The Armchair Critics And Misguided Politics With Imo State Security Situation

NJOKU MACDONALD OBINNA

Admittedly, this article is ordinarily supposed to be an opinion; concise, precise and staright to the point. It was not designed to have a caption but reading a few online garbages, it inadvertently turned to a rather detailed piece.

Having taken some time to read, observe and study the kind of disruptive and unhealthy  opposition played in Imo State, I feel greatly disturbed. 
Unfortunately, while a few of the opposition members struggle so hard to press home their arguments, convince the populace with their lurid points  and proactively engage the Government as to be responsible and accountable to the people, majority of them are still licking their wounds following the aftermath of the January 14, 2020, Supreme Court heart-  breaking and earthquaking judgement.

 The truth is therefore, not far-fetched, that they had ever since that ugly experience resorted to blind and destructive criticism:  campaign of calumny and pull him down at all costs.

This is understandably so as that judgement, to a lay man, is not  only risible, but puerile and bereft of legal convictions as it sold out Nigeria’s Judiciary as one without the wig of wisdom. Ironically, they beat up a child and are forcing the child not to cry. The Governor and his handlers should tacitly deal with that.

In the light of above, one can therefore, tentatively classify the Imo opposition into four  categories of membership: 
1. The Malnurished opposition.
2. The Informed –  mischievous  opposition.
3. The  Petty -Oh yes’ members opposition.
4. Political warlords – Opposition 

1. The malnurished Opposition: For emphasy sake, the malnurished opposition are  active or retired civil servants,  who have wittingly or unwittingly  turned to opposition members as their accumulated salaries or pension arrears have not been paid leaving them and their families malnurished.
And since a hungry man is an angry man, they would not help it but to join forces with the opposition political parties in the state to keep raining abuses and ancestral curses on the Government of the day for being heartless and inconsiderate over their poor welfare.

They are easily mobilized by the power brokers in the state to embarrass the State Government through periodic protests, especially, whenever Government reneges on its promise to pay them.

2. The informed mischievous Opposition:  These are fresh or old graudates, especially, former media handlers  of a previous administration, who are bankrolled by their pay masters; elected officials of Government, businessmen or political gladiators, who had lost hold of power and party structure in the state, but have remained hellbent on frustrating the new sheriff in town. As usual, by their mischievous fruits, misleading information (fake news) and  dangerous misinterpretation  of government’s policies, good intentions or statements to incite the public against the Government just to score a cheap political goal.

Most often, they are not easily  bought over or converted because their palms are frequently oiled by their paymasters, who have cruise online seeing them keep  distracting a sitting Government or serving State Governor.  Their conventional name is paid media hirelings! 

They remain stuck with their paymasters until the flow inadvertently stops. At that point, they may have no better option than resorting to the ruling party or Government in power once an attempt is made to malign them or relegate them to the background. This category of opposition is dangerous given the fact that they have information about Government activities on their palms. You can only ignore them, but cannot completely  write them off.

3. The Petty Oh Yes members -Oppositon:
These are often school drop-outs and relatively frustrated people,  who have no independent opinions, have no ideology, no convinctions or a defined social idiosyncrasy, but merely depend on hearsay to pass their judgement as they are always in a hurry to vent their frustrations on the Government for not creating equal opportunities or the enabling environment for their survival.
Most of them, who can read, use mere headlines on sensational newspapers to judge the Government without critically and  dispassionately analysing the subject matter under discussion. They are experts at inheriting ‘big mens’ or political leaders’ enemies just for mere pittance and remnants that fall from the master’s table.
Funny enough, they are easily converted and swayed once you are willing to part with a few pieces of Naira; buy them food, drinks, lodge them in a hotel and also give them some sense of belonging. Just show them you care; They are all yours and will go the extra miles to show solidarity!  They are the ones who protect ballot boxes for politicians and can stand even with their own blood to defend their candidates. They are good assets during election season.

4. The Political Warlords -Opposition:
They are the most diffcult people to please in the world. No Government can please or impress them. They want to be in charge of their political zone, control the political arena, influence Government policies to suit their business interests and dictate the direction of events.
They are the Billionaires in every State, former governors, formers senators, former Members of the House of Representatives, Federal Government contractors, political allies and close friends of Mr. President. Look around you in your LGA and State, you must find them! Their presence is always felt; a special aura of influence, affluence and degree of command whenever they attend a function.
They find pleasure in frustrating a sitting Governor if he refuses to play ball! It’s either their wishes are granted or you remain  frustrated as a Governor.  Yes, they have the financial capacity, social contacts, reach and also command followership and great  influence. They are necessary evil within the political circle!

I got a bit detailed to buttress my point and also draw pictures about the categories of the opposition in Imo State so that when people write or argue, you can know where they are coming from and where they also belong.

It is therefore, most disheartening to see people throw caution to the wind amid the security impasse  across the country but single Imo State out for continued blind and destructive criticism. 

The hack writers and their background sponsors, in all honesty do not mean well for the state. If not, why would people feel so bad seeing peace return  to Imo  State?By their mischievous fruits; paid online publications and aggressive criticisms you shall know them.

Governor Hope Uzodinma, in his address during a courtesy visit paid to him by select religious leaders in the state, reaffirmed the commitment of his administration in waging war against hoodlums and unknown gunmen. He however,  assured ndi Imo that the state is now safe; while urging them to ignore the scaremongers and political propagandists, who do not mean well for Imo people but have remained hellbent on destroying the image of the state for pecuniary gains and self aggrandizement.

As usual, his statement had been dangerously diagnosed,  dissected, misinterpreted and misrepresented. While I do not hold media brief for the State Governor,  but as an Imo son and also a stakeholder in my own right, I feel rather disturbed that most of these members of the opposition, who feed fat on political crisis, social unrest and depend on politicians for survival, do not know the losses recorded on daily basis by the private sector;  hotel owners, fuel stations operators, supermarkets, road transporters, print media publishers, food vendors, etc, as their continued scaremongering and playing destructive politics with the security situation in the state, affect her Internally  Generated Revenue (IGR);  as people are scared of coming to the state for leisure and relaxation since Imo State is known for tourism and hospitality.

There is no doubt that Imo State has been relatively peaceful over the years,  but the situation  appears to be changing fast because of the series of attacks on Police Stations and security personnel, which is not peculiar to the state as insecurity is a national challenge presently.

Since security is relative at any point in time, Imo is still, relatively speaking, one of the safest states in Nigeria. The current situation we find ourselves is more or less a generalized insecurity;  North-east, North-west, South-west, South-East and South -South. 

Rather than channel their energy to condemn insecurity that has turned to a national monster in Nigeria and unanimously  condemn the height of marginalization against ndi Igbo and advocate for a relative peace in the SouthEast, these mischievous informed opposition members find pleasure in pulling down the government of the day which seems not to be on the same page with their paymasters; background sponsors and financers. 

Good a thing, Imo State has a well focused, dogged, fearless and highly determined man for her governor. If not, the state may be boiling by now as the same opposition will be the first to term the governor a failure while calling for a state of emergency as the Military takes over for a specified period of time in order to  safeguard lives and properties, and also restore peace in the state.

While I am in total support of constructive and objective criticism, I also advocate for a more healthier opposition in the state as to make the Shared Prosperity Administration under Senator Hope Uzodinma to remain responsive and proactive  in her attempts to change the narratives for the better as legitimacy is one important component of governance that every governor needs to be in tune with the governed.

Without being guilty of sounding immodest, one can say that the present administration has recorded impressive milestones within one year in office despite  paucity of funds, and even with some lapses in a few areas of governace.
Outside and beyond this, nothwithstanding the obvious  smearing opposition and campaign of calumny by the fifth  Columnist and armchair critics, no reasonable homosapien would ever deny that Governor Hope Uzodinma has not done well,  and also deserves our collective prayers and support to do even more in the coming years as Imo State is now safe for doing business and other productive  nay economic engagements.

Imo is in safe hands!

– Njoku Macdonald Obinna,

Media Consultant|PR-Expert, Publisher, 4thestatereporters.com