OGU BUNDU NWADIKE, M.A
One unarguable factor of government is that there must be opposition that contends with the ruling party. There must be both protagonists and antagonists. Every serious politician knows that.
But unserious politicians far outnumber the serious ones. Hence, many people who boast of being great politicians aren’t serious. So, they don’t know nay don’t subscribe to roles of opposition, protagonist and antagonist.
In Imo State, Southeast Nigeria, the main opposition party is the embattled, despirited Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). It’s in opposition to the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).
Now, Imo PDP has its leader as Rt. Hon. Emeka Ihedioha. He’s a 3-term, 12-year National legislator, who rose to become a presiding officer, actually the Deputy Speaker, and briefly Speaker!
Pundits expected that Ihedioha would serve as an epitome of great politics. But they have been expressing disappointment that he lost sense of protagonist and antagonist in politics.
It’s never a bitter war after elections and winners and losers emerge. In fact, in that parlance, it’s said that there’s no campaign after election!
Incidentally, since after the 2019 governorship election and the legal hostilities that ensued, with the Supreme Court of Nigeria deciding by majority judgement that Distinguished Senator Hope Uzodimma won the election, Ihedioha and Imo PDP lost their peace, sleep and health.
Imo PDP unwisely but deliberately turned itself into an enemy of the governor, his government, Imo State and Imo people. That was error number one. It was an opposition _faux pas_ par excellence!
And since the day of their ouster from government till date, Imo PDP and Ihedioha have remained bitter, while Imo APC and Governor Uzodimma have remained better for it.
The hallmark of all _faux pas_ by Imo PDP and Ihedioha is the igniting of strange insecurity in the State.
Among various reasons why all fingers point to Imo PDP as sponsoring the insecurity in Imo State is the target of public property like police stations and the prisons.
Also, it’s on record that only the personal property of Imo APC leaders, including Governor Uzodimma’s country home that have been torched by arsonists, who set the edifices on fire.
Since the over 20 months of the reign of sponsored terror, terrorists and terrorism in the State, there hasn’t been any reports of attacks on and vandalization of the property of any PDP leader or member in the State.
In addition, since the start of the Imo PDP sponsored insecurity, the party, Ihedioha its leader in the State, and other politicians in Imo PDP haven’t conferred with Governor Uzodimma on the precarious situation.
Rather, Imo PDP and, lately confirmed, Ihedioha have always celebrated each and every act of insecurity in Imo State with unbelievable fanfare.
Their system is to produce with the speed of light, premeditated, prepared gory cartoons or true photos of victims and casualties acts of insecurity and splash those on the assorted handles of the social media.
At another angle, Imo PDP demoralizes Imolites, particularly those in diaspora, with scare mongering, by drumming it louder than the loudest drums of the Orientals, that Imo State is unsafe, insecure and peaceless.
And all of that are done by Imo PDP in the name of rendering opposition, by cooking up all manners of falsehood, propaganda and blackmail against the governor and his government.
Meanwhile, Imo PDP see and enjoy all the people-oriented developmental programmes and projects of the current governor and his government.
Yet, Imo PDP feign to suffer from cataract and glaucoma to the facts and figures on ground. They chop and clean mouth and abuse the person that gave them what they chop!
Police stations were razed down. Police officers were gunned down. Personal houses of the governor and top officials of his government were set ablaze, and many rural people slaughtered and their heads displayed line heads of goats.
Of course, the crimes were perpetrated by the criminals sponsored by Imo PDP and other opposition drivers like Rochas Okorocha.
Point is on no incident did Imo PDP, Ihedioha and Rochas commiserate with Governor Uzodimma and his government, and the people of Imo State as is done in other states of the federation.
They only express sympathy for the criminals whenever the security aparatchik succeeds in neutralizing them. That means Imo PDP, Ihedioha and Rochas support the criminals killing people in Imo State.
Otherwise, they would have been joining the governor and his government in appealing for the criminals to stop their heinous and nefarious activities.
When recently, Governor Uzodimma granted amnesty to the forest-based unknown gunmen and appealed to them to surrender themselves to their traditional rulers, Imo PDP, Ihedioha and Rochas ought to publicly express support for the governor’s magnanimity and encourage the criminals to exploit the amnesty and desist from killing people. But Imo PDP, Ihedioha and Rochas as usual remained silent.
But for the visionary wisdom of Governor Uzodimma, who knows, unknown gunmen would have camouflaged Imo State by now and probably killed some of the ungrateful leaders and members of Imo PDP and their opposition counterparts.
Why do Imo PDP leaders and members drive on the good roads constructed by Governor Uzodimma only to turn back to abuse and insult him as not performing?
Governor Uzodimma made it possible for the medical doctors and other medical professionals to graduate at the Imo State University Teaching Hospital (IMSUTH).
Children of Imo PDP leaders and members were among the successful graduates. Yet, instead of rendering good opposition by felicitating with the governor and his government, Imo PDP leaders and members went on abusing and insulting the governor, saying that he’s not performing.
Opposition has a great role to play in government. Opposition is a part of government at every point in time. Hence, opposition should be commending the government for what should be commended and condemning what should be condemned.
The system of condemning, condemning and condemning isn’t the true character of opposition. It’s rather hypocrisy of hypocrites par excellence.
We hereby charge Imo PDP and other opposition elements to effectively render their opposition roles to the people of Imo State, not by condemning everything done by the governor and his government, but by commending what should be commended and condemning what should be condemned.
Let everyone decide to contribute his or her quota to the growth and development of the State, which Governor Uzodimma has been fervently doing since he assumed office. May Imo and Imolites prevail!
By God’s grace, Imo State is being rehabilitated, reconstructed and recovered by Governor Uzodimma!