By E.T OKERE
Let me lift, word for word, a passage from the maiden broadcast of the Imo State governor, Senator Hope Uzodimma, to the people on Monday, January 20: “I recall clearly that on the eve of the election, our people were determined to ensure that no one imposed a political dynasty on them. It was the collective desire of all Imo people to see to it that our democracy was preserved in all true tenets … As the arrowhead in that battle, Imo people voted massively for me. This fact must not be lost on anybody. Today, through your votes, we have succeeded in disabling that dangerous ambition….”
Even the least discerning observer of Imo politics in the last two years or so knows exactly what Uzodimma was talking about. But for the uninitiated, here is what he meant. He was referring to the plans by former governor, Rochas Okorcha to foist his son-in-law, Uche Nwosu, on the state as his successor.
As Uzodimma rightly pointed out, it was, indeed a “battle” that exhausted the people emotionally, psychologically and even financially. With a war chest afforded him by his exclusive and total control of the resources of the state, Okorocha brought the state to its knees, as its citizens – from the smallest to the mightiest – struggled to ensure that he did not succeed in that “dangerous ambition”.
Minus those who were directly involved in Okorocha’s so called Rescue Mission and which constituted just a minute percentage of the people, the totality of Imolites were against the Okorocha agenda; the main reason being that it was a plot by him to continue in office by proxy and which they appropriately coined “third term agenda”.
Within the All Progressives Congress (APC), through which Okorocha wanted to actualize his dream, the upheaval was total. The quarrel between Okorocha and key stakeholders in the party over the matter took the political temperature of the entire state over the roof.
Even after those top stakeholders formed a “coalition” to fight the governor, the latter was both undaunted and undeterred. Initially, Uzodimma, then a sitting senator, was not part of the coalition.
There were even insinuations that some of the arrowheads of the coalition did not want him to be part of it, the main argument being that he was suspected to be in discussion with Okorocha to allow him, Uzodimma continue to represent Imo West in the senate in exchange of backing his son-in-law.
It was against that backdrop that the party held its congresses preparatory to the primary elections. The Okorocha camp lost woefully to the coalition and the entire people of that state, not just APC members and supporters, hailed the outcome.
That led me into doing an article under the title, “Imolites Rise For APC”. That article was rejoined by some of the best brains in the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) including my friend and colleague, Mbadiwe Emelumba, who was then in the PDP and indeed a House of Representative aspirant for the Oru-West-Oguta federal constituency.
Their grouse was that I was elevating the APC over the PDP. Emelumba was to later become the director of media and publicity of Hope Uzodimma Campaign Organization and is still holding that position till this moment. But that is by the way.
The grand outcome of the congresses was the emergence of two factions, as an unrelenting Okorocha fought ahead. But both to the surprise and chagrin of Imolites generally, the national chairman of the party, Adams Oshiomhole, one odd afternoon made a pronouncement recognizing the Okorocha-led faction as the authentic leadership of the party in the state.
Read Also: Ihedioha to Uzodinma: You won’t gain legitimacy with lies
Promptly, the main arrowhead of the coalition, Senator Ifeanyi Araraume, left the party and joined the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA). And along with him also left some other notable members of the APC. This, in effect, left Uzodimma virtually alone to continue the fight with Okorocha.
It was indeed a very messy fight during which Rochas, called Uzodimma unprintable names. Again, that is by the way. It was under these circumstances that the party (APC) held its governorship primaries from which Uzodimma emerged as the flag bearer.
That primary election was the most rancorous ever witnessed in the state, if not in the entire country. The announcement of the final outcome, that is, the winner, was shrouded in so much mystery.
There was so much back and forth and even after Uzodimma was finally announced but the length and breadth of it all is that with the APC ticket in his kitty, Uzodimma was seen as having nailed Okorocha’s ambitions and Imolites were quite pleased with that development. That was what Uzodimma was referring to in the passage from his maiden broadcast which I quoted above.
At Uzodimma’s swearing-in at the Heroes Square on January 15, there was murmuring in the crowd at the sighting of Okorocha, a development that was read in some quarters to mean a signal that the people expect him to distance himself from Rochas Okorocha.
True or false, the important thing to note is that in the struggle against the entrenchment of what Uzodimma also in that broadcast referred to as “… neo feudalism”, the two people whose names will go down in history as haven led the people to victory – albeit from different fronts – are Uzodimma and Ihedioha.
What Uzodimma started by ensuring that Okorocha’s son-in-law, Nwosu, did not clinch the APC governorship ticket at the primary elections, Ihedioha completed at the general elections. From what went on at the general elections, it clearly needed a strong candidate like Ihedioha to stop Nwosu from emerging governor.
It is not unlikely that political scientists in the country are still looking into how Nwosu, with the ticket of an entirely unknown party and after campaigning for a period of less than two months, took a second position in that election, coming so close to the winner that a run-off between him and Ihedioha was almost called.
Till date, many keen watchers of the Imo political terrain believe that had a run-off between Ihedioha and Nwosu been called immediately after the general elections, Nwosu would have emerged.
This remains arguable but the point here is that just like Uzodimma, Ihedioha also deserves credit for leading the people to the collective victory over what would have been an entrenchment of a family oligarchy in the state.
This fact is important because I believe that however the ongoing animosity goes, there will be an ultimate need for reconciliation for the interest of the state and its people. As a person, I believe that every crisis should run its course and end one day in one way or the other.
Today, tempers are rising on both sides. Governor Uzodimma might be justifiably mad with some people, including this writer, over things said or written in the course of the protracted tussle over the key to Douglas House.
As I noted in a previous article, I own up to the previous position I took namely that Ihedioha should be allowed to continue in office at least for the reason that his emergence enabled the people to resolve one thorny issue – that of equity in the governorship of the state.
It had nothing to do with Uzodimma’s personal capacity, because if nothing else, he has the ability of pulling people towards himself.
It is a rare and great trait because there will be an ultimate need for the political elite to come together. Yet, there can be no mistaking the fact that the January 14, Supreme Court judgment was a rude shock to the generality of the people of the state because apart from the complementary role Ihedioha played in stopping Okorocha, he had shown a lot of promise and the people were keying into that.
Since it was not their fault that results from 388 polling units were allegedly excluded in the case of Uzodima, or that two third spread was, again, allegedly not met on the part of Ihedioha, Imolites cannot continue to be like a candle lit at both ends.
Let the anger rage but those of us in the commentary box are already looking forward to the day, sooner than later, it will be put off.
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