By Fidel Agu
Some years ago, I read a novel, “Shadow of Gallows. Though I have forgotten the name of the author of that wonderful literary work, the story of the protagonist in that epic novel has a direct bearing with my article. Onuoha the chief character in that fiction and his family, were hated and derided in the community. Because of Onuoha’s poor background, his parents could not prevent the oppressive and inhumane attacks launched against them by their haters.
A minor skirmish ensued in the village that provided the oppressors the opportunity to banish Onuoha and his parents from the town to a distant community across seven rivers and seven evil forests. Onuoha’s parents could not survive the trauma and stigmatization and died. But the boy remained resolute and by doing some menial jobs during weekends, he was able to train himself up to university level.
History was to repeat itself after many years even in a strange land when Onuoha was put into prison with trumped-up charges. In the prison, he contemplated suicide but one of the warders told him about his dream where he saw him become not just a wealthy man but President of his nation. He then offered to release him by throwing him into a river bordering the jail but not without extracting a commitment that Onuoha must remember him and his family if he succeeded in life. The deal was sealed and delivered. At this juncture, Onuoha’s home town had become a theocratic independent nation. The gods had earlier pronounced that the President of the new nation would arrive by 12 mid night through their river. All that mattered in the land had assembled at the shore of River Kanem awaiting the leader. At exactly 12 mid night, Onuoha unknown to him, was in his own land, swimming along the tide for 21 days without food.
On sighting him on the river, the chief priests ordered he be brought out and crowned the President of the new theocratic nation. Bewilderment, awe and confusion took over everywhere when Onuoha in his inaugural speech informed that he was not a stranger but one of them that was banished 35 years ago. Some leaders attempted walking out of the inauguration arena but Onuoha pleaded with them to give him a chance to actually prove to them that his emergence was divinely ordained.
Within 10 years, Onuoha had laid a solid foundation, and the new nation became the biggest force to reckon with among its peers. The rejected stone, thus became beacon on which the house rested.
I had to tell this seemingly ordinary but instructive story to situate the developments in Imo State. Sen. Hope Uzodimma, without doubts, is the governor of Imo State. Incidentally, some Imolites are yet to come to terms with this reality. The Supreme Court on January 14, pronounced him the validly elected governor of the State and he was subsequently sworn in on the following day.
He was at a time, one of the most respected pillars of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and now a chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC). Since coming to power, he has been appealing to Ndimo to give him chance to prove who he is, what he truly represents and the glorious path he is about to take for the good of the state. Unfortunately, there seems to be a number of desperate opposition party leaders holding some indigenes and residents of the state to ransom, with odious expertise in fake news generation and dissemination vide the new media. Curiously, some otherwise, highly rated and educated Imolites tend to believe them with the impression of Uzodinma being a bad leader. This is utterly bad.
The worst thing that can happen to any person is being paid or manipulated into having an opinion. Sadly, this is the case with many Imo youths hibernating in the new media, peddling rumors and sharing fake news against our Governor.
A popular Igbo adage “E kwe ekele Ihu a saa”, which I may roughly translate here as “response to greetings brightens the face”, truly captures the level of hostility with which a number of Imolites particularly the political elite have responded to the hearty greetings extended by the chief driver of the shared prosperity government presently in the state. I therefore implore Ndimo to brighten their faces and respond to the greetings by their governor.
Granted that the emergence of the governor may not have gone down well with some people in the state, the exigencies of the day now make it imperative that he be given a chance like Onuoha in the novel cited above. One of such exigencies is the crashing oil price in the international market, which if something urgent is not done, may see states not being able to pay salaries let alone providing or maintaining basic infrastructures. Unemployment rate in Imo is mind-blowing and a time bomb waiting to explode.
Only recently, 1000 ghost workers were discovered in the civil and public service in Imo. These had been eating into the resources of the state. Imo has great but untapped potentials in non-oil natural resource deposit, tourism, agriculture, human resource, education, health etc. It will take an Uzodimma administration to open up these critical areas for the overall development of the state, if given the chance.
The Shared Prosperity Government in Imo inherited the deadly Covid-19 pandemic as other states in the federation but has been able to handle the case to the extent that the state has not recorded any case. Notwithstanding, the governor has been able to establish six world class isolation centres with brand new ventilators, and well trained frontline health workers to effectively handle any occurrence. The Covid-19 Taskforce in Imo is headed by a top flight global medical scientist, Prof Maurice Iwu.
The Governor has also busied himself with efforts at attracting direct foreign investments to the state. Against this backdrop, it will be most unfair and uncharitable for Ndimo to score the governor low in his first 100 days in office, knowing the challenge of Covid-19 that many liken to a war situation.
In all sectors of the economy, the administration has robust blueprint for short term, medium and long term development. The minor challenge faced by Pensioners, Council workers and some public servants in the state which bothered on non-payment of salaries was occasioned by compulsory verification of account system of various MDAs to clinically sanitize them, ward off ghost worker syndrome and report progress.
Some of the affected workers including Pensioners have started receiving their payments. There’s an ongoing massive construction of roads and commissioning of completed ones especially those started by the past administration in the state. Uzodinma has a mantra of hope epitomized by his implementable vision and embedded in passion for good governance which when fully unleashed, would certainly catapult Imo to greater heights. With moderate temperament and listening ears, Ndimo now have a governor they can always trust and rely on. Let us, therefore shun unnecessary malice, hate, fake news and irresponsible politicking but to join hands with this man of honor, Governor Hope Odidika Uzodinma, to put Imo back to proper shape and glory.
Fidel Agu, Journalist and Public Relations expert wrote in Abuja.