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By Debo Oladimeji
My speech, carried live on the cable TV captured our campaign’s big themes-the need for fundamental change; the need to tackle long-term problems like healthcare and climate change; the need to move past the tired Washington partisan divide; the need for an engaged and active citizenry. Michelle and the girls joined me onstage to wave at the roaring crowd when I was finished, the massive American flags hanging across nearby buildings making for a spectacular backdrop. Barack Obama: A Promised Land
Governor Hope Uzodimma of Imo State made history last Saturday when he decided to empower 15000 youths from the state with N4billion beyond party line. This was contrary to what the opposition party expects. Some of his detractors earlier argued: that the governor was going to assemble his cronies and well- wishers to dole out money to them in the name of empowerment. Some even went further that nobody was going to benefit from anything. To make matter worse we were told that Governor Hope Uzodimma was planning to bomb Njaba in Imo State. The opposition party went further to claim that the governor planned to bomb school children and everyone if they refuse to run away. That the world must rise up and stop the impeding explosion in Imo State.
It was the same set of people that were criticizing the governor for bringing military to quell the crisis in Imo State. Now that peace has returned to the state, they were busy devising new ways to puncture the efforts of the governor to make sure that such an ugly event that devastated the state recently will not repeat itself.
They were expecting him to make a “gaffe,” the expression used by press to describe any maladroit phrase by the candidate that reveals ignorance, carelessness, fuzzy thinking, insensitivity, malice, boorishness, falsehood or hypocrisy –or it is simply deem to veer sufficiently far from conventional wisdom to make said candidate vulnerable to attack. ( See Barack Obama: The Promised Land).
In his keynote address at the disbursement ceremony of the N4billion held at Dan Anyiam Stadium Owerri Imo State, Governor Hope Uzodimma stated that the empowerment exercise was to meaningfully engage the youths so as to prepare them for future challenges and equally discouraged them from engaging in crime.
“You have often heard it said that an idle mind is the devil’s workshop, keeping you busy will save you from temptation. Sociology experts believe that there is correlation between unemployment and crime. Our goal is to get you employed and keep you away from crime. Do not disappoint yourself and the Government,” Uzodimma said.
“My administration is not a promise and fail, I mean every word I say to you,” Uzodimma reiterated. There is no iota of truth in what they are saying. The infrastructural development that is going on the state further demonstrate that the government is up ready to change the landscape of Imo State. “
It is now crystal clear that the opposition was only looking for ways of scoring cheap political goals by labeling the governor a bandit.
It has become a pattern in Imo State for the opposition to rake up one controversy or the other anytime that Governor Hope Uzodinma scores high in delivering democracy dividends to the people of the state. Like the Frankenstein monster that seeks to destroy that which it cannot create, members of the opposition People’s Democratic Party (PDP) and their cheerleaders are always looking behind their shadows anytime Uzodinma scores a bull’s eye in governance so that they will quickly come out with a negative propaganda to whittle down the effect. In their vain attempt to obliterate their incompetence and zero performance record while in office, they have resorted to sheer brigandage and sophistry even in matters that they created.
Not too long ago, Uzodinma rolled out 30 Coaster buses for the conveyance of civil servants to and fro the State Secretariat daily and free of charge. That was after he had restored the dilapidated buildings and spruced up the environment, returning power and water supply to make the place conducive for civil servants. That had not happened since the creation of the state in 1976. Permanent secretaries, who had been trekking to work due to lack of official cars, were put out of the misery by the same governor who provided brand new official vehicles to them.
Just as the ovation of what the governor did was about to reach a crescendo, he rolled out 10 mobile clinics to take health care to the sick in their homes. The clinics, equipped with laboratories and drugs and personnel, provide their services free to the sick, the aged and the vulnerable. The rural areas have been agog with the news of the novel policy, which is also the first of its kind since 1976 when the state was created. The outpouring of joy and appreciation by a grateful populace for Uzodinma is at the centre of the current allegation against the governor.
President Muhammadu Buhari also commended Governor Uzodinma for constructing 46 roads in different parts of the state within one year of assuming office.
The President, in a virtual speech delivered while inaugurating two of the roads located in Owerri, the Imo State capital, said he was aware that in the first year in office, the Imo State government had embarked on an ambitious target of executing 46 road projects.
He said: ‘’I am glad to learn that significant strides are being made towards their completion, and a number of them are amongst those being commissioned as part of the events in honour of the one-year anniversary. I must commend the state government, under the leadership of Senator Hope Uzodimma, for setting ambitious targets, and within just one year in office using this moment to evaluate the journey thus far.
‘’It clearly demonstrates the commitment of the government to the welfare of the people’’, he said.
For the opposition who had a golden opportunity to perform for seven months but squandered it while pandering to selfish and vain glory, the successes being recorded by Uzodinma is like a hot knife thrust at their hearts. Because they can’t bear to see the people happy, they have reached for their tar brush in a futile effort to erase the good works of the governor. But that is a mission impossible.
First of all, the governor is a democrat who believes in the rule of law. That was why he did not resort to violence when the PDP stole his mandate. He quietly pursued his matter to its logical conclusion at the Supreme Court. Secondly, he was a lawmaker for eight years. He understands the workings of parliament, knowing full well that the passage of a bill is a collective decision by the House, irrespective of party affiliation. Thirdly, Uzodinma believes that government is a continuum. That is why he did not rashly rush into the dissolution of even panels set up by his predecessor. He did not revoke contracts awarded by the previous government. He did not disrupt the activities of government just because a new governor came on board.