Follow Us on Google
Former governor of Imo State, Rt. Hon. Emeka Ihedioha and his party, the PDP, have been urged to embrace the reconciliation offer by the administration of Governor Hope Uzodinma as a means of healing the state of the recent division occasioned by the governorship tussle.
Ihedioha was also called upon to prevail on his supporters to cease all forms of hostilities against the current government since the Supreme Court has made a final pronouncement on the matter.
Business mogul and major political stakeholder in the state, Chief Cliff Nzeruem, who made this appeal in a statement issued in Owerri yesterday regretted the bad blood generated in Imo since the Supreme Court declared Senator Uzodinma as the authentic winner of the March 9, 2019 governorship election. He noted that it was the refusal of Ihedioha and the PDP to concede defeat after the first Supreme Court judgment, that emboldened his supporters to embark upon needles protests, thus causing division among a once peaceful and united people.
Chief Nzeruem who is the former Honoruary Consol General of Liberia in Lagos, said that Ihedioha now has another opportunity to right the wrong of the past by immediately congratulating Governor Uzodinma and also offer him his unqualified support.
“I believe that by congratulating His Excellency, Sen. Hope Uzodimma, Emeka Ihedioha would have shown the whole world that he is after all a patriot who only wanted to exhaust all the legal options before him before throwing in the towel . It will also demonstrate that he accepts that all the divisiveness caused by the protests of the past weeks were misplaced, “Nzeruem said.
According to him, it will earn Ihedioha a lot of political mileage to publicly concede defeat and accept the emergence of Uzodinma as the will of God expressed through the people while awaiting his own turn in future
He said it would send a wrong signal to people of the state if Ihedioha continues to allow the bitterness of his loss to fester as against the spirit of sportsmanship which is the hallmark of true politics.
The business mogul noted that unless Ihedioha moves quickly to congratulate Governor Uzodinma, he stood the risk of alienating himself from the people who will no longer trust him.
He regretted that some people in the state were inciting Ihedioha to remain unyielding even when it was clear that the contest for the governorship of Imo State was over and in favour of Governor Uzodinma.
Nzeruem urged the people of the state to rally round the new governor who has promised to reposition Imo for greatness, progress and prosperity.
He also encouraged his colleagues based outside Imo to visit the state often to explore ways of assisting the new administration realize its vision for the people.
