So much has been written about the Monday March 10, 2025 meeting between Governor Hope Uzodimma and stakeholders in Owerri zone that there have arisen insinuations in some quarters that “enemies” of the zone are trying to diminish its importance with “unnecessary controversy”. But nothing can be farther from the truth. If anything, that meeting and the circumstances that led to it constitute a subject about which no well-meaning indigene of Imo state would be tired of interrogating for some time to come. The reactions that followed the meeting were bound to arise both in form and essence. As a matter of fact, it was the publicists of the so-called Imo Harmony Project (IHO) that raised the first dust when they tried to distort what the governor said at the meeting concerning the Imo Charter of Equity.
As soon as the meeting was over, IHP’s media handlers inundated the social media with the fake news that Governor Uzodimma had told his audience that he sent a bill on the Imo Charter of Equity to the state house of assembly and it was enacted into law. Characteristic of him, the governor has been calm over that falsehood but his own media handlers would have nothing of that sort; and by the time his commissioner for information finished with the matter, it was not in doubt that the Emmanuel Ihenacho-led group was acting in bad faith.
First, the IHP had earlier wanted to mislead the governor when it wrote him a letter requesting for an audience with him. Apparently, the group gave the impression that it represents every political interest in Owerri zone but why and how they failed to realise that they could not fool Uzodimma, the astute politician who has his ears on the ground, remains baffling. To the group’s disappointment, the governor, instead of granting the group’s request, summoned all the stakeholders in the zone for the historic meeting of March 10, 2025.
At the meeting, the only three persons that spoke on behalf of Owerri zone are of the IHP – Capt. Ihenacho himself, Ambassador Kema Chikwe and a relatively unknown retired army officer from the Mbaise clan. The three all spoke on what has been said for the umpteenth time, which is that it is the turn of Owerri zone to produce the next governor after Uzodimma. But not a few must have been amused watching other leaders outside IHP sitting quietly without uttering a word throughout the meeting. Notable among them was Chief Charls Amadi, the leader of the Owerri Zone Political Leaders Forum (OZOPOLF), which is the biggest rival to the IHP in the struggle over which is the supreme group championing the Owerri zone governorship project.
Now to the response from the governor. First, Governor Uzodimma spilled the bin when he revealed to the audience that he initially got a letter from the IHP requesting for audience with him but that upon investigation, he had discovered that most Owerri zone leaders are not in IHP. Two, he made it clear that the leaders of Owerri zone were pursuing individual selfish interests and advised that they should go and put their house(s) in order. Then the bombshell. In an unmistaken tone, the governor made it clear that the claim that it is Owerri zone’s turn to produce the next governor is becoming boring and pointed out that power is not given on the “basis of turn by turn”. Not done, Governor Uzodimma ‘appealed’ to those coming to stampeded him into endorsing Owerri zone as the sole contender for his successor not to “overheat the polity” for him “because I still have three more years to work for the people”.
It would not be out of place to state that Governor Uzodimma most have felt completely relieved after that meeting. The reason is simple. For more than two years now, there has been this talk about a so-called promise made by him to hand over to a fellow from Owerri zone after his tenure. There is this video circulated at intervals by publicists of the IHP showing where, at a meeting with Owerri zone leaders sometime in 2023, Governor Uzodimma was expressing optimism that a faithful implementation of the Imo Charter of Equity may lead to the emergence of a governor from Owerri zone.
All efforts by several observers to explain that that should not be taken to mean a “promise” from the governor came to naught as no day passes without one irritant reechoing what had clearly become an attempt to blackmail and intimidate the governor. The good people of Imo state now know better. If Governor Uzodimma made any promise, he had an opportunity at that meeting to restate it. Why did he not? Governor Uzodimma most have been merely stomaching that falsehood by some elements in Owerri zone and when they played into his hands, he used the opportunity to the fullest.
Thoroughly disappointed that their secret has been exposed, the IHP decided to finally own up to the fact that all this time, its main objective has been to throw up Captain Emmanuel Ihenacho, a former minister of Interior and former governorship aspirant in the state as a consensus governorship candidate from Owerri zone come 2027. While the controversy over the legal status of the Charter of Equity was still ragging, the group’s chief publicist, Barr Willie Amadi, is a post on his Facebook handle, a few days ago, wrote as follows: “Owerri zone and Imo state indeed will be safe under the leadership of Capt. Emmanuel Ihenacho, a wealthy, neutral, honest and apolitical, this man of proven integrity please let us give him a chance and support for our collective success”. Amadi signed off the post as “Chairman, Social Media, IHP”.
Let us see some of the reactions to that post. One Iwuanyanwu N. Isaac wrote as follows. “So this is where Imo Harmony Project is aimed at ….. I was expecting something more serious”. One Tony Uchenna Nwaru wrote: “But age is not on his side. What happened to young vibrant men of Owerri zone? Mr. Chuks Ibe wrote: “But Ndaa Capt is very old why not you Sir because you are much younger and vibrant!!. Another respondent, Kissinger Ikeokwu wrote: “Osetiele, finally oooo Osetiele, until they flog una with koboko, u …” Vitus Ikechi Onyeneho Jr. wrote: “While I was suspecting the hidden agenda of the Imo Harmony Project headed by Capt. Ihenacho from Owerri block. It has been hurriedly revealed by Willie Amadi.
As I write this article, Mr. Willie Amadi is yet to deny that post, or claim that his Facebook page, has been “hacked” into! Perhaps realizing his gaffe, Amadi hurriedly paid for a one-hour live show at one of the radio stations in Owerri during which he apparently tried to retract. He said it was earlier decided that whoever would head IHP would be somebody who will not be interested in running for the office of the governor in 2027. He said the committee pleaded with Ihenacho who initially declined but latter accepted to head IHP after much pressure. So, the question, at what point was that decision changed? Clearly, the radio outing was an afterthought; indeed part of the confusion that has bedeviled IHP in the recent post.
Those who know would not hesitate in asking Willie Amadi the following questions: where is Senator Ezenwa Onyewuchi? Where is Chief Jerry Chukwueke. Until recently, the story out there was that IHP was being used to package Senator Onyewuchi who defected from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) into the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) last year. So strong was the rumour that Amadi himself had, at a meeting of the group sometime last year, raised his hand to say that the moment it is discovered that IHP is being used to further the aspiration of a particular individual, it would be the end of the group. Again at what point did Barr. Amadi change his mind?
Close observers of the group are aware that Senator Onyewuchi cased showing up at the groups meetings after that statement by Barr. Amadi. So what happened? Was Amadi sent to diminish Onyewuchi so that Ihenacho could rise? Questions. Questions. Questions. Incidentally, Senator Onyewuchi, the highest elected officer holder in Owerri zone, was conspicuously absent at the March 10, 2025 meeting. He was also missing at the two previous meetings between IHP and two groups in Orlu zone and the one of the Abuja residence of Professor Maurice Iwu.
Observers also point at the fact that Chief Jerry Chukwueke has also since ceased to show his face at IHP meetings, even though he was one of its earliest enthusiasts. But beyond that, it is not a hidden matter that Chukwueke has reduced his ubiquity over matters concerning the Imo 2027 governorship race. Until not quite long ago, Chief Chukwueke was almost seeing himself as governor-in-waiting especially while he was serving as Uzodimma’s Specially Adviser on New Imo Project.
Observers trace Chukwueke’s diminishing interest in the 2027 race to his misadventure in sponsoring fake media reports to the effect that traditional rulers and town union presidents in both Orlu and Okigwe zones had endorsed Owerri zone as the sole contender for the position of Uzodimma’s successor come 2027; a development that was said to have angered the governor in no small way. Nobody was surprised that Chukwueke was absent at the meeting under reference but a couple of months ago, it would have been unheard of that a meeting involving stakeholders in Owerri zone would take place without Chukwueke taking a front seat.
Yes, the last has not been heard about the Owerri zone governorship project but what is not in doubt is that it has suffered a major setback, no thanks to the IHP’s misadventures. As a matter of fact, the most casual observer of the Owerr zone governorship project in the last couple of weeks must have realized that it was headed for a major disaster. The competition among the multiple groups, each claiming to be the arrowhead of the project, was becoming deafening and such that leaders of some of the groups became quite restless. In that state of restlessness, there were clear signs that the leadership of the IHP group had become so desperate that it could no longer discern where to go and where not to go. For instance, when the group embarked on a mission to Orlu zone ostensibly to take the Owerri zone message to the people of the area, many wondered why it chose two groups (within Orlu zone) that are led by members of two major parties opposed to the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), namely the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) and the Labour Party.
The IHP delegation to Orlu, which was led by Ihenacho, went there to meet selected members of a faction of the Orlu Elders Council led by Professor Francis Dike, a chieftain of APGA and a strong critic of the Uzodimma administration. The other group in the Orlu side was a faction of the Orlu Zurumee, led by Professor Ukachukwu Awuzie, a chieftain of the Labour Party and another known critic of the Uzodimma administration. Also in the latter group was Chief Chime Nzeribe, another chieftain of the Labour Party.
Instructively, there were no known leader of the APC in Orlu zone that was present at the parley between IHP leaders (from Owerri zone) and the purported Orlu Elders Council and the Orlu Zurumee, both led by two anti Uzodimma fellows as earlier noted. The question that arose naturally was, why would the IHP prefer to deal with parties opposed to the APC and its administration in the state if it is serious about negotiating for power with those holding it?
This is besides the fact that both the Francis Dike-led group and the Awuzie-led group are mere parallel groups to the authentic ones. It is not a hidden matter that the authentic Orlu Elders Council, recognised and known in Orlu and beyond, is headed by HRH Eze Dr. C.I. Ilomuanya. According to one commentator, the Orlu meeting was “at best the regrouping of opposition elements across the state to advance their political agenda and mobilize to fight Governor Hope Uzodimma’s succession plan”.
Next, the IHP headed to Abuja where it sought a private audience with Professor Maurice Iwu, a prominent indigene of Okigwe zone. Although Iwu, in his wisdom invited a few other prominent Okigwe zone leaders to help in receiving his august visitors in his private residence in Abuja, many well-meaning indigenes of the zone did not find that funny. Why would the IHP leaders chose a venue in Abuja to meet Okigwe leaders on matters concerning 2027 when they had gone to meet Orlu people – even if the groups they met were not the authentic ones – on their soil?
It is needless to overemphasise the point that it was IHP’s shenanigans that culminated in the disastrous March 10. 2025 outing for the entire Owerri zone which it is now trying to deodorize through ill-advised utterances by its publicists. But it might have become too late for IHP. After so misleading the entire Owerri zone, will it still succeed in laundering its image and position itself as the arrowhead of the Owerri governorship project? The claim by its publicists that it is working on the same page with other groups like OZOPOLF is a clear after thought and only time will tell what will come out of this current situation that still reeks of mutual suspicion, struggle for supremacy and pursuit of selfish agenda. What is not in doubt, however, is that Owerri zone leaders, having so far misled their people, should repudiate all strands of grandstanding and embrace the reality. Which is to go into meaningful dialogue with the other two zones, especially Okigwe which holds the Joker in the current game.