‘Go and verify’

Imo State is heading to the poll on 11/11 to elect a new helmsman. This election is a kind of referendum for the survival of the state and, by extension, the entire Igboland.

The state, as the Eastern Heartland, is truly the epicentre of whatever happens in Ala Igbo, good or bad. Sadly, only gripping sorrowful tales come from there of late.

Imo has been run down by inept and apparently confused governance. It has not only been amputated by fumbling administrative immaturity but also crushed by weighty insecurity that has put to flight many of the citizens and ravaged the people’s property.

Many people have been killed or maimed. The mesh of the carnage is so intricate it becomes an arduous task to segregate the innocent from the guilty or framed-up victims, as survivors walk only on tiptoes out of debilitating fear.

Imo has become a conduit for criminality and violence to other parts of the zone. That is why Igbo leaders of thought should weigh into who must emerge as the next governor of Imo State. In doing this, they must ignore the hyperbolic claims and counter-claims of the gladiators. They should also overlook the ranting of comedic hirelings like Lamidi Apapa and the gang, who are acting out a script to destroy the state.

Truly, all the contenders to the coveted office are qualified but, beyond that, the electorate must interrogate the candidates and freely choose the best of the pack to retrieve the imperiled common heritage of the people.

Politicians and their supporters are mounting soap boxes, reeling out promises, as usual. Governor Hope Uzodinma, for instance, has been adjudged by his supporters to have excelled beyond other opponents without clarifying how or the indices used.

However, never again must Imolites be taken for a ride. Until Uzodinma told us, nobody knew that there was a route to Douglas House called Ben Johnson Way. Perhaps, it was because of this uncharted route of his enthronement that Imo is in this ‘excellent’ trouble. That route is inimical to the state and must be sealed with macadam forever.

Of course, God has been good to Uzodinma, transporting him from obscurity to the limelight, and blessed him with power and money. However, he has been provenly overwhelmed by the demands of governance. Therefore, if he truly loves the state, he should take a bow for another person to confront the multi-faceted challenges of the state and crush it.

Nevertheless, though some attack me for this, I insist that Uzodinma deserves his respect as the governor of the state, even if he came through Eke Onuma Street; all dues must be accorded to his office till he leaves in January; even as an ex-governor.

I also insist that, instead of disorientated foot soldiers, Uzodinma should be forthright and convince Ndi Imo on why he deserves a second term. It is not just enough to inform the people by proxy that he has the mental and intellectual capacity to govern Imo. Is there a redefinition of mental and intellectual capacity, or is there an Imo variant? Anyway, throwing confusing vocabulary without breaking it down to the level of the common voter is nothing but shadowboxing.

As a matter of fact, occurrences in the state in the recent years of the All Progressives Congress (APC) administration point to mental and intellectual deficiency in the governance of the state. There is mass murder by known and unknown gunmen. Households are bombarded at a whim. There is total infrastructural decay and no roads, even in the urban areas, not to mention dilapidated rural communities. Local government funds are looted and frittered away without trace or evidence of use. Workers and pensioners are not paid; many workers were also officially declared ghost workers while still at their duty posts in order to evade paying their salaries.

These are some of the many atrocious happenings under Uzodinma that made the people troop to the Labour Party candidate, Sen. Athan Nneji Achonu, to help take back their state.

People know where Achonu is coming from; the man does not make any pretensions of his pedigree and precedents. He has also not hidden where he is taking Imo either. In fact, he even says despite his template for Imo, people should just look at what he had accomplished as a private individual and then imagine what he would do in a public capacity. There is so much sense in that. He also challenges everyone, including Uzodinma and his supporters, to “go and verify.”

That bold declaration by the serial investor and apostle of the Aku Ruo Ulo investment philosophy exemplifies a surefooted man. He has a stake in Imo with multibillion-naira investments in the state. That is what keeps him going whereas none of the other contenders owns even a toothpick factory or roadside repair shop anywhere in Imo.

Uzodinma’s promoters only serve the people with vague arguments of excellence. However, people want to see it in clear terms and be convinced. I pity these promoters though because it is difficult to sell a bad product; talk of selling ice to the Eskimo. In this era of marketing, no amount of false packaging can take the place of content.

The governor recently threatened to arrest Achonu over a Federal Government contract to construct Public Health Centres, PHCs, in the 774 local governments of Nigeria. It is a testimony to and capacity of Achonu to be awarded such a huge contract worth a whopping N37 billion, which the Labour Party candidate had conscientiously executed even in Uzodinma’s LGA. So, nobody knows where the governor’s thoughtless utterance came from.

Nonetheless, the misguided missile brings to mind the story of Cain who offered a blind sacrifice to God.  Because his offering was rejected, he killed his brother out of jealousy. Uzodinma need not bother to plot any mischief against Abel. If he did well, the people would accept him, or reject him, if otherwise. Nevertheless, he must beware; Abel must not die or be encumbered in any way in order not to conflagrate the state much more than it already is.

It is funny to misconstrue the soulless crowd that witnessed the flag-off of Gov. Uzodinma’s re-election bid in Owerri as supporters. The crowd mainly came to watch singer Flavour’s performance. Of course, some were also passers-by that came to eat or collect ‘allowee’ and returned home resolute not to eat their dinner in the morning. They know the repercussions of blighting their children’s future if the status quo continues. They know the risk of planting on scorched earth that shall bring no harvest in due time. They know how searing the harmattan wind is and have vowed not to let its haze blur their vision and spirit. They are also alarmed by the presence of laughable ‘iberiberic’ plunderers, hoping to retrieve the people’s recovered patrimony, and vowed never again.

If the crowd was what the organisers of the event purported, how would they describe the excited mammoth crowd that trails Achonu penetrating local government campaign rallies without the privilege of the purchased crowd and the presence of the federal might? Achonu resonates well with the people and they want Uzodinma out like yesterday.

Imolites are pleading with President Bola Tinubu to show his patriotic pragmatism by allowing a level playing ground in Imo. Certainly, though the many scandals confronting him may tend to distract him, the Jagaban remains sturdy on his feet and not likely to allow such setbacks to rob him of excellence in governance, part of which is to ensure that INEC and the security operatives remain non-partisan. If Tinubu meant the warm sentiments about the South-east as he expressed recently, then he must not fail to quench the fire wrecking Imo State and spreading throughout ala Igbo.

The boisterousness of a market is known from the morning. We have been told that Gov. Uzodinma is mentally and intellectually prepared to be Zik, Ojukwu, and Mbakwe rolled into one and ranks among the greatest leaders in Nigeria. However, one wonders why, for almost four years in the saddle, this has not manifested; or is Uzodinma waiting for the end of another four years to exhibit the traits of greatness? Could they mean ‘worst governor’?

But whatever, a new dawn is about to berth in Imo, and it’s ‘Athanable!’