BY CHIEDU UZODINMA
Imo State has become a cinema, or rather a club house where the usual and unusual take place. The State has also become a big laboratory where experiments, political and judicial concoctions are mixed together and forced down on the people.
It is a state; a Governor coined iberiberism and made it his watchword.And truly iberibe style of governance was the norm of that administration. And it all ended in iberibe!
During the reign of iberiberism, Imo State was in the news always for the wrong reasons. That scenario has not completely changed either, particularly now the State has become a theatre of absurdities.
There is no State in Nigeria; an outgoing Governor wanted his son in law to be his successor and take over the reins of governance. But lo and behold, it nearly happened in the eastern heartland.
Where in Nigeria, a state Governor embarked on erecting statues recklessly with tax payers’ money and did not blink over the vituperations and condemnations that trailed his action.Nowhere, But it did occur in Imo.
Tell me where in this country, strange political bedfellows suddenly swallow their vomit and hug each other once again just to hatch and execute a political conspiracy, it is only in Imo State.
Can a State Governor be sacked by the Supreme Court and a governorship candidate of a political party who placed a distant fourth in an election, suddenly and through legal magic be declared winner?. Never, not anywhere in this country, except in Imo State.
Indeed, Imo State has become a cinema. All sorts of political movies and drama emanate from the State. It has become a place of uncertainty, where abracadabra done in Abuja is forced down on the people in Owerri. It is only in Imo State an elected Governor, one who was freely elected, will become a plaything in the hands of political gendarmes in high places with active collaboration of political buccaneers at home.
The docility of the people is a major reason why so much bullshit occurs in the State and the architects of such simply go scot free. The people are afraid to defend what they believe in. They fail to defend their beliefs. They desire the best, but sit and do nothing to realize it. All they do is complain and murmur. Like zombies, they swallow hook and line sinker whatever the political gangsters, the swindlers of our commonwealth foist on them.
The Supreme Court judgment which sacked Emeka Ihedioha as Governor is just one episode that has made Imo State another theatre of laughable drama. The learned Justices of the nation’s highest court, as learned as they claimed they are, failed woefully in simple mathematical computation which formed the kernel of their bizzare judgement. They forgot that votes from 388 polling units it awarded to Hope Uzodinma, does not tally with the total number of accredited voters. They never cared a hoot of the consequences of its action which is a defilement of the nation’s temple of justice.
It is a verdict that has exposed the Supreme Court to public ridicule and a dangerous precedent if allowed to stand could pose a threat to the nation’s democracy.
Across Imo State after that judgment, there is peace of the graveyard, notwithstanding the protest by PDP members. Governor Hope Uzodinma has a herculean task to make his government acceptable to the people of the State. This is the first time in Imo State we have a government enthroned into power by the Supreme Court in controversial circumstances. Acceptability of a government by the people is key and strategic to its success. Uzodinma and co cannot claim that they go to bed and sleep very well since the political drama began to hover in the State over the ouster of his predecessor. They are certainly haunted by the ghost of that Supreme Court judgment.
Ihedioha may not have been the darling Governor of the people, but his administration had acceptance. It had gradually won the heart of the people of the State. Perhaps because he paid pensioners and workers their due. What also made the magic was because he was seen or perceived to be seen to be desirous to rebuild the State. He showed it, he meant it. How Uzodinma will go about marketing his government to the people considering the circumstances he was flown into power, is yet to be deciphered. We pray for Imo State.
“Indeed, Imo State has become a cinema. All sorts of political movies and drama emanate from the State. It has become a place of uncertainty, where abracadabra done in Abuja is forced down on the people in Owerri. It is only in Imo State an elected Governor, one who was freely elected, will become a plaything in the hands of political gendarmes in high places with active collaboration of political buccaneers at home”.
