By Ogu Bundu Nwadike, M.A
A report on a local newspaper had the poorly couched, faulty big headline of: “I met An Imo When Wrong Things Were Seen As Right Way Of Doing Things”! The poor quote was attributed to Senator Hope Uzodimma.
It got us wondering until we concluded that obviously Uzodimma doesn’t know the difference between right and wrong things and right and wrong ways of doing things. He can’t differentiate between right and wrong things and ways!
We felt terribly appalled because with such a confused mindset, Imo State and Imo people are in a systemic big trouble, until anytime soon when Uzodimma is sent out of Douglas House by the grace of the Supreme God!
For the sake of setting the records straight, Uzodimma was made governor by the Supreme Court on January 14, 2020. And the next day, January 15, 2020, he was sworn in by Hon. Justice Pascal Nnadi, the then Chief Judge of Imo State.
At the end of January 2020, Uzodimma paid salaries and pensions without any stories, having acted on the salary and pension payment systems which he inherited from the duly elected governor, His Excellency, Rt. Hon. Emeka Ihedioha, CON, two weeks earlier.
The next month, February 2020, Uzodimma repeated the payment schedule he met, and paid salaries and pensions. Incidentally, that was the last trouble-free payment of salaries and pensions made by Uzodimma till date, 17 months after!
That’s evinced in his recent directive through his Account General, that list of all workers that he hadn’t paid from March 2020 to April 2021 be compiled and made available to him. That was a true confession of non-payment of salaries and pensions by Uzodimma!
Now, in what way can any normal person say the seamless payment of salaries and pensions by Governor Emeka Ihedioha was a wrong way of doing things?
Uzodimma met the Treasury Single Account (TSA) policy in operation. Over 250 bank accounts that were operated in the name of the Government of Imo State were stopped by Governor Emeka Ihedioha and replaced with one single Account for the State to prevent uncontrollable stealing of Imo money. Is that a wrong way of doing things?
Uzodimma met 25 major roads across Imo State under construction by reputable road construction companies contracted by Governor Emeka Ihedioha. Another 380 kilometers of roads were also under construction in the rural areas, courtesy of the RAMP roads project, after Governor Emeka Ihedioha paid the requisite counterpart funding. Is that a wrong way of doing things?
Uzodimma met an education sector under Governor Emeka Ihedioha’s tenure, where SEMB and IMSUBEB had concluded the processes of employing over 5000 teaching and non-teaching staff into the primary and secondary schools in Imo State. What’s wrong with that way of doing things?
Governor Emeka Ihedioha revived the technical education system, beginning with the commencement of construction of Technical Buildings at four Government Technical Colleges in Owerri, Ahiazu Mbaise, Okporo Orlu, and Osu Isiala Mbano. Is that a bad way of doing things?
Sadly and unfortunately, Uzodimma ensured that all the foregoing and much more were discarded and ruined with abandonment in Imo State!
Does discarding, ruining and abandoning the good things he met functional in the State, in any way the right way of doing things?
Arrogating omniscience in leadership and governance, which he has proved so clueless, inept, and incompetent about, has remained Uzodimma’s greatest undoing and harbinger of his irreversible failure.
Uzodimma doesn’t know anything about delivering good leadership and good governance, but he puts bravado and braggadocio ahead of him, feigning omniscience! Hence, he failed woefully!
So, the right thing and right way of doing things is not to pay salaries and pensions, not to pay contractors, not to fix Imo roads, not to provide employment to Imo youths, not to provide safety and security to lives and property in Imo State, as Uzodimma has failed to do? Ndimo nakwa echekinuo!
Ndimo should better totally write off Uzodimma and prepare for the opportunity soon to throw him out of Douglas House. It’s finished! Uzodimma has nothing different to offer! Even if you give him eternity to be Imo governor, Uzodimma will be still the incompetent Uzodimma! The world is watching!
By God’s grace, Imo State must be rebuilt!!
Ogu Bundu MA is the Publicity Secretary of the Imo State Chapter, of the Peoples Democratic Party PDP
