The Imo State Government has described governorship aspirant, Chief Chima Amadi as a serial liar and reckless alarmist with no credible agenda for the people of the state.
In a strongly worded statement, the Commissioner for Information, Public Orientation and Strategy, Hon. Declan Emelumba, accused Amadi of inciting the public with fabricated statistics and baseless claims intended to mislead and provoke unrest.
“Instead of unveiling any serious manifesto or plan for Imo people, Amadi has resorted to attacking the government of the day with white lies and discredited data,” Emelumba stated.
Speaking at a seminar of the Catholic Men Organization in Owerri on Thursday, Amadi had falsely claimed that Imo State records the highest maternal mortality rate in Nigeria, 1,863 deaths (per 100,000 live births), allegedly due to poor health facilities.
But Emelumba dismissed the assertion as fiction peddled by a desperate political neophyte.
“Contrary to his wild and unsubstantiated claim, the actual figure for maternal mortality in Imo State is 163 deaths per 100,000 live births,” Emelumba said, citing StateofStates via kingmakers.com.ng as source.
He noted that while the figure is relatively low by national standards (Nigeria’s maternal mortality rate is 993 per 100,000 live births), Governor Uzodimma believes it must keep declining, with zero as the ultimate target.
“This is why the government has sustained spirited efforts to expand access to maternal care and improve outcomes for mothers and babies across the state,” he added.
Emelumba said Amadi’s claim that health facilities in Imo are in poor shape is not only false but laughable, given the consistent national recognition the state has received in healthcare delivery.
In December 2021, Imo was honoured by the Federal Ministry of Health and Social Welfare for running the Best State Health Promotion Campaign. This was followed in July 2022 by an award for Outstanding Performance in the COVID-19 Vaccination Drive, conferred by the Presidential Task Force on COVID-19.
In November 2023, the state clinched another honour for Excellence in Routine Immunisation from the National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA).
Most recently, in May 2025, Imo State received the prestigious award for Best Health Insurance and Managed Care Agency (Provider Network & Performance Management) at the Health Insurance & Managed Care Leadership Awards. Beyond awards, just last month, the state commissioned one of the most advanced Mother and Child Hospitals in Nigeria and completed the revitalisation of Primary Health Centres across all 305 wards.
Emelumba added that to overlook these facts is not just dishonest, it betrays a deliberate attempt to undermine the achievements of a government that has delivered where others only made promises.
Further, Amadi’s claim that local government chairmen are constitutionally designated as chief security officers of their LGAs was dismissed as “a clear case of crass ignorance.” Emelumba challenged him to produce any section of the Constitution that supports such a claim.
“This is a man who wants to govern Imo State, yet he doesn’t know the constitutional framework of governance. It’s embarrassing,” the Commissioner said.
He also debunked Amadi’s suggestion that Governor Uzodimma had seized control of local government allocations, describing the accusation as another lie devoid of evidence.
“Amadi shamelessly told his audience that nothing has been done at the local government level in the last five years. But the facts speak for themselves: five kilometres of road have been constructed in each of the 27 LGAs. Local councils have also signed an MoU with the Orashi Electricity Company to deliver 24-hour electricity to their communities. And no local government worker is owed a salary in Imo State,” Emelumba affirmed.
The government also berated Amadi for peddling the falsehood that public education in Imo is in decline, claiming parents are fleeing to private schools.
According to Emelumba, the facts on the ground present a different account: “Under Governor Uzodimma, over 305 primary schools and dozens of secondary schools have been rebuilt, labs and libraries restored, and teacher morale boosted with extended retirement age and regular pay. Imo students now excel in WAEC, NECO, and JAMB.
At the tertiary level, Imo is funding five institutions, a regional first, and just secured a fifth federal university with a N39 billion take-off grant. Lost accreditations in medical and nursing schools have been restored. If this is what Amadi calls failure, he’s clearly not paying attention.”
He said it is delusional for Amadi to think he can ride on propaganda and incitement into Government House. “The people of Imo State deserve better than vacuous slogans and empty rhetoric. Let him present a coherent manifesto if he has one,” he said.
According to Emelumba, governance is not about throwing money around or demonising the incumbent government to score cheap political points.
“Even if Amadi were to become governor of Imo State by accident, it would take him more than eight years to match what Uzodimma has delivered in just five,” he declared.
“This is not about rabble-rousing. This is not about stoking resentment. Governance requires vision, capacity, and substance, attributes that are far away from the Chima Amadi that spoke at Assumpta on Thursday,” Emelumba emphasised.
He concluded by challenging Amadi to publish a credible action plan for Imo State, one that matches the scale, ambition, and execution plan of Governor Uzodimma’s pre-candidacy blueprint as the APC governorship candidate in 2019.
“Until then,” Emelumba said, “he should stop gallivanting across the state inciting innocent citizens and pretending to be what he is not; because the more he does, the more he exposes his emptiness and incapacity to govern even a local government area.”
