By Ori Martins


In the diplomatic skirmish leading to World War II, Sir  Winston Churchill never agreed with Neville Chamberlain's well polished but utterly distorted policy of appeasement as a desired political diplomacy towards extricating the people from the suffocating claws of Adolf Hitler. 


Chamberlain, despite returning from Munich with his charade of "Peace with Honour, Peace for our Time", an appeasement document signed with Hitler,  Churchill insisted otherwise and declared what he called Freedom for Britain which would only be achieved through " Sweat and toil". 


At the end, Churchill was proved right as Hitler disregarded as well as disrespected the treaty and recklessly led Germany to attack Britain and her allied interests. 


The people of Britain instantly inclined to Churchill's Freedom for Britain movement and rallied around him as their symbol of survival, success and prosperity! 


Across the Atlantic, "Let's Make America Great Again", was the movement then California governor, erstwhile broadcaster and former Hollywood actor, Ronald Reagan formed and subsequently employed as a campaign slogan for the 1980 presidential election which he easily won. 


It was a period America was acutely hit by a dwindling domestic economy and an excruciating foreign diplomatic savage led by Iran's Ayatollah Khomeini who in a hawkish dramatic display of international despotism seized 52 Americans from the US Embassy in Tehran in November 1979.


 It was American's worst experience in foreign diplomacy and local economy. Things were made worse when, Carter, rather than taking positive actions in the American way and style, lukewarmly resolved to genuflect before Khomeini.


 Americans were infuriated but succour came when Reagan entered the presidential race with his "Let's Make America Great Again". True to his vision, the hostages were forcefully released shortly after he was sworn in as president! 


Of course, the one everyone knows and so much appreciates, even quotes till today, Martin Luther King Jr formed a movement to make a reality his dream of a nation built on equality and equity. 


What sensationally launched King into the global orbit of history and the platform that effectively sauntered him into the international map of legends was a movement he named Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC). 


It is recorded that SCLC was "an association of black churches dedicated to civil rights reforms through non violent disobedience". It was through that movement that King mobilized Blacks for the great fight for their civil rights. Though, he was brutally assassinated, Lyndon Johnson who emerged president following John Kennedy's equally sudden assassination, signed the Voting Rights Act into law, ending the discrimination against Black votes. In fact, Johnson used  the Blacks slogan of "And we shall overcome" as the headline of his address while signing the Voting Rights Act into law. 


The import is, genuine movements formed and put together by true democrats or men of integrity and grid, for the purposes of advancing democratic culture, will always produce the desired results. 


This is why the Rebuild Imo Movement matters. Like all other movements before it, either in this clime or elsewhere, Rebuild Imo Movement is not a political party. It is a process not a destination or an end. It is a political signboard strategically and symbolically pointing at the way forward. 


Several years ago, Churchill pragmatically evaluated the harrowing political entanglement of his British people and was correctly convinced that the oligarchy trumpeting appeasement had misfired and ultimately missed the target. He never wanted to mollify or pacify anybody, thus he started his Freedom for Britain and that was the escape route for the entire Britain. 


In Imo State, an epoch was witnessed with the followers of Rt Hon Emeka Ihedioha who urged him to quit PDP, and taking a step further, conceived the Rebuild Imo Movement. 


As the great Nelson Mandela stated it in his autobiography, LONG WALK FOR FREEDOM, "The road to freedom was (is) far from smooth" (614). It means Rebuild Imo Movement must be ready to face obstacles, challenges and odds often deliberately planted on their way by those who are usually and vehemently averse to change, democratically! 


Indeed, Rebuild Imo Movement matters because its mission and vision is to accommodate and work with other apostles of good governance to ensure freedom, promote democratic ideals as well as encourage peace and prosperity! 


To demonstrate its clouts , tentacles and spread, RIM has registered members in all the 305 wards across the State as well as over 4000 chapel units. It is therefore a grassroots based association whose members have resolved to make Imo work in all ramifications.