Conscience nurtured by truth is one of the cardinal philosophies of the
\nlate Ahmadu Bello Sardauna . Gaskiya (truth), they say, is tafi kobo.
\nThe bible mentioned a servant girl of Naaman’s wife. However, the girl
\nwas brave enough to tell her mistress of a prophet in the country of
\nSamaria, which is in the Kingdom of Israel, who was able to heal Naaman
\nof his leprosy. Naaman was the captain of the Syrian Army around 850
\nB.C. In the account of the war between Syria and Israel, as recorded in
\nI Kings 15, God gave Captain Naaman the victory over Israel. In II Kings
\n5, it is written that Naaman was a mighty man of valor, but was a leper.
\nThe unknown servant girl showed Naaman were he got his healing.<\/p>\n
There are people\u00a0 today that are bold like the servant girl of Naaman .
\nThey point out the wrong things going on and call for change. They shout
\nat those adding poisons as medicine for chronic ailment, to stop it.
\nThey call for things to be done right for the overall good of the
\nmajority. They are the civil servants of the society, the unknown
\nservants.<\/p>\n
I am like an unknown servant and I will never stop calling on leaders of
\nmy state to do the right thing for the good of the majority. When I
\nspeak against bad leadership, I am called unprintable names by
\nself-appointed do-gooders . These self-appointed do-gooders do not and
\ncannot comprehend the harm they do to themselves.. These are leeches who
\ndon\u2019t enjoy the truth slime down their faces and\u00a0 who believe\u00a0 that
\nyou have to always kiss up to the aggressor to get a\u00a0 lunch box . They
\nare generally afraid. Some of them want government\u00a0 appointments so they
\nneed to live in denial and praise singing\u00a0 to justify their fealty to
\nfilth. Often and conveniently, without the slightest compunction, they
\nalign themselves with whoever has the trump card at any given point in
\ntime.<\/p>\n
I certainly do not\u00a0 wish\u00a0 for Governor Emeka Ihedioha\u2019s\u00a0 failure.
\nWishing him failure is akin to wishing your pilot to sleep while
\npiloting a craft you are inside. Imo is my state and I want the best
\nfrom the governor of my state. But It is said that the odor that oozes
\nout from the male goat is not from the skin, otherwise, water could have
\nwashed it away. Recently, the governor\u00a0 announced\u00a0 in the media the
\napproval of\u00a0 the employment of 4000 teachers in the state. This\u00a0 if it
\nturns out to be true,\u00a0 is commendable. Unfortunately, Ihedioha\u2019s
\ngovernment\u00a0 has a ministry of disinformation, where they share lies like
\nakara\u00a0 and bread. The governor\u2019s\u00a0 idea is that if someone tells the
\nbig lie, people will believe it even if they don\u2019t believe the little
\nones. That is what Hitler did and its one of the common practices of a
\ntyrannical government.<\/p>\n
For more than five months, apart from the rebuild Imo\u00a0 mantra and the
\ndue process sing song, Ihedioha\u00a0 \u00a0has been playing to the gallery. He
\nreduced governance\u00a0 to one big sycophantic industry were\u00a0 governance is
\non the pages of newspapers and were singing his praises has become one
\nrewarding venture. Loyalty and allegiance is determined by how well you
\nchorus the \u2018 Ihediohamma\u2019 sing-song, which thrills the governor and
\nhis vanity to no ends. He will find a pothole on a road,\u00a0 moves his
\ncabinet there. They will come with , TV men , microphone and cameras.
\nThey take pictures and make speeches shake their heads and curse Rochas
\nOkorocha. Voom vaam, off they go and nothing is done.\u00a0 He\u00a0 will award
\nroad contract, call a village meeting. Masquerades are made to attend.
\nIt’s the commissioning of the beginning of the building of a road
\nproject. Balloons are hoisted. He climbs into an old tractor brought by
\nthe contractor. He drives around. The women in asoebi dance . Men drum
\nfor them. He tells them he is rebuilding Imo.\u00a0 Voom Vaam, off they go,
\nnothing is done.<\/p>\n
Visit Imo, all the roads are bad and they keep blaming the rains . I
\nguess its \u201cthe more things change in Imo, the more they remain the
\nsame.\u201d My friend Samuelson\u00a0 once said \u2018 sincerity of deceit is when
\nyou consciously manipulate the people of Imo State by telling them lies
\nthat the reason you have not started constructing , maintaining, grading
\nand patching roads is because of the rains while at the same time
\nconstructing and widening the road that leads to your country home in
\nMbutu, Aboh Mbaise under heavy rains\u2019. Road construction in Imo is
\nanother exaggerated display of showmanship.<\/p>\n
In less than six months of being in office, the state is said to be
\nbroke. Bankrupt. Available data shows that the state is neck-deep in
\ndebt. But one disturbing issue is the rate at which\u00a0 Ihedioha globe-trot
\nwithout minding how bad\u00a0 his expensive travels affect the\u00a0 state\u2019s
\ntreasury. He\u00a0 enjoys\u00a0 spending time abroad and by the time he is\u00a0 back
\nto the state, the excuse is always that he\u00a0 traveled abroad to woo
\nforeign investors. He eats and lives flattery and jesting to high
\nheavens . Either he is in the United Kingdom\u00a0 today or Germany or USA or
\nSaudi Arabia, China or the United Arab Emirates. He is being panned for
\ntrotting the globe, traveling the world and cartoonists will soon start
\nhaving a field day as he is saddled with the unflattering name of Vasco
\nda Gama.. He is failing to attend to pressing issues in Imo State
\nbecause he is always traveling out of the state and country.
\nAdditionally to funding the overseas trips with the state funds, the
\ngovernor receives huge out-of-pocket allowance for each trip, which he
\ndoes not have to account for\u00a0 .A hard look at Ihedioha reveals a
\npersonality that has this crass craving for coveted power but pitiably
\nlacks the requisite to exploit and explore it judiciously. He is
\naffected with the paranoia of egocentrism, bellicosity, with a high
\nhandedness of compelling and with a crushing fist nay unforgiving
\npenchant spirit when his path is crossed. He relished criticizing but
\nloathes criticism. The question I keep asking remains; has Imo entered
\none chance? Only time shall tell .<\/p>\n