By Ezedi Udom
Dear Rt Hon Emeka Ihedioha,
I warmly congratulate you and your running mate, Rt Hon Gerald Irona on your victory at the 2019 Gubernatorial Elections in Imo State. Your victory was a demonstration of the disenchantment the people felt against the regime of Rochas Okorocha, the incumbent and out-going governor of the state. Like every Imo indigene, it was my desire the state be rescued from the maladministration that the Okorocha tenure has visited the state with, and I thank God for His mercies which manifested in your emergence as the governor-elect of the state.
Your election is a burden that the people of the state have placed on your shoulders, a burden that you will need the helping hands of every well-meaning stakeholder in the state to shoulder. The truth be told, Imo State expect a lot from you. Having had more than their fair share of mis-governance in the recent past, especially, in the past eight years of Okorocha’s rule, the least we expect from you is the level of governance we experienced during the Sam Mbakwe’s regime, known as the Glorious Era in Imo State.
If you achieve any less then it would be that Imo people, desiring to do away with the squatting animal, sold our dog only to buy a monkey after all. This task is daunting, but I think you have all it would take to successfully navigate the ship of the state to a desirable shore. The simple truth is that, with God and the goodwill of the Imo people on your side, you only have to be at your best to succeed. On this I offer a few words as my token towards your success, my success, the success of the state.
My message to you is “Do not be another Buhari, learn from his mistakes.” Do not squander the people’s goodwill or take it for granted, thinking it is your birth right. It is the same teeth, Igbo say, that the dog uses to play with its puppies, it uses to bite them. The people who sing songs of praises for you today, would curse you the moment you betray their trust. If in doubt, ask Buhari, whose fall from fame to infamy was so sudden that his image makers turned PR fire fighters overnight.
It is the wishes of the people of Imo State that saw you to that exalted office, so I advise you to respect the wishes of these people. Your constituency as you ascend the Office of the Governor of Imo State has become Imo State, not Mbaise, your hometown; not PDP, your party; not Anglican Church, where you are a Knight of St Christopher (KSC). To succeed, you have to be blind to all the idiosyncrasies that group Imo people into ‘us’ versus ‘they’. You must resist the urge to use political appointments as rewards for favours received but as a means to achieving your campaign promises, the platform that people stood to elect you.
Be broader in your outlook and seek your desired resources far and wide, knowing that in the end you would be judged only by your achievements. While the law demands that you abide by the constitution and treat all parts of the state as equitably as possible, morality demands that you treat all people as conscientiously as possible. You have to strive to live by these stipulations to be at peace with yourself as each one you flout will, not only make your tenure tortuous, but will also rob you of your peace of mind.
Your election as the governor makes you the Prince of the Imo Patriarchy. It behoves on you to efficiently manage our collective heritage. To do this you may have to review the state government activities to know those policies to retain, those to revise and those to discard. This is not about anybody or any party but for the wellbeing of the state. While I would advise against witch-hunting anybody, I would advise that you summon the courage to
go after anybody who is in custody of the state’s resources illegally.
There are complaints of land grabbing by government with little or no compensation. These should be investigated and redressed where injustices are found to have been perpetrated. We also have the issues of backlog of unpaid salaries, allowances, gratuities and pensions of workers, unpaid contracts fees and obligations. You should dialogue with the affected people to agree on a workable timeline to offset these obligations.
Lastly, I will remind you that electioneering has come and gone, and being elected, you are now royal. Like your activities, your communication should also be regal, no matter the provocation. When opposition or critics sling mud at you, wash yourself clean, and even offer them water to wash themselves instead of descending to the gutters with them. To do this is not difficult, it only demands sheer will to resist the temptation to retaliate.
In whatever mudslinging there must be issues. If you are able to isolate these issues and address them, you may have washed yourself clean and given the critics opportunity to be better informed. You gain nothing, but even expend energies, in trying to get back at your critics. Elect to do good and hire a good communication team to keep the people abreast with your good work. Their well thought out communications plan will carry the people along and ensure that your good work resounds in the minds of the people of the state.
Having said the above, I pray that God gives you the wisdom and strength to lead His people, Imo people, aright.
Yours sincerely,
Ezedi Udom