Three years before the governorship election in Imo State, top political players in the state have begun strategic political alignments and realignments ahead of the polls.
This is so because the incumbent governor, Hope Uzodimma, will be leaving office at the end of his second tenure in 2027.
This entails a fierce battle for succession, which has already intensified since last year after the Imo State Council of Elders rolled out the Imo Charter of Equity.
The Charter seeks to ensure seamless rotation of power among the three geopolitical zones in the state, Owerri, Orlu, and Okigwe, to ensure fairness and equity.
Owerri Zone has put up a strong claim to kickstart the Charter on the guise that it is the most marginalized among the three zones in the state.
Okigwe Zone is also making a strong claim to the seat, arguing that the tenure of Ikedi Ohakim, a former governor from the zone, was cut short abruptly.
This has led to several political alignments and realignments among the top political gladiators in the state.
With the Supreme Court affirming Governor Uzodimma’s victory in the November 11, 2023, governorship election, it is expected that those who want to succeed him will intensify the pace of their political game.
INNONEWS observed that in Owerri zone, more than 15 notable politicians in the All Progressives Congress (APC, alone are nursing the ambition to take over from Uzodimma.
While the majority of them have kept their ambitions under wraps, ostensibly to watch the body language of the governor since he is the determining factor in who takes over from him, it is understood that the serious ones have begun subtle mobilization, holding meetings, and winning political converts across the state to back their aspirations.
Some of them have engaged political “evangelists” beyond the shores of the zone to aid in drumming up their aspirations.
Several groups, such as the Imo Harmony Project led by former Minister of Interior Capt. Emmanuel Iheanacho, the IHP, the Owerri Zone Awareness Coalition (OZAC, led by Emmanuel Okwu, and the Owerri Zone Peoples Mandate (OWZOPEM), led by Prof. Vitalis Ajumbe, have emerged in the political space in the State ahead of the political razzmatazz of 2027.
While most of them are drumming up support for an Imo governor of Owerri zone extraction, there are some groups and individuals from the zone who are strongly backing the return of former governor Ikedi Ohakim.
Ohakim is from the Okigwe zone and lost his re-election in 2027.
A group, the Okigwe Zone Global Elders Forum, led by a notable traditional ruler, HRM Eze (Dr.) Oliver Ohanwe, is drumming support for an Okigwe zone to succeed Uzodimma in 2027.
Outside the shores of the ruling party, former governor Emeka Ihedioha, who lately dumped the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, is seeking fresh political allies, possibly with the Labour Party, where he is expected to seek political refuge to propel his Governoship ambition.
From Orlu Zone, despite the fact it is precluded from producing another governor at the end of Uzodimma’s tenure, on the basi of having produced more governors than any other zone, there are strong indications that some prominent Orlu politicians will eventually join the race for Imo governorship.
A former Minister has been fingered as a likely Guber contender from the zone, while the Orlu Political Consultative Assembly (OPOCA), led by a Commissioner in Uzodimma’s government, Rex Anunobi, has not failed to kick against moves by some groups in Owerri Zone to kick start the clamor for a governor in barely a year, Governor Hope Uzodimma won a re-election for a second term.