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A gubernatorial aspirant, Dr Stanley Amadi, has lamented the unmitigated poverty and hardship in the state, saying that those who have been in charge of the state in the last few years have failed abysmally to improve the living conditions of the people.
The US-based clinical psychiatrist, and a native of Ezeogba in Owerri North Council, stated this when the Owerri Zone Media Practitioners Association (OZMPA), the apex body of media practitioners in the senatorial zone, paid him a courtesy call in his country home at the weekend.
Dr Amadi, a member of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), pointed out that there is too much hopelessness, hunger and starvation and that his aspiration to contest for the top job in 2027 is to bring a real positive change in the state.
Regrettably, he noted that most families in Imo State only eat during burial ceremonies as they do not know where their next meal would come from.
He said: “I have seen the good, the bad and the ugly in the last 10 years. I come home eight times a year and in the process of listening to our people I discovered that so many of our people have died because they could not afford hospital bills, most of our people do not know where their next meals would come from. Just attend any burial ceremony, see old women, men and children fighting over rice because that is the only means that they can get rice. Most people now look forward to burials. What a sad situation.”
Continuing, he said: “Majority of our young men have become political thugs. What does it take to create jobs? We have vast arable land in Imo State, why can’t we establish farm settlements? Cottage industries? In my private capacity I have helped thousands of young men and women through scholarships, skills acquisition, monies to start up their businesses and even for the widows, majority of them are people I do not even know. I give out because as an orphan I know what hunger is truly like. It is the lack of concrete expectation that has led to the current hopelessness we have today in the state.”
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Dr Amadi, who said he is not desperate to be Imo State governor, said: “Look at what is happening in Burkina Faso, the young military head of state has turned the country around and this is what I am going to do if I am elected governor of Imo in November 2027. We have had enough of starvation, death and hunger. I will be there for the job not for fame. Imo State needs a positive change and not lip service. A leader who is truly serving his people well does not need a battalion of soldiers to move around in his state, and those who are not servant leaders.”
Earlier, Chief Everest Ezihe, Chairman of OZMPA, said that the major objective of the association is to project and promote the interest of the zone and especially as it relates to the Imo Charter of Political Equity.
He also said that the association will keep on the front burner the issue of Charter of Equity which favours the Owerri senatorial zone in 2027 and to ensure that it comes to pass through media advocacy.
“The association’s aim is to project the interest of Owerri senatorial zone especially with regard to the Charter of Equity which favours the zone in producing the next governor of the state in November 2027, and to ensure that it is realised through media advocacy. We are also planning a town hall meeting for candidates from Owerri zone. This will afford them the opportunities of telling Imo people what they have in stock for them.”
Similarly, Chief Chris Akaraonye, former Chairman of Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) Imo State Council, said: “The association will continue to support the position of Governor Hope Uzodimma who has said that it is the turn of Owerri senatorial zone to produce his successor. We are going to project all sons and daughters from Owerri zone through our various media houses and that is one of the reasons the association came here to identify with you,” he said.
