleared paths for new road constructions and brought in new work ethics for civil servants and teachers in addition to various benefits to their remunerations; introduced handing out small amounts of money to school children, introduced uniforms to civil servants, prayer sessions at the middle of the everyday and a new state anthem. To make the polity believe how focused his government was to ‘rescue’ the state he informed them it will be a waste of time start probing the previous government, he announced cutting down on his security vote just to pull more funds for the rescue mission project, and he pronounced the sacking of the twenty seven council chairmen and their counselors for being elected by fraudulent means and promised to conduct them in the right way as soon as possible. A state paramilitary was inaugurated under the name ‘Youth Must Work’ and he paid them stipends monthly. People threw so much belief on his selflessness and his determination to rid Imo state of the old order of disorder.

One thing led to another and those closer to him started getting the real taste of the man and his antics; contract handling became a child’s play, non release of funds to contractors led to ‘china roads’ and many contractors going bankrupt, actual releases went to close family members, complains from civil servants and teachers were on high not to mention that of the pensioners. While he was punishing the many sections of the citizenry, he employed a section of others to bring untold hardships to their fellow statesmen. Any community that criticized the government was divided into autonomies with kings instated, where the division would not work, the staff of office of traditional rulers of such communities would be suspended. In his second term, most especially, lands were forcefully collected and ownerships transferred without consent, ancestral markets were destroyed without regard and consultations, and court orders disobeyed like waste thrown into the bin. Owelle treated his subordinates and officers as underlings as his government continued, his first big let off was the case of his first deputy governor Sir Jude Agbaso, it continued with many that also included Sir Jude Ejiogu. He also worked so hard to outwit Prince Eze Madumere his current Deputy Governor. He was not ready to listen to any thought that would counter his own line of reasoning. The APC which he eventually brought into the state was not left out of his manhandling process; during the beginning, the prospects were promising. Owelle paid stipends to all principal officers from ward to state level in the first three months, as the months continued, the stipends were no longer forthcoming; all the saw and got was Owelle’s constant promise of better days. It even came to appoint that party members were mandated to contribute finance for the governor’s functions; it was indeed a hassle.

One thing that got many politicians around very high and out was that Owelle was almost handing over the state to his family and distant relations as all appointments were either them or through them. The very surprising this in such situation was that it appeared that the man had relations in almost all corners of the state. Ministers from Imo state, heads of institutions, commissions, boards and councils were directly or indirectly related to the man. Notwithstanding all the misdoings, the selfishness, the tyranny and his tightly-fisted short handedness, many still accommodated all of it hoping, that at the end of his reign, he would at least make the right call on succession. But Owelle continued to surprise the populace; he chose Uche Nwosu, the husband of one of his daughters who was instrumental, as the then commissioner for lands and survey, to the coveting of people’s landed property in and around Owerri. His choice was wrong for so many reasons: Uche Nwosu is from the same political zone as Okorocha and the zone has unfairly had representation in Douglas house more than any other zone in the state, Uche Nwosu being a son in-law to Okorocha was perceived by the citizenry as Okorocha’s attempt to indirectly continue as governor of the state, the political class of Imo State is of the reason that Uche Nwosu is still much of a toddler in political leadership to be given the mantle of leadership of a prestigious state as Imo. Advisors asked that Okorocha reconsider his stance and consider choosing anyone, no matter the caliber, from Owerri zone which is said to be the right zone of which the next governor is to emanate from; they even agreed that even if he was to choose an in-law as a replacement, there was such option open for him in Owerri zone. He had High Chief Engr. Chucks Ololo from Owerri North who is married to his immediate younger sister but Rochas Okorocha refused such advice; in his words he said “Chuks Ololo is my father’s In-law and not mine, he is married to my father’s daughter; my in-law is Uche Nwosu and I have chosen him. Take it or leave it, he is going to be the next governor of Imo state”

Despite pressure both from inside the state and from the national party apparatchik and everyone that mattered, Owelle stood his ground and remained adamant on the course to fix Uche Nwosu as the next governor of the state; not seeing the déjà vu that was about to play out again as during Ohakim’s time, he remained unshaken in his resolve to be the one and only man to decide the future of the state. Of course he had his minions of sycophancy always in the support and ready to follow him to the ends of hell; he had built a large chunk of support base who pledge unconditional loyalty as far as they continuously saw crumbs fall of his table for them to feast on. It became a full blown war against party members and members of his government who refused to endorse Uche Nwosu; Owelle became reckless to the extent of intimidating traditional rulers to confer the highest of chieftaincy titles in their communities on Uche Nwosu or face suspension. He threaten every aspirant on the platform of the APC in other positions to add Uche Nwosu on every of their billboards or face the risk of being an enemy to the governor who ‘who will decide who gets candidacy and who doesn’t’. Obviously no governorship aspirant in the whole of the political history of Imo state invested so much finance in campaigns as the one Owelle channeled into Uche Nwosu’s course; your guess is as good as mine where all this monies were coming from. Today, his decision has kept him on a very disturbing balance which is about to ensure he and all his line up falls away and out of the political scene for the foreseeable future. The people spoke so loudly in their votes of the frustration they had endured most especially in the last four years of his reign. Uche Nwosu has lost out and Owelle’s senatorial ambition is at a risky stake at the moment. His single and last decision will clean off whatever it was that would have been left to remember him by; in addition any political edge Uche Nwosu could have ever had would crumble with this loss and the antecedents of his father in-law, principal and godfather.

Rt. Hon. Emeka Ihedioha has come out victorious at the polls and is the governor-elect to succeed Owelle come May 29 but there were many power players that eventually ensured that this victorious day came to fruition for him. The first of many is the Hope Uzodimma Factor and the Coalition led by Hon. T.O.E Ekechi; their face-off with Owelle Rochas Okorocha was the first battle line that destabilized the structure that would have given Uche Nwosu smooth victory without hitches; the dealt him a deep blow at the conduct of the party congress all over the state. The congress saga was so devastating for him that he is yet to understand how they actually played him right in front of his eyes; they eventually succeeded in pushing Uche Nwosu away from the very party that could have given him a federal backing in the elections. The other was Ararume’s migration; he is a man that many believe in and many who believed him left APC and joined him at APGA thereby cutting short of whatever Rochas may have expected to have in Okigwe zone. It is worthy of note that all the votes recorded by AA and APGA are APC votes as Owelle’s single decision scattered the structure that would have given PDP a fight to finish. The next was the Owerri Zone Factor; it is also significant to point out that many, even political heads from Okigwe and Orlu zones wanted to have Owerri have a go this time; it worked out for the Owerri people and they identified as early as possible that Ihedioha was the candidate closest to the prize. Eventually it has worked out great and good for the zone.

It is a new beginning both for Imo state, Ihedioha and the PDP; Ihedioha must dare to be different and never get carried away by the sweetness of victory and forget the amount of work that is to be done. He needs to use the rest of the days before May 29 to reassess and realign himself to the task ahead, he should endeavor to be better than his previous self and sell himself in good light in these first four years; truth be told, his twelve years in the Federal House of Representatives leaves much to be desired in his constituency most especially for the people of Ngor Okpala Local Government, even developing the permanent sight of Imo State University alone will give Ngor Okpala the facelift it deserves. The Imo people have shown more than once that they are capable of dealing with the incumbent and ensuring that their wishes are fulfilled. Hence Ihedioha shouldn’t get ahead of himself; after a few days, the celebrations will be over and the citizenry will fix their gaze on every of his moves, decisions and policies. We are of the hope that at least majority of his policies will end up leading us way higher than we currently find ourselves. For whatever it is worth, I am proud to be an Imolite.
#ImoFirst
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Anuforo Goodluck Eziokwu (A.G.E)
12/03/2019