When the Supreme Court of Nigeria did the unimaginable on 14th January, 2020, by transposing the fourth to first in the Imo State governorship election; many knew the state was in for a rough ride. The graveyard silence and atmosphere of despondency that pervaded the state told it all.
As a cloud of uncertainty engulfed the state, Senator Hope Uzodimma who had trailed a distant fourth in the 2019 governorship election in the state was thrown up and sworn in as the governor of Imo.
This decision by the apex court, altered the political configuration in the state, which had sought to rotate the governorship seat among the three geopolitical zones of the state. It also brought to futility what Imolites had considered their greatest political breakthrough of shifting power to Owerri Zone after Orlu Zone’s 16 years and Okigwe’s nine years. As a decision by the highest arbiter of the land which no one could overturn, Imolites had to face their sad fate.
One would have expected Uzodimma to engage in some introspection aimed at making deft moves towards winning over the hearts of the people. But rather than do this, Uzodimma found his best friends in those who made him the governor.
He alienated himself from the people and acted as if nobody mattered. As indeed, nobody elected him, so to say.
In case anyone was still hoping against the odds, Uzodimma spared no time in dispelling any modicum of doubt that he had not come for the people of Imo. Civil servants were about the first to receive a hit. Workers were subjected to the worst form of humiliation and branded ghosts under the guise of verification. Salaries were seized for months. Those who dared cry out were victimized. A case in point was that of a senior editor of Imo Broadcasting Corporation (IBC), Mrs. Vivian Otti, who was queried and subsequently suspended for making a post on Facebook, appealing to the governor to pay her salaries as she was nursing her new baby and desperately needed her salaries.
Most terrifying was the fact that this happened in May 2020, during the COVID-19 induced lockdown. While other states and countries across the globe sought ways of cushioning the stifling effects of the lockdown, Imo workers groaned under deprivation of salaries. Otti, however, was persecuted and harassed by the state government until she threw in the towel and resigned from her work.
Under Uzodimma’s administration, Imo lost its pride as the hospitality destination of the East, with an enchanting nightlife.
Today, many indigenes of the state, particularly those who hail from Orlu Zone and Okigwe have abandoned their homes to insecurity. Visitors now dread coming to the state, which a few years ago, was reputed for its peaceful disposition and tourism potential.
In road construction, one should be honest enough to give the governor a pass mark on the Owerri – Orlu road. But other road projects in the state could best be described as the shame of governance. Owerri – Okigwe road, Naze – Ihiagwa road, MCC road, Port Harcourt road, all caved in, no sooner than they were completed and commissioned. These cosmetic projects were part of the reasons for which immediate past president, Muhammadu Buhari visited the state more than four times. The governor apparently seems more interested in impressing his Abuja benefactors than committing to good governance and its attendant dividends to Imo people.
Imo never had it so rough and humiliating as it had been in the past three and half years.
What Uzodimma ought to be doing now is apologising to Imolites for his abysmal performance as governor of the state. But no, he won’t do that; Africans don’t do that. Power is not relinquished in this clime; it can only be retrieved.
Imo will, therefore, have to retrieve power from Uzodimma come 11th November, 2023. His having another chance on the governorship seat of the state is as elusive as the inaccessible Island Rail. On what achievement will Uzodimma hinge his campaign for another term? What can he count as his achievement for the almost four years he has spent on the saddle? What is he going to tell the people? Of course, no well-meaning Orlu man will support Orlu Zone having another slot in 2023 after 20 years of holding the levers of power.
Uzodimma is aware of these odds against his retaining the seat of governance, hence his desperate moves. Spending the remaining months in Abuja, in a bid to warm his way into the heart of President Bola Tinubu will not save him. It is also too late to curry the support of workers and cajole them into approving his second term bid, with a ridiculous salary increase. Does it not betray rationality that a governor who could not pay N30,000 minimum wage approved by the federal government since 2019, would suddenly announce N40,000 minimum wage for workers? Imo is among the states yet to implement the N30,000 minimum wage and the Labour unions will tell anybody that cares to know.
Perhaps, what Uzodimma does not know is that Imolites know more than he thinks they know.
All things considered, Uzodimma’s days in office are numbered. The earlier he realizes this, the better for him. Imolites await him at the ballot.
* Ifeanyi wrote from Owerri, Imo State
