When those close to the Deputy Governor of Imo State, His Excellency, Prince Eze Madumere read or hear that the Deputy Governor is fighting for his survival in the Government House they giggle it off as the ranting of the ill-informed and the speculation of the distant writer. According to some Imo tabloids the D. Gov. is fighting some people who seek to discredit him before his boss, so the Governor would not nominate him for his second term bid or to ensure that the Deputy does not run for Governor should the Governor decide to run for the President or Vice President.
These averments may have value but it is only the commercial value of a product whose owner in frantic bid to sell on a rainy poor sales day. A reality check reveals that in the world of modern journalism sensationalism sells. Big names are highly marketable and personalities are the sure market catcher. Certainly, any banner bearing the name, Eze Madumere would sell like hot cake. The reason is not farfetched. After all, Prince Eze Madumere is not just a public figure, he is one known for his great sense of industry and impeccable degree of dedication. One whose selflessness in office has become a trade mark and whose level- headed predisposition assumes proverbial proportions. A deputy Governor who is loyal to a fault. Eze Madumere is not even the ordinary Deputy governor, he is one that has been crowned over and over as the best in the entire region, East of the Niger. So his name would sell any newspaper anywhere in the world. And his friends believe that he has learnt to live with those sensations just as other past heroes did.
All that is needed in the big name type journalism is the due caution expected of any journalist worth the salt and to publish and print without malice, that is to thoroughly investigate all stories before rushing to the press so as to sell newspapers. Journalists must endeavor to remember often that the sale of newspapers is only an aspect of the entire sacred job of journalism.
Res Ipsa loquitur is a latin maxim that literarily says: “the thing speaks for itself,” when that thing is self evident. This maxim holds facts as sacrosanct and the messenger of fact inviolate. In the highly publicized and unproportionately advertized purported Government House squabbles here are the facts that speak for themselves.
One, Prince Eze Madumere is too busy in the Government House to engage in any battle or instigate any battle in the Government House. As in-depth investigation discloses this man came to the Government House with a purpose—to help his boss set a record of performance in office, one of its kind in the African continent. Thus, he wakes up every day with a renewed vigor and the passion for success. Until that success is achieved insiders would tell you, Prince Eze Madumere would seek no rest, no time for idle talk and scramble for position.
Two, the Deputy Governor has followed his boss, lived with him, communed with him, and the duo have understudied each other for over 20 years. What else can anybody tell his oga about him that he does not know about him? The Governor knows Eze Madumere more than anybody else in Imo state. At that level of close association gossips and tattles cease to be effective. Thus, Eze Madumere is not, and should not be worried about any person or a group of persons trying to tarnish his image before his Oga.
Three, the Governor of Imo state and his Deputy over the last three years have had a working relationship that is not equaled in Nigeria, nay, Africa. Madumere is the only Deputy Governor according to research findings that refer to his Governor as “my oga” The relationship between these two men is the one every state would pray for. Thus, it makes no sense for anybody to try to advise the Governor not to run with such a rare type of Deputy. As President William Jefferson Clinton of the United States would say, “if it ain’t broken don’t try to mend it” Again, a Chinese proverb instructs us never to change what is working for we may roll into danger. True, there are some within and without the Government House who may wish to become Deputy Governor however, the snag is that it does not appear that there is vacancy in that position now or in the near future.
Four, those who know Eze Madumere very well tell this writer that the Prince does not, and has not ever nursed a vaulting ambition to be what his oga has not told him to be. When his boss appointed him his chief of staff, he was satisfied and remained there with a great deal of loyalty. He worked as a horse and his performance earned that office the nickname, “the power house” Unlike some others who occupy that position he never eyed the position of the Deputy Governor until surprisingly to him his boss offered him the position as he was busy searching for someone to be appointed. Eze Madumere is not fighting for any position. He looks up to his boss for any position he has held in the past or would hold in future. Thus, if it takes two to battle then there is no battle in the Government House. What we have is a fierce attempt by individuals whose vaulting ambition has offered them sleepless nights in their gluttonous quest for the post of the Deputy Governor. They are busy struggling for the post while Madumere is busy serving his boss, his people and accumulating accolades, awards and insignia of honor for a job he is doing so well.
If there is anything Eze Madumere is fighting for it is for the success, a huge success of the rescue mission. This is the only passion he has. It is his heart and soul, oh yes, it has consumed his entire being.
Moreover, Eze Madumere is the greatest admirer of his boss. You can curse him out and he will let you free but when you speak ill of his oga, then you hurt him deeply. Nobody understands Rochas as much as Madumere, nobody works closer to the Governor than Madumere and no one can be a more fitting and matching successor to Owelle, the giant head of the rescue mission than Eze Madumere.
In light of the foregoing, methinks that any effort from any quarter to harm the relationship between this greatest Governor of our time and the most loyal Deputy of our generation will certainly hit the rocks. The Governor knows this, Eze Madumere understands it and perhaps, that may account for his adamant refusal to fight anybody so as to have enough time to do the people’s job, to the joy of his boss, to the benefit of Imolites and to the Glory of God Amighty.
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BY Dr. Ifeany Okwuchi
A Public Affairs Analyst.
