Imo: PDP Chasing Governor Uzodimma’s Shadow, Losing Their Opposition Track

OGU BUNDU NWADIKE, M.A

When the man burst out in laughter, not a few of us noticed it. Without anyone asking what’s the problem, he said: “How could a man who called himself a Prophet start a deliverance prayer with the song: “Amaghim ebe mga ebidoebido”? 

He went on to explain how when a friend took him to a Prophet for deliverance prayers, the prophet began with the Igbo gospel song which is transliterated as “I don’t know where to start from”! He burst out into another profuse round of laughter! We watched, with some od us enjoying his cup of laughter with him! 

Next scene! But for the fact that he wasn’t sure of the topic he chose to write on, we would have taken the Imo State chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) on the tethers of their New Media Director-General, Collins Opurozor, to the dry cleaners. 

His title was: “Is Uzodimma Not The Worst Enemy Of Orlu People?” Obviously, he didn’t have anything relevant to the season to write about. Hence, he sort help from the community. He wasn’t sure whether or not Uzodimma was the worst enemy of Orlu people! 

And obviously the predominant answer he’ll get from well-meaning members of the Imo public will be a thunderous tsunami of “NO! Governor Uzodimma isn’t an enemy of Orlu people”! He may have aimed to couch a rhetoric question, but ended up crafting a clear interrogative question, which answer is NO! 

That was proved by his profuse struggling and sweating to provide wrong answers to the trite question of whether or not Governor Uzodimma is the worst enemy of Orlu people. 

After reading and digesting the 14-paragraph writeup in less than five minutes, we concluded that Imo PDP have been reduced to the all-time low level of unabashedly chasing after the shadow of Governor Hope Uzodimma, who has since silenced them with proven good leadership and good governance. 

Imo PDP is now throwing sand by the way of _”igha aja”_ which is the characteristic of loafers, who have nothing else to do than round-trip rogmarole and perambulate along the shores of the parabolic Red Sea and River Jordan, lacking the anointing to cross them! 

From all indications, nothing happens in Imo PDP again, not even the drab meetings that witness dwindling attendance by party officers that have become overwhelmed with leadership hemorrhage and lack of motivation and inspiration! 

Otherwise, why is it that nowadays Imo PDP, via their New Media, hasn’t anything else to write about than the unempirical thoughts and thinking about Governor Uzodimma being the worst enemy of Orlu people? _Inukwa!_ 

The poor agitation by Imo PDP had been that Governor Uzodimma was the worst enemy of Imo people. They have zeroed the agitation down to Uzodimma being the worst enemy of Orlu people! 

We look forward to the day soon when Imo PDP will come out via their New Media Directorate to tell the world that Governor Uzodimma is the worst enemy of Oru East LGA and Omuma autonomous community! 

The question arising from that is whether that conforms with any known style of opposition in a modern democracy? Normally, opposition pushes on the media the things it’s doing in readiness to supplant the ruling party in the next election. 

We have been privileged to serve in both the ruling party and in the opposition. As opposition writers at the time, we endeavoured to highlight the plans, policies, actions and activities, programmes and projects of the opposition, the PDP. We were State Publicity Secretary! Remember? How time flies! 

Now, as ruling party writers for Imo APC, we advertize the accomplishments and achievements of the ruling party, the governor and his government . Media work for government and politics is very technical and requires quality relevant technical experience. 

The pack of writers in Imo PDP at the moment keep exposing their lack of requisite technical experience to write for the opposition. They aren’t creative. And because they aren’t creative, they aren’t productive! Hence, they also write to promote with negative reinforcement the sitting government they should be keeping on their toes! 

You can imagine Imo PDP making the following nauseating submissions in public: “Nothing has happened to Orlu people since the creation of the world that is worse than Uzodinma. Something more agonizing than the killing of Able by Cain is what Orlu people pass through in the hands of their own son, Uzodinma.

“Businesses have shuttered, starvation is now a daily fact of life for a vast majority, and the social system has collapsed. It calls for celebration in most homes in Orlu for mere food to be seen on fire.

“Today, over a million persons from Oguta, Orlu, Orsu, Oru East and Oru West – all in Orlu zone – have been displaced and they have fled their communities and have become refugees elsewhere”! 

Can you imagine how lost Imo PDP is in the wilderness of Imo politics? 

Just to discredit their governor and cut their undeserved and unmerited pound of flesh over their defeat in the Supreme Court of Nigeria in the 2019 governorship election judgment, Imo PDP now tell tales of Cain and Abel, David and Jonathan, Paul and Silas! You see! 

To ridicule their governor, Imo PDP is stewing deeply in the hot pot of hatred and malice, envy and jealousy, peddle unimaginable falsehood, propaganda and blackmail against their governor. For nothing reasonable and responsible o! 

If a million persons have been displaced from five local government areas in Orlu Zone with twelve local government areas as Imo PDP falsely asserted, how many people are remaining in the five LGAs and how many people are there in the entire twelve local government areas of Orlu Zone? 

Imo State has an estimated population of five million, home and abroad. If five local government areas have one million displaced persons, how many people are left in the local government area and the rest of 22 local government areas? 

You can see that Imo PDP has derailed acutely in their constitutional roles of keeping the sitting governor and his government on their toes. They now keep the governor and his government solidly on the strong soles of their feet! They make recourse humanly impossible exaggerations and assorted hyperbole! 

Truth is that Imo State will be 46 years in early February 2022. Governor Uzodimma has been governor for a few days over 22 months. And Imo PDP wants to convince anybody that Governor Uzodimma is the worst thing to happen to Imo State, Imo people, and now Orlu people since Garden of Eden! That can never be true! 

It’s very convenient to aver here that the troubles that Governor Uzodimma is contending with and containing in Imo State was set in motion by Imo PDP. 

First, it must be recalled that days after the Supreme Court of Nigeria ousted Imo PDP from Douglas House, a top chieftain of Imo PDP publicly threatened that except the Supreme Court of Nigeria reviewed its judgment and reversed itself on its judgment against Imo PDP, they would make the State ungovernable! That’s verifiable! 

Second, Imo PDP in 2019 set up the Judicial Panel of Inquiry that investigated the appropriation and misappropriation of land and related matters, which adjudged that an ex-governor of the State misappropriated thousands, yes thousands of land belonging to government and people of Imo State. 

Since the Panel completed its work and submitted its report and recommendations to Governor Uzodimma, hell was let lose in the State, getting worse with the implementation of the recommendations of the Panel with hundreds of land recovered and returned to their rightful owners. 

And recently, the State government publicly accused the ex-governor of sponsoring terrorism and insecurity in the State! Earlier, the State government had also fingered Imo PDP for engineering insecurity in the State in fulfillment of its threats to make Imo State ungovernable if it wasn’t returned to Government House by the Supreme Court of Nigeria. 

Now, is it not curious that despite such weighty accusations poured upon Imo PDP and the ex-governor, none has sued the State government for malicious maligning, slander, libel, and defamation? 

Under such circumstances, silence is underscored as consent. It’s, therefore, unguarded self-immolation for the same fingered Imo PDP to be scratching at the shadow of Governor Uzodimma, asking cover-up deceptive and misleading questions about the worst enemy of Imo State, Imo people and Orlu people! 

In real terms, if the worst enemies of Imo State are sought diligently, Imo PDP will rank highest, because of the kind of weird bitterness they exhibit over their defeat via legal hostilities and brouhaha in the Supreme Court of Nigeria two full years after! 

What must bother Ndimo now, in all the aggressive efforts of Imo PDP in demarketing Imo State, Imo governor and Imo people, is that they’re fanning an ill-wind that blows nobody any good. 

When Imo PDP takes so many months and years to destroy Imo State and Imo people with falsehood, propaganda and blackmail, can they expect to rebuild Imo State in few months or few years, if they get the opportunity to return to Government House at anytime from 2028?

Imo PDP may think that they’re fighting Governor Uzodimma for nothing else other than his accepting the judgment by the Supreme Court of Nigeria. But truth is that Imo PDP is unwisely and unwittingly fighting themselves, Imo State and Imo people! Talk about cutting your nose to spite your face! 

Ndimo nakwa echekinuo! 

By God’s grace, Imo State must be rehabilitated, reconstructed and recovered!!