The Owerri Zone Awareness Coalition, OZAC, has advised Governor Hope Uzodimma of Imo State that a wrong choice of his successor after his administration will either accelerate Imo’s progress or plunge the state dangerously backwards at a time the world is moving at breakneck speed.
OZAC gave the advice in an open letter signed by its President, Emmanuel Okwu, and Secretary, Austin Echefu.
The letter reads:
Your Excellency, Governor Hope Uzodimma, this letter is written at a defining moment for Imo State — a moment when your most enduring legacy will no longer be roads, buildings, or political victories, but the quality of leadership you midwife as your successor. Power ends; consequences do not. Who comes after you will either consolidate your gains or dismantle them with frightening speed.
Let it be said clearly that your administration has not been without visible effort. From road rehabilitation across key urban centres, to improved security coordination, urban renewal projects, and renewed activity in health and education infrastructure, your government has restored a measure of structure where chaos once thrived. These are tangible footprints that history will record.
But history will also demand an answer to a larger question: did you secure the future or mortgage it? Succession is not a gamble. It is the final and most decisive test of leadership. Any error here will erase years of effort in a single reckless political transaction.
OZAC aligns firmly with the legitimate aspiration of Owerri Zone to produce the next governor of Imo State. Equity, balance, and fairness justify that demand. However, zoning is not a substitute for competence. Owerri must not be reduced to a shelter for mediocrity simply because it is “our turn.”
This is no longer the era of political experimentation. Imo is too exposed, too educated, and too globally connected to be handed over to political rookies, social media warriors, or gatecrashers who stumbled into relevance without depth, experience, or capacity.
The next governor must be a proven manager of systems and wealth — someone who has built institutions, run chains of businesses, managed large workforces, taken risks, created jobs, and understands productivity beyond sharing public funds. Imo needs a wealth creator, not a loot distributor.
Private sector success alone is not enough. The successor must also possess solid public office experience. Governance demands mastery of budgeting, procurement, policy execution, labour relations, public accountability, and crisis control. Running a state is not motivational speaking; it is disciplined administration under pressure.
It will be tragic if the destiny of over five million people is surrendered to someone whose only qualification is loud politics or proximity to power. The age where noise defeats knowledge must end. Governance has become complex, unforgiving, and brutally competitive.
Imo cannot afford stagnation in a world accelerating at terrifying speed. While other states are building smart cities, innovation corridors, digital economies, and export-driven industries, we cannot still be stuck in personality politics and primitive calculations.
The world has entered the age of Artificial Intelligence, automation, data governance, fintech, agritech, and digital infrastructure. The next governor must be tech-savvy — not just in slogans, but in vision and execution — someone who understands how technology reshapes education, security, health, agriculture, taxation, and global competitiveness.
Imo needs a leader who can deploy digital land registries to end land racketeering, automate public records, support tech incubation hubs for youth employment, integrate smart security architecture, drive e-governance, and plug the state into regional and global innovation networks.
Your Excellency, the wrong successor will not merely slow Imo down — he will reverse it. The right successor will multiply every achievement of your administration tenfold. This choice will define how your name is remembered long after office leaves you.
Imo has no shortage of brilliant minds. What we lack is the political courage to insist on excellence over convenience, intellect over sentiment, and competence over clannish pressure. As you approach the final chapter of your tenure, may your greatest legacy be that you refused to hand Imo over to unprepared hands, no matter the pressure.
Respectfully,
Emmanuel Okwu,
President,
Austin Echefu,
Secretary
For: Owerri Zone Awareness Coalition, OZAC
