By Emeka Alex Duru
As the race for 2019 politics picks, one of the states that will obviously draw attention of commentators, is Imo. And this is not without reasons. For a state that has virtually remained stagnant in terms of governance and development since the glorious era of the late Dr. Sam Mbakwe in 1983, the election holds out opportunity for the electorate to vote for change or remain in their piteous state.
This is particularly given the traumatic experience of the citizens in the last seven and half years of the Rochas Okorocha administration. Not that the earlier administrations of Achike Udenwa and the successor Ikedi Ohakim, had been more focused in delivering democracy dividends to the people. But the situation in the state, currently, has been of below the average rating, to the extent that it is casually mentioned among peers, more in derision.
The 2019 election, thus presents an opportunity for the state to pick its bits. How the leadership of the political parties in the state sees and appreciates this pressing demand, however, remains another issue. Going by the controversies that characterised the governorship primaries of two of the three leading parties in the state, doubts are still high on the state getting it right, if care is not taken.
For the All Progressives Congress (APC) that has been in the saddle in Imo, there seems to be no end in sight on its crisis over who flies its flag in the election. Two parallel primaries had produced the Senator, representing Imo West (Orlu) at the National Assembly, Hope Uzodinma and Governor Rochas Okorocha’s Chief of Staff, Uche Nwosu as contenders for the ticket. In the midst of the confusion, the APC national leadership, has settled for Uzodinma, to the discomfiture of Okorocha. And the governor is fighting back to reverse the decision in favour of Nwosu, his son-in-law.
While the controversy lasts, the party has not been able to tell the voters its programmes to take the state to the next level.
All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), has the same problem. Emergence of Senator Ifeanyi Araraume as its governorship candidate, has more than any other thing, made nonsense of the cohesion that had existed in its fold before now. In fact, at a time in Imo, given the leadership crisis that had afflicted the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the APC, APGA had appeared the beautiful bride in Imo politics. With a fair spread of chieftains without pronounced political baggage, the party had appeared as a place to be. Consequently, there was massive influx of aggrieved politicians from other platforms into its fold. In the process, the leadership cut more than it could chew. And the bubble eventually burst, as many had earlier feared.
The intrigues and behind-the-curtain deals that accompanied the shocking emergence of Araraume as the APGA flag bearer, ended up laying bare the fault lines in the party. The disappointment trailing the state of affairs in the party, is therefore not allowing the voters to even ask questions on what programmes it has for the state.
That is where PDP stands to reap from, in Emeka Ihedioha, as its standard bearer. Among the leading political parties, PDP, is the only one that conducted its governorship primary with relatively lesser controversy. Incidentally, the party, before now, had been embroiled in leadership crisis that had seen it having three factions. But apparently confronted with the hitherto, touted popularity of APGA, the incumbency factor for APC, it had dawned on the party to put its house in order before going for the election. That, may eventually work for the PDP.
Ihedioha, its candidate, may also not be a hard sale in the elections. With enormous experience which he had garnered in his 12 years of being in the House of Representatives where he had attained the rank of a Deputy Speaker, the expectation is that he can easily fit into the task of governance seamlessly. Having also run for the office in 2015, the assumption is that he must have a roadmap with which he aims to reposition Imo. How he applies the experiences, may be another matter.
For now, what really matters for the people, is who will rescue the state. Imo in the last 19 years of the current civilian dispensation, has been in a sorry state. With dilapidated infrastructure across the senatorial zones in the state, demoralized work force and grossly disoriented social system, Imo has largely remained a shadow of its glorious self. Even the education sector where the state had flaunted as its forte, has witnessed a terrible plunge within the period. Similar story of decline, resonates in all sectors and sections of the state.
Faced with this culture of uncertainty occasioned by succession of failed leadership in the state, the residents and indigenes, cannot wait for a change for the better.
