Just before the re-election battle which Governor Hope Uzodimma won last year, this column had enthused in a piece titled: APC hopes on Imo: “No doubt, the people of Imo State would fare better, if the ruling party in the state, is the same as the one at the centre, more so, with the acclaimed performance of the incumbent governor, Hope Uzodimma.” Apparently, the people listened, as they resoundingly returned the governor during the November 11, 2023, gubernatorial election.
Uzodimma won with a total of 540,308 votes, which is much more than the 127,370 votes garnered by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, from the entire southeast at last year’s presidential election. As a political strategist, PBAT may have taken note of the invitation ad offerendum (inviting an offer), and has rewarded Governor Uzodimma and the people of the region with a presidential presence at the inauguration ceremony last week. This column had called for such rapprochement, after the Supreme Court victory of PBAT, in a piece titled: Southeast geopolitical interests.
Tracing the disenchantment that propelled the vote harvest of the Labour Party and the potentials for PBAT presidency, the column said: “no doubt, the disillusioned electorate and the disaffected elites from the southeast region can be harvested for good or for bad, depending on the poaching skills.” It went further: “as the Tinubu era starts in earnest, following the Supreme Court verdict, the southeast political elite should engage in strategic analysis of the short and long term geopolitical interests of the region.”
It concluded: “perhaps, the time for the much touted handshake across the Niger has come.” So, watching PBAT in his white attire with a befitting red cap stretching out his hand to acknowledge the two-handed clasp of former President Olusegun Obasanjo at the Dan Anyiam stadium, the venue of the inauguration ceremony of Hope Uzodimma’s second tenure, I acknowledged that PBAT has reaffirmed his masterly of political strategy. Presidents usually attend the inauguration of fellow presidents, but last week, despite a very busy schedule, PBAT darted to Owerri, Imo State, to reassure the southeast.
While the visit had the larger significance of giving hope to the southeast by identifying with Hope Uzodimma, who is arguably the preeminent leader of the southeast in the larger APC family, it was also a master counter strategy to have Obasanjo in attendance. Of major significance, Obasanjo had few days earlier held a meeting with the Ohaneze Ndigbo, the preeminent socio-cultural group in the southeast. This writer had ruminated privately after the media report that Obasanjo is posturing as a sympathizer of the region.
While he may be, it was strategic for the president to also publicly show that he loves the people as much as, if not better than, the former president. In the mind game, the people of the region, seeing for themselves that in the present dispensation, the love from PBAT is more rewarding than that from Obasanjo, should make an informed opinion of which lover to go to bed with. For clearly, the jostle for 2027 is already afoot, and Obasanjo is hoping to have the last laugh, after the failed attempt to scuttle PBAT’s emergence as president in 2023.
In his address, PBAT called for unity of purpose to achieve more. He said: “I am glad we are showing to be a very united country and moving forward. The relative peace that you are enjoying here will be better and we will work hard with you to achieve that peace. Before now, every one of us was enveloped in fear to come to Imo State, but today Imo is safe and ready for business.” He went further: “what we learned from this is for us to work together, join hands and pay attention to our internal security.”
PBAT is no doubt making a deliberate effort to reconcile the southeast with the APC political family, and that should yield result. Unlike his predecessor, he ensured that despite poor showing in the votes from the region, the region has Hon. Benjamin Kalu, as the deputy speaker of the House of Representatives. Also, they are ably represented in national security apparatchik by the Chief of Naval Staff, Vice Admiral Emmanuel Ogalla. Again, Dave Umahi, the former governor of Ebonyi State, as minister for works, is heading one of the most important ministries.
With PBAT playing the right politics in the southeast, there is the need for the governors of the region to latch on to the emerging economic opportunities of the administration for the well-being of the people. This column is unhappy that nothing has been heard since, after the Economic and Security Summit attended by the governors in Owerri, in October, last year. In a piece after that meeting titled: Southeast reawakening, this column had praised the proposed South East Economic Development Fund, announced by the state governors.
While no one expects the fund to be in place, already, there should be clear signs that what happened in Owerri was not another talk shop. In her remarks at that summit, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala bemoaned lack of unity amongst governors as the reason why similar efforts did not yield much result. This column hopes that similar trends have not set in, with every governor going his own way, despite the difficult macroeconomic challenges affecting even the world economy.
The governors should understand that under such difficult macroeconomic conditions, the economy of scale would be an advantage. One manifest area for collaborative effort should be the power generation and distribution sector, after all, they are already grouped together in the diseased privatization programme of former president, Goodluck Jonathan, with regards to distribution. Thankfully, the Electricity Act 2023, which replaced the Electricity and Power Reforms Act 2005, has unbundled the over-centralization policies of the past, and so, the governors should set up a think tank on how states can individually and collectively benefit from the new law.
The governors of southeast ought to know that the deindustrialization of the region is one of the reasons for the rise in armed conflicts and general insecurity in the region. While trading in imported goods brings prosperity to a few, trading in goods manufactured within the region would bring greater prosperity to the greatest number. To achieve prosperity for all, the twin challenges of insecurity and availability of electricity must be solved, as quickly as possible. Neither can be achieved without a collaborative effort of the governors and the people of the region.
As the southeast proverb says, one can decipher the taste of the soup from the aroma. Since PBAT is preaching a renewed hope agenda, and has shown signs of seriousness, this column urges southeast political leadership and people to take necessary steps to tap into it.
