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By Emmanuel Izuogu
“The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy. But he who uses power only to feed his own vanity has measured himself and found wanting.” — Martin Luther King Jr.
By this measure, Governor Hope Uzodimma’s recent actions invite a critical examination. He currently appears to be experiencing what those deeply embedded in the Academia might describe as an epistemological crisis. It is instructive to note that he is the current Governor of Imo State and, simultaneously, the APC Senatorial candidate for the Imo West senatorial zone constituency in Imo State—a dual position that raises serious constitutional and electoral law questions. However, that is not the subject of this essay. He is also the Chairman of the Progressive Governors’ Forum, which comprises 31 out of the 36 state governors in the nation. Again, that is not at issue here. He is believed to be nursing the inordinate ambition of becoming Senate President should President Bola Ahmed Tinubu be re-elected in 2027. I hasten to assert that he is entitled to his ambition.
What is at issue is his public statement that he and his fellow South-East Governors have an agreement to deliver the entire Igbo land to President Tinubu in 2027. Technically, there may be nothing wrong with that; after all, one could argue that he has an incumbent responsibility to do so, and it may fall within his constitutional prerogatives. I must state, however, that whether the Tinubu-led APC government has been fair and equitable to the Igbo nation over the past three years is not the gravamen of this essay; I leave that to history. It is the agreement itself that concerns me here. An agreement is a mutual understanding, shared opinion, or formal arrangement between two or more parties. I concede that Uzodimma has every right to enter into any legal or formal arrangement with whomever he chooses. However, when the consideration for that agreement is the common patrimony of the entire Igbo nation, it becomes deeply unsettling.
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Politics is a game of negotiation, and to optimize one’s position, the relationship must be consummated before the election. The question Uzodimma must now answer is: What are the Igbo people getting from this bargain that he appears to have entered into on their behalf, without due consideration and consultation? Is the consideration merely the promise to make him Senate President? If that is what this is all about, then I suggest that trading the entire Igbo nation’s patrimony for his personal ambition is, to say the least, morally unconscionable. In my considered opinion, there is nothing the governor could do for the Igbo nation as Senate President that he could not already do today, given his position as Chairman of the Progressive Governors’ Forum—a position that has reportedly made him the custodian of the whopping sum of ₦800 billion meant for Tinubu’s re-election campaign.
The election is still several months away. I would be remiss in my capacity as a seasoned policy analyst if I did not offer a constructive way forward. May I suggest that the Oguta seaport project could be that way forward. Ironically, it is within walking distance of the governor’s hometown. Its viability is not in question. There is no gainsaying the fact that the Igbos are no longer welcome in Lagos. It is also beyond dispute that the absence of a seaport in Igbo land is precisely what keeps a large percentage of our people in Lagos. If Uzodimma is serious about his agreement with Tinubu, then the consideration must be this seaport, and construction must start immediately, or at minimum, it must be included in the next national budget. Anything short of that is mere subterfuge.
If the governor cannot deliver this concrete development for his own people before the election, why should the Igbo trust him to deliver their votes for another man’s presidency afterward?
•Dr Izuogu is an attorney and public policy analyst
