By Kenneth Uwadi
Hotels everywhere in O’ Iown, that’s Owerri for you. I got into the town the evening of the day the All Progressives Congress (APC) organized a women and youth rally at the Dan Anyiam Stadium.
No one was there to pick me up. The romance of travel tends to fade fast when you find yourself stranded in an airport with a travelling bag full of dirty underwear. I managed to find my way into town, checked into a hotel, aided by a frighteningly helpful babe.
Then I beamed myself up to the second floor of the hotel, hunt through the endless and slightly claustrophobic maze of air conditioned corridors until I find my room . I dumped my bag, grab my toilet kit and a change of clothes, duck into the bathroom for a wash.
It was all over the news that armed supporters of the Action Alliance (AA) governorship candidate Uche Nwosu disrupted the Southeast zonal rally of APC in Imo state. The rampaging youths attacked supporters of the All Progressives Congress (APC ) governorship candidate, Hope Uzodinma. In the mirror, I pondered at this story, my reflection winks at me and points at a new white hair.
I blame the APC leadership in Abuja. This is their entire fault. How can Rochas Okorocha who claims to be in APC come to an APC rally to cause confusion and canvass votes for an AA governorship candidate?
What is this man still doing in the party? Expelling him is critical for the repositioning of the party in the state. He has openly displayed anti-party activities, working against his party’s interest in his utterances and actions. Everyone has seen him casting aspersions on the party’s leadership and his activities have been aimed at frustrating the party’s chances of winning the 2019 general elections in the state.
I pulled my laptop out of my bag and plug it in, jacked into the broadband socket. Then I downloaded an active ward and left it running as a screen saver. Why should an AA governorship candidate attend a rally organized by the APC?
What manner of anti-party activity is this? Nothing should worry truly patriotic Imolites more than an attempt to becloud their reasoning. This is especially so when such camouflaging is being done in a brazenly dim-witted manner.
Imo has rejected Okorocha’s third term agenda totally. They have rejected his plans to make his son in-law the governor of the state. Our people need a break from Rochas. We need a change of administration. Our governor performed poorly and having his son in-law as governor in 201 means a continuation of Baba Sallah Nkwobi and pepper Soup government .
Even the loquacious foot soldiers of Okorocha have accepted the fact that his eight years in office have been locust years in the history of the state. It has been eight wasted years, from June 2011 to January 2019. The foot soldiers of the governor have severally acknowledged the fact that their principal did not perform. They said he was distracted by the PDP. I beg your pardon. PDP? A lazy man will always quarrel with his tool and will always advance all the excuses he can muster.
We will continue to talk about Imo because we have no other home. Imo State a beautiful state blessed with fertile and productive landscape no doubt is “in chains” courtesy of rulers without vision. And we ask: should Okorocha be allowed to continue as governor for another four years with his son in-law as front after ruling the state for eight fruitless years? Mbanu!
This Okorocha who has since 2011 commandeered our common wealth and left us in chains, we further ask, will sanity be restored in the Land of Hope ?
Who will cut short this long and delayed take off of Imo to the path of sustainable growth and development? Who will remove the chains inflicted on Imo by the Okorochas and their co travelers? Hope Uzodinma is that man.
Uzodinma is god sent on a deliverance mission. I say yes to his Rehabilitation, Reconstruction and Recovery – the R-3. His governorship intention is borne out of a selfless desire to serve. God is with him. We need a new Imo that will open access to equal opportunities to all Imolites, guarantee quality infrastructural development, qualitative free education, and improved civil service administration and pension management.
Uzodinma will use the experience and expertise that he has gathered in his years of service to take our state to the next level. Imo needs job creation, urban standardization, rural urbanization, good road construction (not China roads), good health packages, economic diversification, affordable housing, and welfare for the elderly and widows, among others.
Imo needs someone who has proven capacity and capability. Imo is in dire need of a leader with demonstrable capacity to unite the deeply divided minds in the state and create a sense of belonging. We must bring visionary leadership to our state so we can move forward. We must end this looting of public coffers. We must oppose legalised official looting wherein political officers loot the state dry. We must fight all those that are insensitive to the plight of Ndi-Imo.
Okorocha’s family has looted billions of our tax payers’ money in a state where 80 per cent of her citizens live on less than N600 per day, in a state that has almost 5,000 children on the streets – children without parental care, without shelter. Okorocha, Uche Nwosu, we say, never again.
.Kenneth Uwadi writes from Mmahu-Egbema , Imo State and can be reached via 08037982714
