By: Ekeledirichukwu Asikaogu OruwariFor telling leaders of Owerri zone the gospel truth, namely that he has no powers to single handedly anoint one of their own as his successor, and which is contrary to their demand or expectations, Governor Hope Uzodimma is being accused in several quarters within the zone of finally “dribbling” the people of the zone. The insinuation is not new but it got added impetus after the August 20, 2025 courtesy call of Owerri zone stakeholders. It was at that meeting that Governor Uzodimma made it clear to the so-called leaders of the zone that the entitlement mentality with which they are going about their quest to produce his successor may back fire. Without mincing words, the governor argued that Okigwe zone may scuttle their chances if it is not properly carried along.
Perhaps even more instructive was the governor’s revelation that his major concern will be to erase the existing confusion and uncertainties in the polity that arose from “some mischief of the past”. Not many took more than a casual notice of that particular statement but for me, it is the kernel of everything he said. The mischief the governor was referring to is the rail-roading of Rochas Okorocha, an Orlu zone fellow, into office in 2011 – with the active support of some Owerri zone leaders – after Achike Udenwa, another Orlu zone fellow, had put in eight years as governor, thus effectively depriving Okigwe zone from completing eight years as Orlu zone had done.
The confusion that exists now and which His Excellency was talking about is that today, while Okigwe is insisting that it must be allowed another four years to complete its eight years, since we are talking about equity, some so-called Owerri zone leaders are saying it is now or never; that Okigwe zone can go to hell and that it must produce the next governor after Uzodimma. In recognizing the fact that Okigwe is capable of ‘sabotaging’ Owerri zone’s efforts to produce his successor if not properly placated, what Governor Uzodimma is indirectly saying is that we might end up with a situation where neither Okigwe nor Owerri will produce his successor and the confusion will continue.
Some might argue that Uzodimma is in a dilemma but he is clearly not. The matter is simple: the confusion he has acknowledged can only be cleared by giving Okigwe the chance to complete its eight years. Once that happens, Owerri zone will then seamlessly go for its own eight years and sanity will return to the Imo polity. If that does not happen, the confusion will go beyond 2027 and by 2031, neither Owerri nor Okigwe will again produce the governor.
Still, just as Governor Uzodimma cannot single handedly anoint a fellow from Owerri zone as his successor; he cannot similarly do so in respect of Okigwe. But the important thing is that the governor has been courageous in telling the die-hard pundits of the Owerri zone governorship project that is not simply theirs for the asking. This courage being exhibited by Governor Uzodimma shows leadership but it is the root cause of the attacks he is receiving from a section of the Owerri zone political elite and which brings us to the main concern of this essay.
What worries observers most is that the Owerri zone leaders seem to have ingeniously found a way or presenting themselves as friends of the governor while deploying arsenals through some within their ranks against him. Let us take one illustration. A well-known commentator on public affairs, Sam Amadi, from Ngor Okpala local government area in Owerri zone, leaves nobody in doubt that he is out to ensure that Uzodimma is seen as failure in governance. Amadi has posted countless articles especially in the social media in which he described Governor Uzodimma in unprintable words, to the extent of heaping personal insults on him.
Yet, Amadi, who is widely believed to be one of those eyeing the office of the governor in 2027, is the “Director of Strategy” of the Imo Harmony Project (IHP), one of the groups championing the Owerri zone governorship project. The IHP is led by Captain Emmanuel Ihenacho, a former Minister of Interior, who has led emissaries to the governor to tell him how much he loves and cherishes him and how much Owerri zone people appreciate the good work he is doing.
On March 10, 2025, Iheanacho led a delegation of stakeholders in Owerri zone to remind the governor of his “promise” to hand over power to someone from the area. As an anecdote to that reminder, Iheanacho had praised the governor to high heavens and so did other “leaders” who were in the delegation. Yet, the following week, Amadi launched a series of broadcasts (every Thursday) on his Face book wall which, according to him, is devoted solely to interrogating issues of governance in Imo state. Those familiar with his Face book wall would attest to the fact that everything Amadi says in his post concerning Imo state and Governor Uzodimma are in exact opposites of what Ihenacho and the other leaders say each time they come face to face with the governor. On August 20, 2025, Ihenacho had another opportunity to flatter the governor while speaking on behalf of the IHP during another “courtesy” visit to Governor Uzodimma. He even went to the extent of reminding the governor that the IHP has been promoting his administration beyond the country. Here, keen watchers of the Imo political terrain point out that Ihenacho is at it again. He did the same thing to Governor Ikedi Ohakim in 2011; praising him to high heavens in his presence but working clandestinely to scuttle the Charter of Equity which he now talks about.
It is possible that His Excellency might have seen Amadi’s Face book posts in question and might have also noticed that he has never been part of the “courtesy” calls to him. But here is an opportunity to ask some questions. How is it that the IHP’s “Director of Strategy” (the engine room of IHP), Sam Amadi, is so anti Uzodimma and his administration and yet, the leader of the group, Ihenacho, praises him to high heavens? For me, the answer is not far-fetched. Amadi’s own job is to work out ‘strategies’ on how to make Uzodimma look so weak and vulnerable that when the chips are down, he will be so helpless that he will have no option but to look up to Owerri zone people for help. That is the assignment given to Amadi, the ‘strategist’ while Ihenacho and the others are to mesmerize the governor by mere cajolery disguised in hyperboles. These conspirators know too well that His Excellency, Senator Hope Uzodimma, is an astute politician but they are deploying a strategy that is derived from our native parlance of “Imara Nkea, Ima Nke Ozor” (If You Know This One, Do You Know The Other One?)
But perhaps the most baffling of all is the activities of another Amadi from the same Ngor Okapala, Dr Mathew Chima Amadi who is also a member of the IHP. Chima Amadi is not a social media miscreant like his brother, Sam, but I am inclined to believe that His Excellency would have noticed his relentless attacks on him also. The same week the so-called Owerri zone leaders made their most recent courtesy visit to Governor Uzodimma (August 20, 2025), Chima Amadi hosted a seminar for Catholic men in the Owerri Archdiocese at the Assumpta Cathedral, Owerri. The event was covered live by the Arise Television, watched all over the world and highly reliable sources have it that Amadi bankrolled everything including stipends for the innocent Catholic men who attended. Those who came across the coverage of the event must have noticed that the main purpose of the seminar, though under the guise of being one of the annual activities of the now famous August Meetings in the Southeast, was to lambast Governor Uzodimma and his administration. Feelers show that Amadi’s handlers forum-shopped the event to show-case him.
Amadi, who has left nobody in doubt that he wants to be governor in 2027, come rain or sunshine, even when he does not belong to any political party, did not disappoint his followers. Having established within himself that the only avenue through which he can get into the Government House, Owerri, is to ceaselessly launch personal attacks on Governor Uzodimma, he was at his best, during that more than three-hour long show.
It is needless going into details of what he said here but those who have come across media reports of that event would attest that to be fact that Amadi merely shied away from calling the governor a complete failure. In other words, what he said was the exact opposite of what other Owerri zone leaders usually say each time they go to the governor. The Assumpta Cathedral outing got prominence because it was televised live but before and after, it was the same antics: Governor Uzodimma does no good, and will never do any good according to the gospel of Chima Amadi.
Yet, just like in the case of the other Amadi, not a word has come from any of the Owerri zone leaders to caution Chima Amadi who has thrown every caution to the winds. Apart from the IHP, we have leaders of the Owerri Zone Political Leaders Forum OZOPOLF – the Chalvons of this world, the Haritexes of this world, the Lemys of this world, the Chikwes of this world and what have you.
Even so, there is ample evidence to show that the leadership of IHP is very much supportive of Chima Amadi and his antics. On the very day Chima Amadi was arriving Owerri for the Assumpta Cathedral event, a post appeared on the Face book wall of Mr. Willie Amadi, IHP’s Director of Media, depicting him alighting from his private jet at the Sam Mbakwe International Airport with the caption “On Aburi We Stand”. Willie Amadi – this time from Owere Nchise – has been trending his “On Aburi We Stand” slogan for the past three months despite public disapproval, within and outside Imo state, that a mere gubernatorial matter does not warrant evoking the ugly memories of the Aburi (Ghana) stalemate that resulted in the pogrom of 1966 and the subsequent three-year long civil war.
To call a spade a spade and not an agricultural implement, the entire political elite in Owerri zone stands accused of collaborating with the three Amadis – Sam, Chima and Willie – in their campaign of calumny against our performing governor. At best they are merely looking the other way hoping, that the governor can be intimidated into abnegating office for them even before 2027. The only voices of caution were the ones from the same Ngor Okpala and it was for obvious reasons. Hon Bede Eke, who wrote an open letter to Chima Amadi, advising him to retrace his steps, is Governor Uzodimma’s Commissioner for Housing and New City Development. Even though he is said to be a close friend of Dr Amadi, he must have done that to impress his boss. The other voice came from Hon. Obinna Egu, the member representing Ngor Okpala state constituency in the Imo House of Assembly. Egu’s wife is Uzodimma’s Commissioner for Health, apart from the fact that the honourable member, himself, owes his emergence entirely to the closeness of Governor Uzodimma and his father-in-law, Chief Lemmy Akakem.
But where is Akakem himself; one of the fellows who usually occupies the front seats during the inglorious courtesy calls? Where are the Charles Amadis, the Henry Njokus, the Kema Chikwes, the Nlemigbos, the Sylvester Obinnas etc.? Are they waiting for the next courtesy visit when they will again try to bamboozle the governor telling him that Owerri zone loves him; that they are united, ready to take the mantle from him? But Uzodimma should now know better. They are united in something else: To weaken him emotionally and psychologically and possibly deal with him when they finally get power, by which time it would have become too late.
But I am certain that will never find ourselves in such a situation, so long as the governor does not relent in his avowal to clear the confusion that arose from the mischief of 2011. He should be encouraged to pursue this noble objective by all well-meaning indigenes of Imo state and their friends outside. Meanwhile, he should be vigilant. There is a native aphorism depicting the cunning tortoise which goes into the bush, strikes a tree with his cutlass, then rushes out to the road and shouts, “who’s cutting the tree”?. I think this aptly captures what this crop of Owerri zone leaders is doing in their bid to confuse the governor and capture Imo state.
Barrister Oruwari Writes From Mbaitoli LGA, Imo State
