ONWUASOANYA FCC JONES
It is not in doubt that the governor of my State is at war with everyone and everything but bad governance and corruption. He seems to have been advised that the only way he can gain ground in Imo is by intimidating those who do not agree with him into submission or running them out of town. But whoever advised the governor that way, either does not know Imolites or sincerely doesn’t love the governor. Imolites are resilient and highly enlightened people. You can’t stampede them into loving you, you will have to convince them, confuse them or if you are dangerously smart, deceive them.
In a chat with someone over happenings in Imo State, a longtime friend and one of those openly supportive of Chief Hope Uzodimma told me that the governor is struggling to win the soul of the State, that at the moment, the governor is like a stranger to most Imolites. Even though my friend blamed political opponents and critics of the governor for his obvious estrangement with the people he governs, what we agreed with is that the governor has a lot of job to do, if he must win the soul of the State and until he does that, he will be “a floating governor”.
A Nigerian politician has no bigger enemy than the friends who flutter around him because of the office he occupies and what they aim to benefit from that office. These individuals, are only interested in telling the politician what would please him rather than what would help him. However, some politicians who have performed exceptionally in office have been able to do that, because they hear beyond the mostly distorted tunes of the sycophants and listen to the bitter truth from their critics.
Governor Hope Uzodimma is held hostage by this band of hailers, who will eventually hail him to his waterloo, if he is not careful, or lucky. These people are telling him that his biggest achievement would be in opening many political warfronts, instead of advising him to concentrate on winning the hearts and support of Imolites, especially, given the controversial circumstances surrounding his emergence as governor.
No matter what anyone may want to tell the governor, the truth is that majority of Imolites and Nigerians see him as a product of backhand dealings in the judiciary and conspiracy among the political elite. He cannot clean off this taint on his mandate by fighting everyone who does not agree with him, politically, but can at least make Imolites and Nigerians forgive what most of them believe is; “the biggest electoral fraud and judicial coup perpetrated in this fourth republic”, by surprising Imolites with good governance.
While one may concede that there are few attempts being made at giving impression of governance taking place in Imo State, no one is deceived, not even the governor himself, that Imo is bleeding from bad governance. Even the governor’s most vocal promoters, especially, his Commissioner for Information, Declan Emelumba and his SA on Print (Local), Nwamkpa Modestus have hardly mustered the courage to tell the world that their boss is doing well. You either read them giving excuses on why Governor Uzodimma has failed to perform or on their good days, they would sell hope to their fastly depleting audience about how the governor will confound his critics with the magic of good governance. Invariably, they concede that the man from Omuma is still fluffing while Imolites suffer.
In all the indices of measuring good governance, the Uzodimma administration cannot be genuinely rated beyond 2/10. This is a pathetic reality, which those who love him should bring to his attention. If he can at least raise his performance level to up to 4/10, he would have succeeded in winning a good part of his war with his perceived and real political enemies, as he would have secured the trust of majority of ordinary Imolites.
The average Impolite is not interested in whatever political wars he wages with his fellow elite, but they cannot be convinced that the governor is doing anything with the interest of the masses at heart, when businesses are closing down rapidly in the State, jobs are being lost on daily basis and government workers feel duped by the government, while the road infrastructure is in its worse state ever. Criminals are on rampage across the State and hospitals are overflowing with patients who are hardly receiving adequate care, because health workers are either owed or angry that the government treats them with disdain.
The truth is that if Governor Uzodimma feels that his predecessors were all failures in governance then, he should give Imolites a better experience of governance. If the assessment of majority of Imolites about his administration is anything to go by, then, any Imolite would prefer even the worst of all the past governors to the current regime of absurdity.
MAY IMO WIN!
