“He Is Not At Peace With Imo People And Does Not Feel Safe In A State He Is The Chief Security Officer”
By Michael Anyanwu
By its very nature, democratic process stimulates the citizenry to form collective opinion on specific issues of serious concern including the performance of the government of the day. Sampling public opinion in Imo and judging from an aggregate of their individual views, attitudes, and convictions, one would realise that since its creation in 1976 and its first democratic experience in 1979, the state is currently facing its most unpopular and underperforming government in history.
In fact, and without any doubt, the 3R administration of Governor Hope Uzodimma has positioned itself and successfully engraved its name in the inglorious hall of shame in Imo political history as the most unpopular government that ever existed. Only sycophants and haters of the incumbent governor would not tell him the bitter truth about how he is fast becoming increasingly unpopular by the day and his administration conspicuously in the unfavourable book of Imo people.
The fact that Governor Uzodimma’s emergence stems from a judicial judgement instead of electoral victory marked the genesis of the unpopularity of his government in Imo. Many who still believe he is presiding over the affairs of the state on a “stolen mandate” are till date shocked at how he came a distant fourth behind to become governor.
Besides this principal reason of judicial victory which certainly makes his government legal but appears illegitimate in the eyes of the electorates who know they did not vote for him, Governor Uzodimma obviously lacks charisma and could not employ it to convince Imolites of the worthiness of the power he acquired through the judgement of the Supreme Court.
As seductive, successful and popular charismatic leadership would have made his government become if he had possessed that charming personality, such chances are now marred by his anti-people policies, the ravaging insecurity and prevalent undue hardship since the inception of his administration in the state.
In a bid to misrepresent facts about his failing government and to conceal the unfavourable public opinions on his stewardship in the last two years, Governor Uzodimma’s Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Declan Emelumba, yesterday, stage-managed a phone-in programme for the governor to field questions from the governed.
The shenanigan programme which was presented like it was open to all Imo people to participate, was arranged in a way that only hired sycophants and pre-selected praise-singers of the government could successfully call in so as to paint a false image of the governor performing well, and also being popular.
Whether or not they conceive it as their best strategy to present the governor as “a man of the people” and to mobilise support for him in the forthcoming governorship election, it does not erase the indisputable fact from feelers on the streets that, not only is the governor in disfavor with Imo people, but has succeeded in becoming even more disliked, as evident in the alienating and apathetic behaviour of Imo people towards his administration.
While it is not surprising that the omuma-born politician has remained largely unpopular considering the circumstances surrounding his emergence, it should be a thing of very great concern to learn that for the past two years he has been in power, he is yet to exhibit good leadership qualities and the needed political will to implement people-oriented policies that could earn him the popular goodwill and support of Imo people.
The fierce melancholic look on the faces of well-meaning Imolites each time Governor Uzodimma is mentioned to them is a strong signal that they are not only disappointed in his maladministration but cannot wait for another electioneering year just to show him the way out. After all, his popularity has been tested in the Edo and Anambra governorship elections. With his involvement in both elections by leading the APC campaigns, the ruling party lost woefully in both states.
To be frank, if Governor Uzodimma wants to realise that he enjoys no popularity and wants to really feel the actual pulse of Imo people, he should jettison everything that played out in that phone-in programme stage-managed for him, and test his popularity by driving or walking freely in public areas like markets, etc. without his security details, like his predecessor, Senator Rochas Okorocha always does, during and after he served as governor of the state.
The heavy security always surrounding the governor and his inability to move freely on his own is another strong indication that he is not just largely unpopular but also not at peace with his own people and does not feel safe in a state he is the Chief Security Officer. If the sycophants surrounding him will not tell him that he is viewed unfavorably by Imo people, 2023 governorship election will.
Michael Anyanwu is a concerned Imo Citizen
