Amadioha! That is the Igbo god of thunder. Creatively, thunder could be the god of invention and creation. The flip side? It could be a god of wanton destruction.
Lexical connoisseurs can’t, of course, resist the euphony between the Igbo god of thunder and the name of the new governor of Imo State.
Amadioha! Ihedioha! The pun and the rime! The alliteration and the assonance! It’s sumptuous sound feast, made for poets!
Yet, were Iheodioha to be Amadioha, what sort of god of thunder would he be? From the opening salvo of his governing days, the omens are not so good.
It tilts towards the destructive — except,nor course, the new governor is cock sure of erecting grander edifices, figuratively speaking, after the ruins of opening Hurricane Ihedioha, leveling everything in sight — figuratively speaking too!
The Akachi Tower demolition is a classic example of how not to start a tenure. No sooner had the new governor taken office than some elements started bulldozing the base of the controversial tower.
Hardly any surprise: like the confused voices emanating from the Biblical Tower of Babel, initial media voices jumped into conclusion: Iheodioha begins demolition of Okorocha’s tower! The Ihedioha government cried back: the demolition wasn’t from us! A third, among other varied voices, jumped in: You can tell that to the marines!
Whichever way, it was a needless PR disaster for the new government. Even if the new government had no hand in the hurried demolition, is Imo such an anarchic environment that anyone, for whatever reasons, can just move a bulldozer to demolish a public monument, no matter how controversial? And the governor is caught napping, like everyone else? Please!
Now a controversial tower, built with scarce public money for tourism (economic) purposes, faces double jeopardy. It’s now defaced, and completely useless to everyone. Either pull it down completely or repair it, you still spend more money.
It’s the wanton waste of public resources that has brought Nigeria to the present unhappy pass. If the Akachi handling is proof of how Ihedioha would manage Imo resources, then Imolites sure had better brace themselves!
Akachi apart, other troubling news seeped through. First was the claim that EFCC had arrested former governor, Rochas Okorocha. It turned a hoax.
Then, the reported invasion, by gunmen, of the former governor’s country home, reaching for his bedroom, thus suggesting an assassination bid. That de-markets Imo, security-wise.
Then, the prattling over the state of the Imo State House.
All these have brought forth a sterile controversy, between the new government and the old; with the Okorocha camp even alleging the new government can’t tell intelligent lies!
These are needless controversies a new government can’t afford. Except the Ihedioha government needs to put the records straight, Hardball suggests it stays focused; and shun all these distractions.
Okorocha has done two terms. Warts and all, his scoreboard is in the heart of the people. Ihedioha should give himself the chance to build his own legacies. Four years is but a short time!
Ihedioha, get to work! As few crucial days are already gone, never to be regained.
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