IHEDIOHA AND ENVY OF POLITICAL POPULARITY

     

  By Austin Uganwa, PhD

 It is a long-held maxim that when disinformation is repeated in the public space vulnerable members of the public   tend to believe  such phony narrative.  Yet, one disinformation Imolites  would never believe , no matter how often it is copied, pasted and   embellished was recently circulated  by Okechukwu Ajoku who claimed  that the sympathy Rt. Hon Emeka Ihedioha, former governor of Imo state enjoys in the state streams from the manner he was shoved out of office as Imo state governor by the apex court. In Okechukwu’s recant    the alluded sympathy has expired,  advising Rt Hon Emeka Ihedioha to reconsider his plans to run  for the 2027 Imo governorship race by leaving the stage for other aspirants 

I stumbled on this narrative a couple of days ago and my immediate reaction was that this campaign of calumny results from Ihedioha's sustained popularity rating in the state.  As a big masquerade  in national political firmament , he is prone to lesser political actors envy and sadly  subject of their mischievous attacks

However, the   inherent malice, character assassination, absurdity, frivolity and hollowness   that characterized Okechukwu's narrative compelled this response. More so, the  display  of   ignorance and  aloofness   over Ihedioha’s incontrovertible political legacies  and his unprecedented trajectories as governor and deputy speaker of the House of Representatives further propelled the urgency for this feedback  to  educate and enlighten Okechukwu and his likes 

 If Okechukwu had   taken sometime to sample and weigh the views of Imolites on Ihedioha or better still followed or conducted basic research on Ihehioha’s stint as governor    his narrative   would have been much richer, sensible, balanced and greatly insightful. Rather, it turned out to be both empty and baseless; a poorly executed hatched job with the sole aim of smearing and slaying Ihedioha’s  highly  dignified  image 

 Okechukwu must be enlightened that the popularity and acceptability Ihedioha enjoys among Imolites are never  products of the Supreme Court’s scandalous and opprobrious  ruling on January 14, 2020, but anchored essentially on Ihedioha’s visionary leadership and pro- people development initiatives he prioritized within seven months he served as governor and  his twelve years as a parliamentarian. Thus, no amount of misrepresentation would make  Imolites alter their collective notion that Ihedioha has over the years been tested and trusted and would accordingly be  mandated to govern again

Specific insights and scenarios  are desirable here to further educate the mischief makers. Ihedioha emerged in 2019 as Imo governor on an extraordinarily popular mandate. The incredible crowd that thronged into Dan Anyiam Stadium on May 29, 2019 to be part of his inauguration bore eloquent testimony.   Ihedioha was one of the few governors in Imo political  history who assumed office profoundly prepared for the position. His vision for  Imo even before assumption of office was to “rebuild, reposition and transform” the state into a modern ecosystem in the most innovative manner to enhance the socio-economic development of Imo and the well-being of the masses.In ensuring that he kept abiding faith with this vision and his campaign promises, he put in place a 150-member technical Committee headed by Mr. Ernest Ebi, former deputy governor of Central Bank of Nigeria to prepare a strategic blueprint that aligned his vision with his campaign manifestoes and governance thrust.

 He finetuned the roadmap and took prompt, methodical and pragmatic steps to accomplish it.He assembled a broad-based, erudite team of technocrats, experienced and intellectually sound professionals drawn from across Imo and beyond to ensure effective governance.For instance, the Secretary of Government of Imo at that time, Rt. Hon Uche Onyeagocha is a renowned lawyer and former member of House of Representatives (Owerri zone); Chief of Staff, Chief Chris Okewulonu (Okigwe Zone) also a prominent lawyer had served as Secretary to Imo Government before being appointed.  Commissioner for Finance, Professor Uche Uwaleke (Okigwe Zone) a renowned scholar of Economics and university lecturer; Commissioner for Works, Engr. Ben Ekwueme (Orlu Zone) an accomplished engineer and so on. The appointments took this balanced and highly systematic pattern, prioritizing merit and competence, contrary to Okechukwu’s delusional narrative  

 In just 100 days in office, Ihedioha reformed governance structure in the state. He upgraded deplorable roads in Owerri, desilted   the municipality towards galvanizing the blocked drainage system, awarded and mobilized contractors to reconstruct and rehabilitate more than 25 intra and intercity roads concurrently, including federal roads. It was an unprecedented response to grapple with gross infrastructural decay in the state. 

 I will mention a few of the roads because of space and they included:  Nekede- Ihiagwa Road, Nkume- Umuowa-Orlu;  Ahiara Junction- Okpala Junction; Aba Branch- Ahiara Junction; Mgbidi-Oguta Road,  Owerri-Egbu-Mbaise-Obowo;Owerri-Nworieubi-Njiaba-Orlu;Owerri-Amaraku-Anara-Onuimo-Umunna-Okigwe;Achingali-Onicha-Udo na Obizi. This record is in the public domain and can easily be verified                                                                             Besides, the Ihedioha-led administration restored Otamiri Water Scheme that left Owerri taps dry for eight years and reconnected the state secretariat and other public buildings to the national grid through Imo Power and Rural Electrification Agency he established to tackle dismal power supply.

His administration tackled misappropriation of public finances and dismal state of revenue base  headlong by introducing Treasury Single Account. In so doing, he scaled down the 250 government accounts that were in operations before the start of his administration to a single account. 

In order to foster due process, accountability and transparency in government business,  his administration revitalized the procurement regulations in the biddings and awards of contracts.The administration also reinforced the ease of doing business unit that was moribund prior to his administration’s dawn.

The benefits from these reforms and  policy measures were prompt and wide-ranging. Fiscal discipline took centre-stage, large-scale corruption was accordingly checked, boosting the Internally Generated Revenue of the state from N250m to N1.2b in less than six months.

In a swift wave, Imo under Ihedioha’s watch, entered the national and international honours and recognitions list.  The National Bureau of Statistics in conjunction with the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crimes in partnership with other international development agencies after conducting a survey on corruption index among the 36 states and Federal Capital Territory during the second half of 2019 honoured Imo as the least corrupt state in Nigeria. More so, Imo was recognized as the state with the fastest growing economy by BusinessDay newspaper. In addition, the Federal Ministry of Communications and Digital Economy in conjunction with the National Council on Communications and Digital Economy awarded Imo the best state in ICT. Imo also came second in e-governance.  These facts are easily confirmable through Google search engine

Imo’s enviable and smart new outlook stimulated investors’ optimism and development agencies willingness to work with Imo government.  For instance, the President of African Export and Import Bank, Prof. Benedict Oramah arrived in the state in December, 2019 and signed MoU with Imo government to site a multi-million dollars African quality assurance institution in Ngor Okpala near Owerri. 

The dignity of labour and the pensioners was restored under Ihedioha’s watch. Workers salary was increased and the payment structure standardized. An enduring biometric verification exercise of pensioners was undertaken and the payment of their monthly entitlements commenced after six years of non-payment.

Ihedioha took governance and development initiatives  back to the local governments to enhance masses welfare by guaranteeing proper administration and ensuring full release of monthly financial allocations to the 27 local councils in the state through regular joint accounts meetings thereby allowing the local councils to manage their allocations themselves  He ensured that the local governments commenced the construction of secretariat and Olympic size stadium complexes

I challenge Okechukwu

and his sponsors to refute any of these well documented and widely reported facts. Ihedioha embarked on structural reforms in critical sectors such as health, sports, power,  ICT, civil service, education and so on and commenced the upgrade of primary, secondary  and technical schools and hiring of 4000 teachers to foster qualitative education in the state

Based on his legislative prowess and erudition, he commanded the respect of his colleagues . At various times, he was  House Committee chairman on Marine Transport, chief whip,  deputy speaker and Speaker

He headed the team that developed the Legislative Agenda of the 7th House and chaired the House’s Constitution Review Committee. As chief whip and deputy speaker, he ensured that his legislative activities impacted his state, Imo, South East and South-South geo-political zones in remarkable ways. For instance, he attracted the rehabilitation of  highways connecting Imo and Rivers States namely, Owerri- Elele,  Okpala- Okehi and Mbaise Ring  Roads, among others. He also attracted major power transmission substations in Ngor Okpala, Mbaise and Owerri to boost energy supply 

Contrary to Okechukwu’s misconception, within the seven months he served as governor, he set a matchless and historic political record in building cohesion, harmony and creation of unity of purpose in Imo through broadbased leadership style and equitable distribution of development projects, social services,  facilities and appointments. These are fact-based and verifiable. He extended his unifying efforts to South East zone by revitalizing and elevating  the Ahanjoku Lecture into an institute to serve as a rallying point for Igbos and their cultural world view  

With his legislative legacies, rare development accomplishments within his short stint as governor,  immense political footprints, Ihedioha boasts  most strategic credentials to lead Imo out of its current doldrums. This explains why his support base has remained intact and now constituted vast membership of Imo ADC. The voting population that made his victory possible in 2019 are manifestly with him and obviously poised to vote him in again in 2027. This makes Ihedioha an uncommon treasure, a rare brand and beautiful bride for ADC and Ndimo