By Oguwike Nwachuku
Exactly a week today, June 25, 2023 to be precise, I read on the Political Notes column of the Cicero Section of THISDAY, THE SUNDAY NEWSPAPER an article entitled – What’s Uzodimma Always Looking for at the Villa? The piece did not have a face to it, so to say. It was by-lineless.
When I drew the attention of the Editor to the nauseating piece which exuded suspicious innuendos with the medium giving vent to such disparaging work in cahoot with a faceless author, he corroborated my earlier curiosity about a hatchet job in the offing.
The confirmation by the Editor that pieces published on the Political Notes are exposed without the author in tow really unsettled my mind. Reason you shall know shortly.
Last year, August 7, 2022 to be precise, THISDAY, THE SUNDAY NEWSPAPER on the same Political Notes of the Cicero Section published a similar piece as it did on June 25, 2023, with the caption: “Why is Uzodimma Always in Aso Rock?”
Reading through the 2022 work in comparison with the 2023 article, what the hatchet jobber simply did was to joggle the headline of the most recent piece, using Villa instead of Aso Rock, replacing former President Muhammadu Buhari with President Bola Tinubu, among others, just to pass the same disparaging message against an innocent governor doing his job of governance and sincere service to humanity to the best of his ability.
Truth is that I am yet to come to terms how such scandalously and mischievously orchestrated write-up escaped the eagle eyes of the gate keepers of the medium such that it has not only become an annual ritual, but has a permanent space on their Political Notes.
While one voice counseled that I should not reply to a faceless work, the second advised me to use my response to educate the timid author who may be either ignorant of the nuances of governance or on a deliberate voyage of mischief to disparage the person of Governor Uzodimma.
In fact, the Editor’s response did reinforce my thought-line as I considered the second option to reply the ghost author with all his/her mischievous trappings.
Today in Imo State, it is no longer in doubt that Governor Hope Uzodimma, CON,GSSRS, has done the people proud and has earned their trust after spending three and half years in office as the Chief Executive.
It is also not a matter of conjecture that what Governor Uzodimma has been able to achieve so far in Imo State with regard to infrastructural development in particular and good governance in general, despite the debilitating impact of insecurity, will speak volume for him come November 11, 2023 when the governorship election he is one of the contestants will hold.
What is in doubt, really, is whether the pretenders who have put themselves up for the governorship election Governor Uzodimma is standing in as the sole candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), and who the ghost authors in consonance with the Editors of this medium are supporting, are prepared to face the good people of Imo State based on track record of verifiable achievement.
Now to the faceless author of the malicious and naughty article, you may not be aware, Governor Uzodimma is, unarguably, the most sought after governor in Nigeria today. You won’t be hung if you term him Nigeria’s most powerful governor.
His strategic governance prowess, sincere and dispassionate approach to state, national and international matters, easy-going miem that oil human relationship and attract people to him, et al, are as infectious as his looks – a very handsome man specially created by God and called Hope by his parents to bring hope to the hopeless, including the ghost writer(s).
It is important that those who do not understand the nuances of governance ask pertinent questions. If Governor Uzodimma was the only Chief Executive of the State who attended the decoration of the Acting Inspector-General of Police, what does that tell you? Again, what constitutes an offence in that?
As the Chairman of Progressive Governors’ Forum, Chairman of South East Governors’ Forum, the Governor-General of All Progressives Congress (South East), do you still need a prophet to help you understand that Governor Uzodimma’s hands should be full always?
I am not sure Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu of Lagos State, who in the imagination of the author as the closest to Mr. President, was in itself in good faith. Or is the writer insinuating that Sanwo-Olu is complaining of not having access to the Villa or having problems frequenting the Villa or what?
If the ignorance and mischief of the author of that piece is not legendry, he/she would have known that the Villa is not a place you just visit at will without proper clearance and invitation ab initio. I also think the Editors ought to know a bit of the rules.
During President Bola Tinubu’s electioneering, he told everyone with ear to hear to ignore Governor Uzodimma at their own peril. Then again, has Mr. President complained to you, ghost writer, that he is tired of receiving Governor Uzodimma at the Villa or any other governor or visitor for that matter?
Yours sincerely has an idea why the faceless author is trying to malign Governor Uzodimma. He /she is simply being recruited by agents of the pretending governorship candidates of the opposition political parties in Imo State for the November 11, 2023 election who are looking for campaign materials, having not got one yet. But they have failed and will continue to fail.
It is unimaginable that in this age of hi-technology, information and communications gadgets, those who are lining up to displace Governor Uzodimma from his position come November are characters who think that good governance can only come to the State when the Chief Executive comes to sit down with them at Eke Onunwa or Relief Market or any of the Nkwobi joints in Owerri. What a shame to those who think that way and those they use to propagate the backward idea!
Perhaps, they should be reminded that there are some Imo citizens who think Governor Uzodimma should visit Villa as often as possible because whenever he does, good tidings follow.
Just a few of the things that his visit to Villa brought to Imo State and your heart will be satiated – the former Federal Medical Centre, Owerri (now the Federal University Teaching Hospital, Owerri), the Alvan Ikoku Federal College of Education, Owerri (now, Federal University of Education, Owerri), the Oguta-Urashi Lake dredging up to the Atlantic Ocean, the Owerri-Okigwe road, the Owerri-Orlu road, the Owerri-Mbaise-Obowo-Umuahia road, among others. The list is too long.
The government of Governor Uzodimma is impacting the people of Imo State so positively that no amount of propaganda, blackmail, slander, mischief-making and outright falsehood can stop the ship of State from anchoring successfully to its destination. Of course November serves as another litmus test.
The people are already convinced that Governor Uzodimma is making a change and they are resolved to be part of that change. And like Seyi Wright said in his book – Choose to make a Difference – “once you begin to feel the conviction to make a change, you may be challenged and ridiculed by others who prefer the comfort zone.”
No doubt, that is the cross Governor Uzodimma is carrying to reposition Imo State that was messed up big time prior to his coming in 2020.
That said, I like to remind the ghost writer of what Jeffrey J. Fox said in one of his bestselling books – How to Get to the Top: Business Lessons Learned at the Dinner Table. Fox wrote: “It is okay if good people don’t care about the cares, concerns, and causes of others. But it is not okay to intentionally or unintentionally be ignorant or dismissive or judgmental about matters of importance to others.”
The question we should be asking ourselves is what we stand to gain by living in a fictional cage. Anyone who read the article in question will, like yours sincerely, find it difficult to believe that the ghost writer and his/her backers were not mentally, emotionally, spiritually, physically, materially and even financially compromised to discredit Governor Uzodimma.
● Nwachuku, Chief Press Secretary/Media Adviser to Governor Uzodimma writes from Owerri