Ralph Miliband was a key twentieth century political thinker. Ralph
Miliband once said that the hottest place in hell will be reserved for
those who sit on the fence in the face of great moral crisis. No one
will want to go to the hottest place in hell, at least not me. As a
citizen of Imo State, I am worried about the style and policies of the
present Governor of Imo State.
I will continue to speak out but When you write from the comfort of
your home abroad, you write with all the fire in you without minding if
you insult Babangida. You just write as the pen directs you. But when
you live in Nigeria like me and you are writing within, you write
carefully or you may have tough times. You can even be sent on exile
like what happened to me for 8 years when Governor Okorocha was in
power. The Eze’s of your community can even banish you from the
community to please a governor.
Today, Chief Emeka Ihedioha is the governor of Imo, though he won no
election. The 2019 Imo State gubernatorial election may have been an
instance of a coronation instead of an election. This is diametrically
opposed to the basic building blocks and values of the democratic system
of government. In defense of the country’s fragile democracy, I believe
strongly that the Court of Appeal and the Supreme Court will stand
tall as they have in other cases in teasing out this evil machinations
of a corrupt few in Imo whose desires to win at all costs undermine the
public interest. The people decide and legitimacy is confirmed through
the ballot box.
Legitimacy in a democracy is not a function of some powerful
individual’s interest or instructions, but rather, it is a derivative
function of the collective decision of the people. To believe or do
otherwise, in a democracy, is an oxymoron that must be shunned. Ihedioha
didn’t win the Imo guber election but that is left for the courts.
Honestly, I am at a loss at the fanfare exhibited by the governor of
Imo state just to celebrate two months of pension payment. In all the
Radio stations in Imo including newspapers, the governor celebrated two
months pension payment. He even paid just 50% of each pensioner’s
total monthly take home. He was on air just to buoy his ego and show
his cluelessness. The irony of this madness is that our governor who
should be covering his face in shame for 5 months of non performance
is the one dominating the Pages of Newspapers and going on air to
celebrate payment of pension. As I write, Owerri the Imo State Capital
still remains the dirtiest city in Nigeria despite the funfare and the
millions of Naira expended under the infamous naira gulping monthly
sanitation exercise led by former governor Ikedi Ohakim . I will not
forget the expensive advertorials placed in both Electronic and the
Print Media on the state of Owerri yet the place remains dirty. It is a
notorious fact today that the sanitation state of Owerri is going from
bad to worse. I therefore condemn the millions expended on the Keep
Owerri Clean project which has now become a conduit pipe for Ikedi
Ohakim to siphon Imo State money with the tag of chairman of
sanitation.
My friend John recently said ” a governor who finds a pothole on a
road, moves his cabinet there. They come with TV men , microphone and
cameras. They take pictures and make speeches, shake their heads ,
curse Rochas Okorocha, abandon the road is clueless. A Governor who
shouts ‘rebuild Imo’ and in 30 days that he became the number one
citizen, begins to rebuild himself, rebuild his personal houses in Imo
and Abuja is clueless .John also said ‘ Ihedioha awards his first road
contract . He calls a village meeting. Masquerades are made to attend.
It’s the commissioning of the beginning of the building of a road
project. Balloons are hoisted. He climbs into an old tractor brought by
the contractor. He drives around. The women in asoebi dance. Men drum
for them. He tells them he is rebuilding Imo then he jets away to USA
four times in one month” I am asking, is such a governor not clueless?
We are getting wearied of inept leadership in Imo. We are getting tired
of leaders at all levels in the state that cannot perform.
It is easily understandable why Ihedioha’s Imo has suddenly become the
oil block of Nigerian columnists , social media commentators and writers
today. Simply, there is so much free LGA and ISOPADEC money flying
around. Same reason why Ihedioha feels safe and comfortable for five
months now, running a government on the pages of newspapers.
Equally the same reason why he has recruited a hefty column of writers
and columnists into his regime. It is the same reason why he has not
allowed whatever are his works to speak for his regime but the ceaseless
forgeries of the many writers he has recruited and the countless others
he freely provides for with resources needed to lift Imo State from the
doldrums .The fact that is constant in all the strange events that have
made Imo the first port of call for cash-and-carry writers is that Emeka
Ihedioha is clueless.
He has shown us in 5 months that he knows nothing about leading a state
like Imo and wants to hide behind the media. The only project moving at
a fast pace in Imo is his personal house. That one was started quietly
as my friend John said. And it’s galloping towards the sky. John did
said ‘ Ihedioha brings poles for solar light. He sows Isiagu for one
idle diplomat. They assemble village women. They dance. And break kola
nuts . And commission ‘a multimillion dollar street light project’. Is
that one not cluelessness? Then he started building 27 stadia in the 27
LGA’s of the state. Hmmm! That one na Mr Clueless oh? Ala ajola njo n’
Imo.
Here we are, five months of this administration and we are seeing
unleashing of attacks on petty traders, road side mechanics, other
artisans and unemployed youths are now groaning under brutal attack on
their means of livelihood. In the name of beatification at strategic
places while the interior and inner roads are deplorable.
Reminiscent of the inglorious era of military absolutism where culture
of fear and intimidation is often imposed on the people, Emeka
Ihedioha’s administration through the service of some gangs of thugs
who masquerade as Government monitoring team has continued, under the
guise of beautification and cleaning-up project, to use brute force to
subject thousands of small traders and artisans at different areas of
Owerri to all forms of harassment and physical assault.
To intensify the attack on the living condition of the suffering masses,
the government introduced different extorting policies through levy,
tax, fees etc. In Owerri, heavy taxes are imposed on houses, banks,
hotels and shops in the name of Physical Planning and Infrastructural
Development . Worse still, the government does not use its legitimate
machinery to collect these fees. It rather employs the services of thugs
who do not only intimidate people but also wreak havoc in the process. A
sanitation fee is forcefully collected from people who dispose wastes
themselves in the nearest bush but have never set their eyes on a
government waste bin van. Yet, there has been nothing fundamentally to
show for the infrastructure levy collected from the masses.. And I ask,
has Imo entered one chance? May God save us from Mr Clueless.
-Kenneth Uwadi writes from Mmahu-Egbema, Imo State, Nigeria and can be
reached via kennethuwadi@gmail.com
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