Gov Hope Uzodinma


By Chuks Ofurum


(" I ruola Hope oru, I ga ma mma di egwu  I gbaa Hope ukwu, i ga di nkirinka nkirinka, nkirinka, nkirinka, nkirinka nkirinka. I yie Chimpanze, i choma onye mere gi." 

(Lyrics by members of CampHope organization worldwide). 

For HRM Eze Dr. Cletus Ilomuanya, Obi of Obinugwu, it has been a long, lonely, tortuous road for recognition. His royal robe was soiled by a rampaging Owelle Rochas Okorocha who not only dethroned him as the Obi of Obinugwu, but also stripped him of the highly exalted position of Chairman, Imo State Traditional Rulers Council.

 Okorocha had accused his kinsman of working against his gubernatorial ambition in that fiesty 2011 election, an alibi he held tenaciously to humiliate severally, the cerebral royal father. The ensuing legal battle took both men to the highest court in Nigeria without any solution.

 Ilomuanya who doubles as the Chairman South East Traditional Rulers Council heaved a sigh of relief when Okorocha failed to transmute to a third tenure as governor by proxy. But the battle would end on an "Air Peace flight to Abuja when they engaged themselves in a fist-cuff- an eye sore.

 However, with the victory of Rt. Hon. Emeka Ihedioha, the battle to reclaim his royal position shifted to another formidable foe, a creation of Okorocha, HRM Eze Dr. Samuel Ohiri, Obi of Orodo. The willy Ihedioha tactically allowed the two Royal Fathers to slug it  out while enjoying the royal rumble. In different State functions, both Royal Fathers struggle to please the Mbutu prodigy.

 Eventually, the royal abracadabra ended with Ihedioha's sudden dethronement by the Supreme Court of Nigeria. All seem to be calm. Luckily for Ilomuanya, another Orlu man mounted the throne of Douglas House.

 A master of intrigues himself, Governor Hope Uzodinma, Onwa Oyoko, wisely avoided a frontal confrontation but quietly dismantled the Mbaitoli king; and true to type brought another dimension and personality to the royal macabre dance. Onwa did not enthrone Ilomuanya nor did he discourage him.

 Rather he introduced HRH Eze Emma Okeke, the Amaifeke king to the scene to add to the drama of the absurd and gave another nomenclature to the royal throne. 

Eze Okeke became the Chairman of Ndieze with Security portfolio. More confusing, Vintage Onwa. But Eze Okeke inherited the Eze's Palace, the one built by Okorocha. Ironically, both Ilomuanya and Ohiri kicked against Uzodinma's governorship aspiration (gbara ukwu). 

But while the Orodo king was discarded like a menstrous cloth (nkirinka nkirinka) Ilomuanya despite his sins against the governor was restored (mma di egwu). Ironically too, most of those who worked for the success of the governor are anything less than nkirinka nkirinka. 

While his main enemies and traducers at the polls a mala mma di egwu. That is the irony of politics. Stark reality that old foes may eventually became new allies. I am sure that majority of the CampHopians who sang and danced the Onwa Oyoko lyrics cannot realistically say that they are part of this government. Many of them are crestfallen at the moment, unable to fathom what direction the administration they worked so hard for is heading.

 Many whisper in low tones in beer parlours and closets, how their adorable Onwa had discarded them. They had hoped that four years would be enough to compensate them of years of loyalty to the Omuma man.

 Actually, many of their compatriots jumped ship when Ihedioha was on throne. And many contemplated abandoning Onwa before the Supreme Court overturned the apples carth of Imo political landscape. But these patriotic believers of the Onwa miracle still clung to the tinest of the strings praying and hoping that all would be well. And indeed, all became well when their man announced his first cabinet.

 A cabinet to wipe away tears. All their years of hoping and clinging to their man were not after all in vain. But circumstances do change. In politics, it is no permanent friends or enemies, but permanent interests. 

To the governor he has done enough to these old allies who must give way to new friends. Like Eze Ilomuanya, many of Uzodinma's new allies are those who dealt with him while the 2019 governorship election lasted. They did not only work against him, but castigated him, calling him names unworthy of someone aspiring to rule a people. Some of them went to the ridiculous extent of even continuing the smear campaign when the man had "Ben Johnsoned" his way to Douglas House. But today, like the famous "Ahitophel", they are the ones dining and wining with the governor. Their sins are forgiven. 

Sadly, these turncoats has assumed the most virulent instigators of the Uzodinma administration. Sadly too, the governor must needs inject fresh blood, fresh ideas and personalities to his government. But in making this decisions, the old allies must not see themselves as being used and dumped. There should be a severance package that will not make them bitter and turn around to become new foes.

 And to those who are reaping where they did not sow, the essence of humility is necessary. Those that are currently acting more Catholic than the Pope must know that their current romance with the governor is by Providence, not by what they contributed to the struggle. Bottomline, there is a moral also for power actors; namely that there is life after office and whatever is done in power could rebound even when the protection of power is no longer there. No condition, they say, is permanent. 

Finally, governor Uzodinma must make hay while the sun lasted. He must sit up.

 Things are seriously not working at the moment. The governor should not believe the praise singers. It is not enough to buy or recruit bogus media propagandists and hatchet writers whose only conscience is their stomach. People are suffering and the governor must know this. He must empower the local contractors so that it will sprinkle down to the masses. As of now, the pockets of Imolites are empty. Families are hungry.

 Unfortunately for the governor, he is not known to be tight-fisted and should not learn it now. The governor must invigorate the economy of the State, award contracts, pay contractors, pay workers and pensioners so that this Christmas will not be remembered as a bleak one while Onwa was on the throne.