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If Imo State had feet, it would flee.
That is because the heat of insecurity swirling across the once homy state like harmattan dust has left nobody a shed to hide under. It has blown away the roof of the state, causing teardrops of blood to pour on the unprotected heads of hapless residents.
Until the All Progressives Congress (APC) took over the reins in Imo State, especially in the last three years, the state was known as the Eastern Heartland. The reason for this is because of its primacy in the South East region as the most central conduit to other areas of the geopolitical zone or Ala-Igbo.
The state was beautiful, almost sedate, and hosted weekend carnival-style fun seekers who came from the surrounding cities to enjoy its tranquil offerings. Hotels littered the landscape and were always fully booked by eager visitors who came for the fun, juiced up by Owerri music and hustling luscious female students of the many tertiary institutions in the city.
However, the arrival of APC and its shifty governance has turned the state into the ‘Eastern Wasteland,’ flowing with tears and blood. Lives are wasted in droves and blood has turned the waters of Imo River red.
Everything seems to have taken flight. Even the state governor, Senator Hope Uzodinma, is now rumoured to be governing offshore, with his office in the corridors of Aso Rock. They say he is trying to worm his way into Tinubu’s heart even though he never supported Tinubu to emerge.
Nevertheless, beyond that, Uzodinma has been a resident of Abuja for a long time. They say he is only seen around in the state amid heavy security, only when the monthly allocation from the Federation Account arrives.
The question is, why is everybody on the run? Why is even the governor on the run? The state could have run away too but it has no feet. Even if it has, how would it run? To whom shall it leave the grave of its wasted children? So, like the biblical Rachel, Imo mourns, weeping for its dead and dying children, refusing to be comforted.
In fairness to Uzodinma, he has every right to run for his life. However, he has no right to abdicate his responsibility to governance. Many fingered him for the bloodletting although he has spoken out more regularly these days against the carnage in his state.
Uzodinma’s opponents, wanting to make the state ungovernable, may have contributed to his troubles when he emerged from fourth to first. However, instead of fighting back with performance like Dr. Nwabueze Ngige did in Anambra after they helped him to steal Peter Obi’s mandate, he chose a different path, returning fire for fire.
People became afraid of his fraternity with the Hausa Fulani to whom he allegedly ran for cover. They now saw him as an imperialist agent out to help an Islamic agenda. Then he started sponsoring pilgrims to Mecca, etc, and thereby indvertently convinced Ndigbo, no, Ndi-Imo, what his leaning portends.
Many blame the IPOB/ESN but this seems to stand logic on its head when one considers that Kanu’s Abia is peaceful while Imo is on fire. There must be more to this. IPOB actually messed up with the self-atrophying sit-at-home order, which aided the smouldering flames cloaked in unknown gunmen.
Come to think of it, could the issue of the unknown gunmen have any bearing to the confessional boast of the loudmouth, Asari Dokubo, having a contract to secure Imo thrown light on the killing field?
One should not be too hasty anyway to apportion blame for the ongoing brigandage in Imo State beyond pointing out that Dokubo’s contract, if truly there is one, is due for termination because it has failed woefully. Moreover, Dokubo is an avid self-confessed Igbo hater who had threatened to wipe out the Igbo race. It would be malapropos to keep the hyena as keeper of the sheep, as Uzodinma has seemingly done.
That is why the Federal Government must weigh into the security situation in Imo and address it. It must start by getting Dokubo to answer for his hate speech against the Igbo. It should go further by overhauling the security setup by transferring the state police commissioner, Mohammed Barde, out of the state before the election.
By the way, this CP, who has been roundly accused of being Uzodinma’s Man Friday, was reportedly transferred in June but is still sitting pretty in Owerri. Who reversed the transfer and why? This is one thing the Inspector-General of Police Kayode Egbetokun, a thoroughbred and consummate humane officer, should look into. He should ensure that his men remain on their beats and not detour to politics.
By the way, when one considers Barde’s inglorious outing in Adamawa State, where he allegedly supervised the declaration of the governorship result in favour of APC’s Aishatu Dahiru Binani even as the collation was still ongoing, he should never be seen near any area where election is being held, as his DNA may not resist the allure of politicians’ tantalising offers.
Kudos must be given to the military for deploying 2,300 soldiers to the Imo ‘war theatre’. However, let the war be against the real enemies of the people, election riggers, ballot snatchers and state and non-state actors intent on subverting the people’s will, irrespective of their sponsors. What transpired in the last State Assembly elections in Imo must never be allowed to repeat itself.
Moreover, this is one election that the Independent National Electoral Commission, (INEC) must not be a pain in the neck of Imo people. It must redeem its smudged and tattered reputation by insisting on conducting a free, fair and credible election.
The state government under Uzodinma should be above board. If the people re-elect him, fine. If otherwise, he should be content that he was able to occupy Douglas House out of the millions of Imolites despite the curious Ben Johnson route that enthroned him. The important thing is that he has been privileged to contribute his quota and should not push his luck too far, if the people no longer need him.
Moreover, he must not divert the Federal Government N5 billion largesse approved for fuel subsidy palliative to fund electoral heist.
President Bola Tinubu must ensure that this is done. He should also advise his anointed party chair, Abdullahi Ganduje, to concentrate on making peace with his estranged former boss, Rabiu Kwankwaso, and retrieving his dollar-cap and agbada from the offices of the EFCC, instead of meddling in Imo politics; he has no moral status to dare.
As the people vote on November 11, their primary considerations should be the security of lives and properties, infrastructural development, employment for the teeming youths, education, health and welfare of the people as well as payment of workers’ salaries and pensions; it is an abomination to be declared a ghost while alive simply because a government wants to evade paying salaries.
This election is a triangular race between the incumbent Governor Uzodinma, PDP’s Sam Anyanwu and the Labour Party’s Athan Achonu. When all indices are considered, the pendulum swings towards the people’s General, as Achonu is fondly called. Achonu is unassailable; his quest very much ‘Athanable’.
He has endeared himself to the people and stands the most chance to clinch the plum seat. His trump card is his antecedents as ‘talk and do’, especially with his Akuruolo investment philosophy.
Certainly, Imolites cannot be docking bullets in the state in ‘peacetime’ as is currently the case, or be brutalised by dancing, menacing pythons whose lips are reddened by the blood of the innocent.
Therefore, uppermost in the people’s mind is that no candidate is worth dying for. The candidates too should be mindful that sitting on executive seat soaked in blood has vile transgenerational consequences.
The sabre rattling on the land quakes at fragile souls, frightened and uncertain. Who falls next, who stands or is trampled in the race for life? Who bears reign by brute force; do the dead know the government?
Imo needs a cleansing detergent to wipe the congealed blood roundabout the land. Let the people’s will prevail; let Imolites take back their state; this is the minimum demand.
