THE IMO STATE SITUATION: Looking beyond the symptoms in search of enduring solutions

By UCHE DIALA

“Incidentally and it is worth mentioning that many of us ndi Imo have allowed our maybe justifiable disappointment, anger and even disdain for former Governor Rochas Okorocha and anything that concerns him to becloud our every sense of rational consideration.”

When you create or allow a situation to develop and evolve and fail to be strategic and proactive, rather resort to playing on and manipulating emotions, you create room for any one who is interested to cash in.

Let me quickly say like I have said before on several platforms, that I believe that all the mayhem in Imo state and indeed the South East are not being perpetratrated by IPOB/ESN, at least in more recent times. It is obvious that crime and criminality have clearly fed into the IPOB enterprise. That however does not absolve IPOB from culpability in laying the foundation for what is going on in the South East in terms of insecurity. No sincere person would absolve it of that culpability and it must do more than denials and propaganda.

However that is not the focus of this my submission which could be taken as a candid Open Letter to my dear Governor, HE Senator Hope Uzodinma as well as members of my party the APC and Imolites at large.

I often try to hold myself as a loyal APC member from going full speed publicly on what has been happening in and with the party in the state. Not out of cowardice but out of a sense of responsibility and in the hope that the Governor and party leaders will see reason and recalibrate. I had once written such an open letter but I do not know how much it achieved.

I do not make this submission out of any allegiance to any political actor(s) in Imo state as I do not see myself as a member of any of the contending camps in the party. I do so simply out of a sense of duty as a responsible Imo indigene and APC member. I sincerely hope that my respected Governor or someone close to him can get my sincere point and take what makes sense. They can also throw my words away, hopefully they will not throw me away alongside.

Incidentally and it is worth mentioning that many of us ndi Imo have allowed our maybe justifiable disappointment, anger and even disdain for former Governor Rochas Okorocha and anything that concerns him to becloud our every sense of rational consideration. I have my own grouse with former Governor Okorocha but I am able to rise above that, realize that he is no longer Governor, that there is a Governor and government in Imo state today and that government ought to rise to the occasion and lead in the true sense of the word, irrespective of whatever the challenges and obstacles thrown on its part. I must sincerely state that the Governor is trying but a lot is still left to be desired.

Leading a state is not only in building roads and some other things, as much as those are very crucial and greatly commended and appreciated. A greater part of leading is managing the dynamics of the state. Those dynamics and how they are managed determine the ultimate direction the state goes; whether it will go well or whether it will struggle and whether it will be safe, secure, peaceful and progressive or not. Those dynamics vary from state to state. Some are constant while some keep evolving. A good and competent administrator needs to not only know and understand those dynamics but more importantly needs to be able to develop and deploy effective strategies to manage and counter them.

Many of us are tempted to stay fixated on the present shenanigans and dramas playing out in Imo state but I daresay that those to a large extent are symptoms of poorly managed dynamics and they did not start today. I am equally afraid that they will not end until deliberate and sincere efforts are made by all the gladiators to address them but it is no less more incumbent on the Governor to do so; whatever it takes.

WHY?

Simply because he is the Governor and the buck stops on his table. However we look at, it is his legacy and the well being of Imo people that are at stake. Imo people will always judge other Governors before and after him by their records, so will his also be scrutinised.

Let me quickly say that the effort of the Governor to call the immediate past administration to account and recover properties are well in order and highly commendable but that instead of being a source of distraction should go along with effective management of the unique dynamics of the state which I alluded to earlier.

My sincere observation and I may be wrong is that the Governor or rather the Imo state government has accentuated that call to accountability, making it front and centre of its governance, cashing in on the emotions and anger of Imo people against the former Governor. Doing that in my humble may have its positives but it sure has its down side which ultimately will not help the peace, stability and harmony in the state, all of which Imo people need to make real progress and which the Governor needs to deliver on his mandate; beyond the ordinary.

Many, especially members of the opposition have continued to refer to the manner he became Governor but I have repeatedly dismissed that. I rather believe that instead of that being a burden on the Governor, it ought to be a spring board and motivation to prove the sceptics wrong. For full disclosure, I did not support the Governor during the election strictly on principles but as soon as he emerged Governor at the conclusion of all legitimate electoral processes, I publicly congratulated him, offered an olive branch and was ready to contribute my little quota to build my state. I recall that within the first few weeks of his victory, I sent a 6-point agenda through one of his right hand men as my own little contribution.

HOW WELL DID THE GOVERNOR START?

Some of the things I will say here might offend some of my friends, party members and political associates but I owe a duty only to my conscience and the common good and I am willing to pay any price for it.

It is easy for many of us to talk about political gladiators fighting the Governor but let us not forget that whether by accident or design or for sincere or selfish motives, most of these gladiators who are at daggers drawn with the Governor today, came together just before and soon after his ultimate victory. It is trite for sincere and well meaning Imolites and friends of Imo state, instead of siding one interest or the other to interrogate that sincerely and ask what happened, as we seek lasting solutions.

We practice a multi party democracy. A Governor is elected on the platform of a political party. Part of the benefits of having that political party platform is not just as a vehicle to get to power. It is equally a tool to manage power, to lead and to govern. When that tool is not enhanced and or well managed, the Governor will struggle to the detriment of governance, the state and its people.

Not a few sincere Imolites and Imo APC members who are observant and that includes my humble self believe that even as we have a Governor that was rightly elected on the platform of the APC as a political party, there is essentially no APC government in Imo state, in the true sense of the word; even as APC takes all the flaks. All may seem well on the surface but surely all is not well within. I will attempt to explain that in a moment.

FIRST, WHY IS THAT IMPORTANT?

The disruption of or disharmony in the party in the state means the Governor loses a very vital, available and almost free tool that ought to help him more effectively manage the state; including helping to ensure that there is relative peace, security and harmony in the state.

These are some things that many APC members in Imo state know but many are not willing to voice publicly but I will do so because I believe they significantly contributed and continue to contribute to the rumpus in Imo state today and whether the Governor agrees or not, it is part of what is making his governance at least uncomfortable. I will highlight some.

Governor Hope Uzodinma, formally joined the APC from the PDP on 26th April 2018, about 6 months to the 2019 Imo state APC Governorship Primaries which held in October 2018. As fate would have it, he became the bona-fide Governor of the state under the party’s platform. No one will pretend that that ascension did not cause some disenchantment and disharmony among not just some key leaders of the party in the state but also among some of the rank and file of the party and ordinary party members; rightly or wrongly.

How were those natural and expected rancour and disenchantment managed? Again I am not talking about only the gladiators but also about ordinary members of the party.

It is on record that one of the first things the then new Governor did was to alter the party structure, even at the Ward level – an exercise which saw many wards see persons who were never members of the party before 2019 become their Ward Chairmen. One can dismiss this as a neccesary attempt to take control of the party structure but how well was that and its fall out handled and how prudent has that proven?

Similar things occurred at the Local Government and State party levels. Members of the Camp Hope Organisation largely held sway across board to the exclusion of the original, some say founding members of the APC in the state. Anyone who knew of and considers the chequered history of the APC in Imo state would understand why any original APC member in the state would feel disenchanted at some of these things.

It could be recalled that the outgone Okorocha Administration unacceptably sacked elected local government Chairman that it inherited from his predecessor for the reasons he gave and ran the local government councils with Transition Committee Chairman for the most part only to conduct an election on the twilight of his last tenure; an exercise which many say was flawed, yet it was an election nonetheless.

The short lived Rt. Hon Emeka Ihedioha led PDP administration on its part sacked those ‘elected’ Chairman and Councillors and appointed its own Chairmen and Councillors.

On the ascent of Governor Hope Uzodinma, he equally sacked those appointed by Rt Hon Ihedioha, did not recall the ‘elected’ officials who were mostly, if not all APC members, neither did he conduct fresh elections. He appointed his own Interim Management Committees across all 27 local government areas. Once more majority of those IMC Chairmen and Counselors were people who had not been members of the APC before 2019. Please I stand to be corrected.

Some argued that he needed to put his own men in charge as those ‘elected’ officials were loyal to former Governor Rochas Okorocha. While that might sound reasonable or politically expedient, I wonder how anyone would believe that all those 27 local government chairman and counselors were genuinely loyal to the ex Governor and would remain so against an incumbent who would have done them a huge ‘favor’ by reinstating them and who is the incumbent boss who ‘pays the piper’. That reminds one of the saying that when one closes one’s eyes not to see bad people, good people will equally pass unnoticed. I leave that at that but consider 27 men and women and the multiples of counsellors across 27 local government areas who feel hard done by.

In the last revalidation exercise carried out by the party in the state, a good number of original or founding members of the APC in the state were excluded from revalidating their membership, some say deliberately, often on the excuse of unavailability of materials.

The last Congress of the Party in the state did not do much to change the situation in my view. Rather the trend was entrenched and consolidated in a bid to control the party structure. I have no problem with taking control of the party structure but when that is done without genuine reconciliation, equity and fairness, it only deepens the mistrust and acrimony.

I also dare to add that a good number or majority of the Commissioners appointed by Governor Uzodinma both in his first set of appointments and the subsequent one were people who did not have much to do with the party in the state prior to 2018/19.

The consequence, intended or unintended of all these is an unsettled party with definite and wider impact on the state beyond the party. Once more I am not overly focused on or interested in the gladiators or the factional lords. I am more focused on every day members of the party and the party as an institution. There are usually few party members who would sink or swim with a particular party leader especially when that party leader is no longer in power. They are often driven or compelled to keep those allegiances to those leaders and not to the party when they feel alienated or muscled out of the party.

Some persons might argue that efforts by the Governor to unite the party are being scuttled by other gladiators in the party. While that may be true and I am equally not unaware of efforts by the Governor to unite the party and these gladiators but it remains to be seen how consistent, pragmatic, effective, sincere and sustained those efforts are. It remains a task that must be done and the greater responsibility for doing that continues to lie with the Governor as the incumbent Governor of the state and leader of the party in the state.

The inability or failure to effectively, conclusively and decisively manage those internal party rumblings, in my considered view have contributed in no small measure to the rumpus in Imo state today which is why it is relevant in seeking pragmatic, effective and enduring solutions to the quagmire.

I do not want to delve into the small fires being set by opposition political parties in the state. It is part of ‘opposition’ as they see it even as it is irresponsible but the opposition is cashing in on the unsettled political party base of the Governor in the hope to get back to power.

The Governor must recalibrate and do the needful; whatever that is and whatever it takes that is right and I say so with every degree of respect and responsibility. Of course that does not include handing over the coffers of the state to any individual or group of individuals or shirking the responsibility and duty to call anyone to account who needs to be. Any individual or group of individuals, who is verifiably found to have a hand in the insecurity in the state must be brought to account using every legitimate means possible; no matter how lowly or highly placed as no one is below or above the law. I will equally add that mixing security and politics is a recipe for disaster.

Specifically on insecurity in Imo state, I want to responsively caution that reducing insecurity, the type of which we have in Imo state today to one factor or fixating on one group, person or group of persons as the cause(s) of the insecurity can be counterproductive as it takes our eyes off other dynamics and possibilities; leaving room for other possible causes or actors to be missed and thus continue to operate freely. There must be a broad based, out of the box approach to solving the problem.

Pursuant to that attempt at solution finding, let me state here that hate him or loathe him, ex Governor Okorocha was able to maintain some semblance of security in Imo state during his tenure and that was not due to absence of threats and challenges. Indeed IPOB was also there and was ferociously against him. There was also kidnapping at some point. One remarkable thing the former Governor did was to entrench community participation in governance. No matter how unorthodox the approach was, the so called Community Governance structure, apart from giving a sense of belonging to more Imo indigenes who otherwise could not have got a look in, provided an ‘eye’ for the Governor and government in the communities which are the incubation grounds for most crimes and criminalities. Those individuals felt a sense of responsibility to keep their respective communities safe by at least intimating the government in real time on what is happening in their communities. It all added up.

That was surely better and more productive than occasional stakeholders meetings held in Owerri, the state capital which, forgive me often serve as mere photo opportunities. We should not throw the baby away with the bath water. I expected some postive strides by the last administration to be built upon, fine tuned and perfected for the common good of Imolites.

On another front, I have observed and any observant Imo person would have observed the proliferation of young and not so young men brandishing pump action rifles and other forms of arms, wearing different kinds of outfits in our communities and they are often seen as legitimate security outfits. This leads me to ask what happened to the Imo Community Watch (ICW) set up by the Okorocha Administration? When Rt Hon Ihedioha became Governor, a new outfit or different set of boys were recruited which sidelined many of the ICW members. In like manner, when Governor Uzodinma came on board, different sets were recruited. All these sets of people operate with different loyalties and little or no accountability.

When you have an army of mostly young men strewn across the communities who have been exposed to security issues, arms and ammunitions, mostly not debriefed, essentially laying fallow, having been so exposed, it poses a potent and potential danger. This is in addition to various vigilante groups, set up, armed and paid by either communities or individuals.

What is wrong with harmonising these outfits and having then all engaged as one front with the help of the Nigerian Security And Civil Defence Corp (NSCDC)? It is not just enough for the NSCDC to license these groups, then leave them to their whims and caprices thereafter. Let us all think about these as we seek and proffer other possible solutions.

In ending this, it is my fervent prayer, humble appeal and hope that my Governor will look carefully into some of these issues and others at his privileged disposal, restrategise and recalibrate.

I equally hope the Governor will carefully look at the advice of some professional advisers, hailers and eye service supporters, rise to the occasion, rise to the stature and have a sincere rapprochement with his brother and former Governor, Senator Rochas Okorocha as well as other past Governors of the state with a view to finding lasting peace and solution to the seemingly intractable challenges facing the state. That does stop holding the former Governor to account. He must be held to account. Imo people ought to and will continue to ask questions of all their leaders; past and present.

I am responsibly and sincerely convinced and I believe and submit that the problems bedevilling Imo state, including insecurity in Imo state are politically motivated in the large part; even as other factors that we know are at play, some of which I have alluded to here. In my humble view, fixing those political issues would go a long way in building the required synergy, conducive environment and impetus to tackle or at least contain those other factors, including insecurity and set Imo state once more on the path to greater growth, development and progress which I am convinced Governor Uzodinma is capable of giving having seen some of what he has done already.

That requires sincerity, commitment, dedication, selflessness and humility on the part of all the gladiators and the sincere participation and support of all Imolites, including traditional, community, academic, student, religious and business leaders and intellectuals as well as members of the opposition. Imo state and Imo people deserve a lot better.

It is surprising and disheartening that the many leaders of stature Imo state parades have effectively kept quiet in the face of essentially a descent into anarchy in Imo state. Evil thrives when good men and women keep quiet and do nothing. The time to stand and be counted is now.

I believe Imo state will rise again. Onye Kwe, Chi Ya Ekwe.

Compliments Of The Season.

Dr Uche Diala
Ehime Mbano
Imo State