A couple of weeks ago, a well known politician in the zone, Chief Mike Nwachukwu, published a lengthy article in which he gave a historical analysis of the vexatious issue of power rotation in the state particularly in the context of the much talk about Imo Charter of Equity. But at the end of the day, Nwachukwu, who has twice contested for the Owerri zone senatorial seat, merely equivocated. He even accused the people of Owerri zone for being responsible for the collapse of the Charter Equity in 2011.
While x-raying the circumstances that led to the denial of Ikedi Ohakim – and in effect, Okigwe zone – from doing eight years in the Government House, Nwachukwu, whose article was entitled, The Imo Charter Of Equity, 2027, Owerri Zone And Okigwe Zone: Which Way To Go?, wrote: “… in an unfortunate twist of history, Rochas Okorocha, another Orlu zone person, muscled himself into office having secured the governorship candidacy of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) and with the active support of the Catholic Community in Owerri Archdiocese who had accused Governor Ikedi Ohakim of flogging a catholic Reverend Father… the negative momentum arising from that accusation led to a groundswell of opposition to Governor Ohakim from Nde Owerri zone which literally hounded him out of office”.
Nwachukwu continued: “while these events were going on, Nde Owerri zone did not sit back to think through the damming consequences of truncating the Imo Charter of Equity which was gradually taking form, shape and root in Imo politics. They (we) thus threw their (our) support behind Rochas OKorocha. If Governor committed the sacrilege of flogging a Catholic Reverend Father and must leave office, could it not have been possible to find another Okigwe zone son or daughter who could have stepped in to continue from where he stopped (for one term) so that the true spirit and letter of the Imo Charter of Equity as conceived in the run up to the 1999 governorship election would remain in place… And it so happened that Owelle Rochas Okorocha with the full-throttled support of Nde Owerri zone became governor of Imo state in 2011 thus leading to the demise of the Imo Charter of Equity”.
I have gone this length to refresh the mind of the reader of the type of perfidy a fellow who had twice sought to represent his people committed against his own kinsmen.
At the end of his long essay, Nwachukwu ended up with even a bigger subterfuge against his people, with his suggestion that the leaders of both Owerri and Okigwe zones should go to a negotiating table and agree on which of them should produce Uzodimma’s successor in 2028. Earlier in this write-up, I had identified three groups of so-called Owerri (zone) leaders who are either not enamored of the Owerri governorship project, have out rightly sold out, or are sitting on the fence. As far as I am concerned, Chief Nwachukwu belongs to all the three categories. As a matter of fact, not a few observers believe that he is working for a prominent politician from Okigwe zone who is bidding for a come back to the office of the governor of Imo state.
Agreed, it would be illusory to expect that every Kelechi, Obinna and Emeka in Owerri zone would support the collective aspiration and determination of our people to take their turn at the Government House, Owerri in 2028 but it was least expected that a prominent son of the zone would cut his nose and spite his own face – as Nwachukwu has done in the name of exercising his democratic liberty of choice of association.
As if that was not enough, another well known politician in Owerri zone, Vitalis Ajumbe, took a turn to throw stones at the Owerri project. In a newspaper article a couple of weeks ago, Ajumbe more or less regurgitated the same rubbish earlier venerated by Mike Nwachukwu. In the article entitled, “Mending Fences And Faces, The Panacea For Imo Charter of Equity”, Ajumbe ridiculed the Imo Charter of Equity and accused the people of Owerri zone of anchoring their hope of clinching the coveted office only on the promise by Governor Hope Uzodimma that he will hand over to a fellow from the area.
His argument was that since Imo is not a one-party state, Governor Uzodimma is not in a position to determine where the pendulum will swing to and that no governor in Imo state has ever determined who succeeds him. Of course, Ajumbe is exhibiting the hollowness of which he is known.
The determination of Owerri zone and its people to go for what should rightly belong to them is fully internally propelled. Yes, Owerri zone and its people completely believe in cooperation with other zones, since it is not an island unto itself. Owerri zone and its people believe that only a sitting governor, acting responsibly, can make the Imo Charter of Equity work. Owerri zone completely believes in the sincerity of His Excellency, Governor Hope Uzodimma, in his pronouncement, contrary to what Ajumbe tries to insinuate. Owerri zone and its people know that Governor Uzodimma as a charismatic leader knows that the best way to bequeath a politically and socially balanced polity to Imolites is by ensuring that Owerri zone takes its turn in 2028.
We have read elsewhere where some charlatans – perhaps inspired by the perfidy of the likes of Ajumbe – insinuated that Owerri leaders are trying to blackmail the governor by talking about his said promise. But the truth is that it is rather people like Ajumbe that are elevating it to the level of a media debate.
In the last couple of weeks, Ajumbe has been going about in the national media talking about the same issue. A week after his newspaper article referred to above, Ajumbe bought a lengthy space in a national newspaper where he gave a lengthy ‘interview’ on the same issue of the governor’s promise. We then ask, who is blackmailing the governor? Ajumbe or the rest of well meaning leaders of Owerri zone who have been supporting and encouraging Governor Hope Uzodimma to bequeath a lasting legacy for the entire state and its people.
In the newspaper interview, Ajumbe queried Governor Uzodimma for believing that he has the capacity to determine his successor. Said Ajumbe “… the governor’s political party is APC; so do they really think that only APC has the capacity to produce the next governor of Imo state? Will he tell all other political parties in the state not to field candidates? It is in this state that PPA won the ruling party to clinch the Douglas House. In this same state, APGA won the ruling PDP to take over the Government House. So why do they think it will not happen again in Imo”?
Of course, Vitalis Ajumbe is acting true to what he is known for: a free lance politician. He has never been a loyal party man and has no grounding in party politics. This is a fellow who has never contested for any election let alone winning. As Imo state chairman of the defunct All Nigerian Peoples Party (ANPP), it is on record that Ajumbe hobnobbed with the PDP administration of Governor Achike Udenwa. He did the same during the era of Governor Ikedi Ohakim, always hiding under the guise of chairman of the Performing Musicians Association of Nigeria (PMAN), even when he is not a musician.
In the last general elections, Ajumbe worked for the Labour party but shortly after the latter’s loss at the polls, he left the party and started going from one place to another parading himself as a “Political Consultant with the sobriquet, ‘Prof.’ Like Nwachukwu, Ajumbe is believed to be also working for a governorship aspirant from Okigwe zone.
Of course, the people of Owerri zone and indeed the entire Imo state are too sophisticated to listen to people like him. His allusions to what happened in 2007 and 2011 further mark him out as lacking in sophisticated political reasoning. What happened at those two dates in history are nothing but mere aberrations as far as Imo state is concerned. As a matter of fact, 2007 was the root cause of the problem the state is now facing; after the April 14, 2007 governorship election in which Chief Martin Agbaso, an indigene of Owerri zone, was coasting to victory was cancelled by the then chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) Professor Maurice Iwu, from Okigwe zone, and a rescheduled one held on April 28, 2007 when he used his powers to install another Okigwe fellow, Ikedi Ohakim, as governor.
That was the second time in the current dispensation, the Fourth Republic, an Owerri zone fellow was deliberately denied the opportunity of exercising a mandate freely given by the people. Earlier in 1998, the late Humphrey Anumudu, another Owerri zone fellow, was cajoled, intimidated and pressured into surrendering the PDP governorship ticket he won in favour of Achike Udenwa, an Orlu zone fellow. If we add the two to what happened to Emeka Ihedioha in 2020, it would be clear to all that Owerri zone has been at the receiving end for too long. But witness the type of naivety exhibited by Ajumbe when he declared in his interview that “…Owerri zone has always been in power” simply because, it has produced four deputy governors out of six since 1998. We ask: Is the office of the deputy governor contested for by a people who want political power?
What can be more ordinary a reasoning than what Ajumbe posited in his interview? Ajumbe believes that the good people of Imo state should continue to live with the type of anomalies they witnessed in 2007 and 2011 when he asked: “… why do they think it will not happen again in Imo?” What a shame! But Ndi Imo are determined to reason above the likes of Ajumbe who want to live in the past.
It ought to be made abundantly clear that nothing can be more fallacious than the claim or allegation that Ohakim was ousted from office by the machinations of the people of Owerri zone. While it might be true that some elements in the area might have taken advantage of the circumstances that led to his unplanned exit from office, the truth is that Ohakim’s ouster was planned and executed by the powers that be in Abuja. His own brothers in Okigwe zone, even in Isiala Mbano, his home local government area, latched on that and joined in chasing him out of power. Even the Maurice Iwu who installed him in office was the brain behind the declaration of the April 26, 2011 governorship election as “inconclusive”; which was actually the coup that led to Ohakim’s exit.
Unlike Ajumbe and his ilk, Owerri zone and its people believe in the Imo Charter of Equity as a formidable tool for resolving the perennial issue of power imbalance in the state. The question the likes of Ajumbe should provide answer to is: why has Charter of Equity worked in the other four states of the Southeast and not in Imo? His ilk can go on with their mischievous pessimism but the generality of the good people of Imo state share in the optimism of Governor Hope Uzodimma that a new norm is possible.