From David Onwuchekwa, Nnewi
The Organising Secretary of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Anambra State, Hon Joseph Okeke has said that the re-election bid of the Governor of Imo State, Senator Hope Uzodinma was a mission accomplished.
Okeke, a member of Governor Uzodinma re-elecion campaign council said this in Nnewi, Anambra State weekend when he visited home.
In his analysis, the Governor had performed so well that no past Governor of the State, apart from late Governor Sam Mbakwe could equal him in developmental stride.
He said that Governor Uzodinma did well as a Senator and had done better as a Governor in his first tenure with every conviction to be the best in his second tenure based on his antecedents in public office.
“Governor Hope Uzodinma is a grassroots politician who has been tasted and trusted. He has done well to go for the second tenure. It’s immaterial to ask whether he is saleable for a second tenure or not, he is one hundred percent saleable.
“He won the election to be the Governor and he has been performing well. He has attracted so many Federal Government projects to Imo State because he is in a national political party. He has done a lot of roads and is effectively tackling security challenges in Imo despite the kind of opposition he has. He is on top of the game in the area of security. Indeed, Governor Uzodinma is a man to beat in the upcoming November 2023 governorship election in the State and he will win landslide. The security challenge in Imo State is peculiar but he is doing his best to contain it.
“Forget about the insinuation of defeated ones, those who say the Supreme Court made him Governor. There is no politician who is not ready and prepared to go to court when he is victimised, when his mandate is stolen. Court is the last hope of the common man.
“They took his mandate and he ran to court and recovered it. Is there anything wrong with that? The man is an achiever judging from what he did as a Senator to now that he is a Governor. He is the best Governor Imo has ever had apart from late Sam Mbakwe. And Imo people have vowed to return him for a second tenure, “he said.
On the Governor’s running battle with the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Okeke said the activities of those he described as miscreants were targeted to run down Governor Uzodinma’s administration which he noted was not possible.
He recalled that the leader of the pro-Biafra group, Mazi Nnamdi Kanu had categorically on several occasions announced that sit-at-home order had ceased but wondered why those who claimed to be loyal to him were still insisting that the Igbo must continue to observe that. He said that Uzodinma was trying his best, leaving the rest to God.
Hon Okeke, a former Commissioner for Youths and Sports and ex-lawmaker representing Nnewi North in Anambra State House of Assembly took a swipe at purported lack of interest in the APC by some Igbo politicians and voters, describing it as a miscalculation in politics.
“An Igboman or a right-thinking person should not carry all his eggs in one basket. That is what has been affecting us negatively. To call the APC an Hausa or Fulani party is an unnecessary and useless insinuation. Why should you say that when you know that the party is a national political party? Only the Igbo are lagging behind because of this unnecessary and thoughtless insinuation. Has this stand ever yielded us any useful dividend? Think about it.
“Look at the ministerial appointments and you have no reason to blame Mr President. We are now talking, kicking and fighting for more. However, I know that Mr President has a listening ear and he knows what to do.
“The Igbo jettisoned the APC because of selfishness of few individuals who deceived some people, to call the APC a Fulani party. It’s only the likes of Uzodinma who have been able to attract Federal Government projects to the South East because they belong to the APC. The earlier we recognise this fact the better for us. The best thing for Ndigbo is to embrace a national party, “he said.
He told our Correspondent that he was confident that the remaining three States of Anambra, Abia and Enugu would in the next governorship elections in those States submit to the APC as the party is already in charge of Ebonyi and Imo States.
“There is nothing wrong with the Labour Party (LP), there is nothing wrong with any other party but go where the game is. I think we have learnt our lessons. There is nothing wrong for us to have our regional party, but we have to be tactful and wise to know how to get our own national cake.
“All of us cannot be in opposition. That’s why some of us who are visionary belong to a national party.
“Late Dim Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu at a point registered with the National Party of Nigeria (NPN) which was a national party. By then Nigerian People’s Party (NPP) was a regional party in opposition. Ikemba told the Igbo then that the best for them was to join the trend, the movement in Nigeria. He sacrificed everything and ran for the election, though he was disappointed. But he put the Igbo in the main stream,” he concluded.