DAMIAN DURUIHEOMA writes on how Governor Hope Uzodimma successfully crossed re-election hurddles in Imo state.
Following his emergence as the winner of the November 11, 2023, governorship election in Imo State, Senator Hope Uzodimma, the candidate of the All Progressive Congress (APC), has proved his critics wrong.
He was declared winner of the election by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) on Sunday, November 12, around 10 am. That development, on a sunny Sunday morning, marked not just the conclusion of a contentious governorship election process, but also the culmination of Uzodimma’s arduous march to retain his seat.
Uzodimma secured 540,308 votes to defeat his closest rivals, Senator Samuel Anyanwu of the Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP) and Senator Athan Achonu of the Labour Party (LP), who came a distant second and third with 71,503 and 64081 votes respectively.
But, Anyanwu and Achonu have rejected the result and are calling for the cancellation of the election, alleging that it was tainted by voter suppression, and massive rigging through the diversion of electoral materials and officials to the homes of the APC officials.
In a joint press conference, in the wake of the declaration of Governor Uzodimma as the winner of the contest by INEC, Anyanwu and Achonu asked the electoral umpire to either review the process or cancel the election.
Though INEC is yet to respond to the allegations, some of the parties like the LP have since declared their interest to take their grievances to the election petition tribunal, as stipulated by law.
The governor, a few hours after attending mass that fateful Sunday at the Government House Chapel, reacted to his victory, stating that his reelection victory had vindicated him as the real winner of the 2019 election where he got his first term mandate.
He also extended a hand of fellowship to his fellow contenders from other parties, urging them to join him in a united effort to build and uplift the state. The governor said he would operate a government that transcends political differences for the benefit of all in the spirit of inclusivity.
Since he took office for the first time on January 15, 2020, Uzodimma’s path has always seemed to be thorny. Interestingly, he always stands firm to face his challenges and fight to a logical conclusion.
His trajectory into active political foray spans over two decades since 1998 when the PDP was formed. He first indicated his interest in governing the state in 2003 during the tenure of his kinsman from Orlu, Chief Achike Udenwa. Thereafter, he started playing the role of a political godfather.
Eight years later, in 2011, he sought nomination to go to the Senate, which he eventually won and was reelected in 2015. With former Governor Rochas Okorocha rounding up his eight-year tenure in 2019, Uzodimma sought to become governor again.
Against the run of play, he emerged as the candidate of the ruling APC and went ahead to contest the election.
He however came fourth in the election, trailing then-winner, Emeka Ihedioha of the PDP, Uche Nwosu of the Action Alliance (AA) and Senator Ifeanyi Araraume of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA). He did not give up as he believed that he won that election. In a most shocking decision, the Supreme Court declared him the winner of the election.
While Uzodimma battled for acceptance after his Supreme Court victory, the #Endsars protest in October 2020 by youths introduced a new vista of security challenge to his administration. Criminal elements took advantage of the near anarchy created in the system by the #Endsars protesters to embark on kidnapping and armed robbery sprees. They took their criminal activities a notch higher by attacking and setting ablaze security formations across the state with personnel either killed or sacked while suspects were released with arms and ammunition carted away.
The situation reached its crescendo in April 2021 when the state police command was attacked and destroyed with dozens of suspects released while the state headquarters of Nigeria Correctional Centre was equally attacked with nearly 2000 prisoners freed. That has culminated in a state of anarchy as the released criminals have since organised themselves into groups to either sack communities or perpetrate criminal activities in communities where they find themselves.
The criminals also found fervour in the activities of pro-Biafra agitators, who recruited them to challenge the authorities. And in August 2021 when the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), declared sit-at-home to press for the release of its leader, held by the federal authorities, Imo became an easy place to attack due to the number of condemned criminals still in circulation, who were initiating more youths into their criminal gangs through the cover of Biafra agitation.
Uzodimma could be said to have felt the pains of the Imo insecurity more than most victims as his house was also attacked and burnt in his Ozuh Omuma village with some security personnel losing their lives in the attack.
In the face of all this, Uzodimma, however, did not give up as he took the battle to the bandits with its attendant collateral damage. While he was succeeding in ridding the state of criminal elements, his political opponents attempted to pitch him against the people as a result of the collateral damage, thus resulting in him being accused of the whole insecurity in the state.
Nevertheless, the result was that Imo, particularly Owerri, the state capital and most parts of the state became the first to ditch the agitators’ sit-at-home order in the Southeast as markets, schools, offices and businesses began to open again for businesses.
Soon, the people who were then feeling the brunt of the killings and violence by the criminal group, derisively called “unknown gunmen”, started appreciating Uzodimma’s efforts.
As he weathered the storm of insecurity, and battered image resulting from killings and violence, among others, Uzodimma also began to shift attention to infrastructure and some critical reforms, as well as human capital development.
Uzodimma also faced the worst form of propaganda against his government over the killings and the general insecurity in the state. Despite all the propaganda, the governor, the party’s hierarchy and all supporters of the APC remained undaunted, vowing to retain the number one seat at Douglas House in Owerri, the state capital.
Even in the face of provocation during the electioneering campaigns, the governor was busy preaching peace and appealing to the labour unions and those who felt aggrieved in one way or the other to give peace a chance.
Uzodimma, a charismatic leader began to woo the opposition just before he picked his nomination form for the second term, reaching out to all known political juggernauts, traditional rulers, religious, community and market leaders and asking them to join hands with him in a bid to move Imo to next level.
He did not mince words to convince them in his bid to take the state to a higher pedestal. He noted emphatically that his administration had done enough in the areas of infrastructural development, education, health, security, economy and other critical sectors in the state economy to win the governorship poll. He also along with the party hierarchy and critical stakeholders traversed the three senatorial districts for campaigns.
Expectedly, Uzodimma’s victory in the election did not come as a surprise to many. This is because of the groundwork he and his party had done in the run-up to the election.
The election would have been regarded as the most keenly contested in all the three senatorial districts. But, Uzodimma proved to be rooted in all the zones. Thanks to his 100 per cent victory in all the 27 local government areas.
One of the biggest factors that aided Uzodimma and the APC to retain the state has to do with the party being well-rooted in Imo since the 2015 governorship election that produced Okorocha. Also, Uzodimma’s promise to hand over power to Owerri Zone (Imo East Senatorial District) by 2028 became a major key that opened the door for the support of the people of Owerri Zone, which had hardly tasted the seat of power. This accounted for the reasons why the people of Owerri came out en masse to vote for Uzodimma.
Secondly, the inability of the opposition to unite behind a single candidate Uzodimma an upper hand.
No fewer than 17 candidates participated in the election. But only Governor Uzodimma was visible in the political arena. The candidates of the PDP and the LP, who were the major opposition contenders, could not compete favourably against the APC candidate. Some of the reasons given for the poor visibility of the opposition parties were Uzodimma’s alleged stifling of the political parties and stopping them from having a robust campaign by imposition of levies for displaying their banners along the streets of Owerri and its environs among others.
One such levy was the mandatory payment of N54 million before a party could display its banners.
While that lingered, the PDP candidate, Anyanwu was being distracted by those who did not want him to remain as the party’s national secretary. As the campaigns became more intense, the PDP Southeast Zone, unanimously nominated the former PDP National Youth Leader, Sunday Udeh-Okoye to fill the position of National Secretary being occupied by the governorship candidate.
At the Southeast Zonal Executive Meeting, held in Enugu, the party’s National Vice Chairman, Southeast Zone, Chief Ali Odefa noted that the decision to replace Anyanwu with Udeh-Okoye was to allow Senator Anyanwu to concentrate on his electioneering campaign in Imo State.
The party’s decision was followed by an order by an Enugu State High Court sitting in Enugu for the PDP to replace Senator Anyanwu as the party’s National Secretary.
The order was granted following a motion on notice filed by Nwabueze Ugwu, who was seeking the court to declare Senator Anyanwu’s seat vacant due to his then position as the candidate of the party in the election in Imo State.
While ruling on the motion on notice, the court compelled the defendants in the suit- the PDP National Chairman, the PDP National Secretary and the National Vice Chairman, Southeast to recognise Sunday Udeh-Okoye as the candidate recommended by the Southeast Zonal Executive Committee to replace Anyanwu pending the determination of the motion on notice.
The presiding judge, Justice C.O Ajah held that the motion on notice was brought under order 38 rule 1, order 39 rule 1 of High Court rules of Enugu State 2020, supported by 23-paragraph affidavits deposed to by the applicant.
As Anyanwu battled to save his position as national secretary, he lost a lot of grip on the campaigns, as most voters did not see him as a serious candidate who could win the election. This is probably why he performed abysmally in the contest.
Similarly, the LP candidate also got enmeshed in litigation over who was the authentic candidate for the party in that election. He battled for the party’s ticket with Chief Ukaegbu Ikechukwu Joseph.
While the case lasted it was a tension-soaked period because it was the peak period for the electioneering campaign and the election date was drawing nearer.
The Supreme Court finally nailed the coffin of the legal tussle on September 28, 2023, when it affirmed that Achonu was the duly elected candidate.
With the conclusion of the governorship election in Imo State, expectations are rife and there are enormous tasks ahead as Uzodimma consolidates on the achievements on security, infrastructure and human capacity development.
The 2023 governorship election has come and gone and against the expectations of many people, it went without trouble. The winner has emerged while the losers are expectedly groaning in pain as a result of scars which may take a long time to heal.
One good thing the election did for Imo State is that it led the people to recognise that the state needs peace to return to its body politics. As a result, it has been tacitly agreed that the governorship seat should be rotated among the three senatorial zones going forward.
