Loading ...For the wrong reasons, Imo State has been in the news. The State has become a desert of confusion. It has earned a notorious record of a perennial battle ground for political actors and comedians. This is why in the last two political dispensations it had to go through the crucible of two nail biting supplementary governorship elections before electing a Governor.
The ongoing political drama in the State is a reflection of how intense the political situation is leaving the electorate in a state of confusion. They are confused on who among the cacophony of politicians jostling for political power deserves their vote in 2019. The drama is acted majorly by the political actors in the three major political parties in the State- the APC, PDP and APGA. These parties are plagued by the virus of uncertainty with the active players in a free for all political battle.
The “lesser political parties” operative in the State such as PRP, Maja party, YDP, UPP, Kowa, ANRP, ACPN, ADC, SDP, NCP, Fresh party, AA, PPA, PDC and many others may be free from such virus, but they are just too weak to make a significant impact when the chips are down. Like mushrooms and perennial opportunists, most of the candidates of the small parties are waiting for the big parties to flounder, hoping for a turn around and a repeat of the 2007 political episode in the State when the then ruling PDP infested by crisis at that time had to poach then little known Ikedi Ohakim from the less fancied Progressive Peoples Alliance, PPA as its governorship candidate.
The candidates of these numerous “lesser parties” forget that in 2007, the PDP’s size and might was derived from the centre .This put it in a vintage position to dominate the entire Imo political arena. The party was in a position to dictate the pace and control the political tempo of Imo State. The scenario is different in 2018. It’s no longer PDP’s show alone. The party is no longer at the centre thus making it to lose sufficient firepower to dictate the rhythm of the political drumbeat in Imo. We now have the monstrous APC and the gamblers in APGA so strong in strength and capacity to win elections. These parties are conscious of a repeat of the 2007 scenario. This is why the political actors in the big parties will not allow the small parties and their lily livered candidates to reap from its sweat or mistakes.
However, like a recurring decimal, the major political parties in Imo State are in a burning furnace ignited by those who want political power so desperately. Never in the political history of Imo State have politicians showed so much lust for power than now. Presently, the political players and their parties all swim in the river of confusion and oasis of uncertainty while the congregation of small parties in the State are marooned by the wave of a turbulent political wind blowing across the State. They are like wanderers in the desert.
In the APC, a veiled desperation for power by one man is tearing the ruling party apart. For the first time, an incumbent Governor, Rochas Okorocha, is fighting his biggest battle in his political career. He wants his son in law and former Chief of Staff, Uche Nwosu to take over governance of the State in 2019 .For the Imo electorate; this is a new, strange and dangerous dimension in Imo politics. Okorocha’s personal agenda is vehemently opposed by another group of political oldies in the party, the Imo APC Coalition, who have resisted the idea. The Coalition is behind Senator Hope Uzodinma whose governorship ambition is supported by other aspirants including some of Okorocha’s former allies- his Deputy, Eze Madumere, two former Secretaries to Imo State Government, Jude Ejiogu and George Eche.
The struggle for the governorship ticket has bruised the APC so badly in Imo State making the party to inflict on itself a deep cut which may not heal before the governorship election. The legal and political fireworks applied by the contending forces to grab the governorship ticket is an expression of how fierce, intense and desperate the protagonists have become in their mad rush for political power.
The Imo APC guber ticket is now a ding dong affair. Like a pendulum, it can swing anywhere. And if it does not swing in Okorocha’s way, it will alter the political dynamics in the State ahead of the 2019 governorship election. And because the Governor is a huge determinant factor in Imo politics, the outcome of the tussle will shape the tempo of the political game.
Okorocha had mistakenly shown us that the ambition of his son in law is his political lifeline after 2019. His body language gave out early signals that if Uche fails to win the guber ticket of the APC, he may go into political limbo. Okorocha exposed his emotions. His considerations are more personal and for self political gain. His political empire which he has successfully erected and the need to become another Bola Tinubu of Imo State after he is gone seem to be cumulative factors fueling his desperation to have Uche Nwosu as the next governor of Imo State.
The APC rumbles and tumbles in Imo State. And despite fears expressed over Okorocha’s insistence that his son in law must be Governor in 2019, sight should not be lost of what will be the fate of the APC if the wish of the “jagaban of Imo State” is not carried out by the national leadership. What will be the fate of the APC if Okorocha decides to leave in protest? Can Buhari, Oshiomole, the National Working Committee, NWC of the APC afford to lose their strongman in the South East after losing three State Governors recently? This is Imo APC dilemma.
The APC may have its dose of crisis but the PDP in Imo State is not free from its internal quagmire. It is no saint either. The PDP wants to feel power once again. If the APC wander in the desert of confusion, the PDP swims in deep corner of a troubled sea where Emeka Ihedioha is fast becoming an alter ego, a domineering political force. Like Okorocha, Ihedioha wants power. And he does not pretend about it. The only difference between the APC and the PDP in Imo State is that the depth and level of confusion in their midst varies. Like the APC the PDP have also plunged Imo State into lonely a desert of uncertainty.
Emeka Ihedioha is flying the governorship flag of the party for a second time. Some say back to back which exposes his rampaging desperation for political power. And he cares to tell anyone who bothers to listen, that it will be alleluia for him and his followers in 2019. The former Deputy Speaker still has the challenge posed by Senator Samuel Anyanwu to overcome. The Owerri zone Senator had bungled a unique opportunity to consolidate on his impressive performance in the Senate in the last four years to seek for a second term. Rather he chose to walk on a path filled with landmines. He went for the governorship ticket of the party which Ihedioha had pocketed even before the whistle for the primary was blown. Anyanwu walked on a path Ihedioha and co had already created and loaded with political dynamites. And when one walks on a landmine, an explosion is imminent and it could be so fatal. This is the Senator’s present ordeal. Having lost the governorship ticket, he planted political dynamites that may consume the party before and after the governorship election.
Anyanwu is running a personal agenda which may lead Imo PDP into stream of confusion. He is paddling the boat alone with no passenger but encouraged on the shoreline by anti Ihedioha forces in the party. He is playing the same card Rotimi Amaechi played in 2006 where the Supreme Court kicked out Celestine Omehia as Governor of Rivers State and declared Amaechi Governor on the strength that Amaechi not Omehia was the rightful governorship candidate of the party. This informed his decision to go to Court. This is Anyanwu’s revenge plan. This was the same scenario in 2006 in Imo PDP when Ifeanyi Araraume cried foul on the process that got the same Ihedioha the governorship ticket of the party thus making the former Deputy Speaker to earn a notorious record of winning party primaries in controversial circumstances just as PDP members see a return to power in Imo State as the only route for political survival and economic emancipation.
APGA in Imo State also swim in the deepest corner of the sea of turbulence that has over shot its bank in Imo State. Araraume, a serial governorship aspirant was bundled out of the APC and barely a month he leapfrogged into APGA, he grabbed the governorship ticket leaving in its trail wailing and lamentations from other aspirants who had invested so much in the party. The “war” situation in APGA in Imo State has made it loose considerable electoral appeal and has raised concern if the party can re stimulate Imolites to embrace it as an alternative for regime change in 2019. Araraume, the benefactor of the crisis has a herculean task to glue the party together if his fourth attempt at the governorship will materialize at this time. Araraume’s gain has become APGA’s pain. The feathers of the cock party have been ruffled, it has been stripped naked. Like a chicken prepared for roasting, APGA has lost so much since it failed to hold a rancour free primaries. No matter the pretenses, the party is no longer the same. It strolls aimlessly in the desert of confusion. A costly mistake, desperation for filthy lucre by its leaders made APGA, the once rallying point for Imolites, to become a pariah.
This development has put Imolites at cross roads over these sad political situations ravaging the political platforms that will produce a new Governor in 2019. What manner of Governor will even emerge from this crowd of battle thirsty politicians seeking for the number one seat of the State? Governorship candidates of the “lesser parties” stay on the sidelines and pray that the actors in the big parties to crumble, while candidates of the big parties engage in ruthless and brutal political war just to outpace the other. What a merry go round!
It is painful that the ideologies of both the big and small political parties and how it suits the welfare of Imo people in 2019 is no longer an issue worthy of mention. The governorship contenders all sing the same war song against their opponents. Issues driven debates have taken flight compelling the unsuspecting electorate to focus on who is bullying who in the political arena rather than what those who want to preside the affairs of the State have to offer. None of the governorship candidates paraded by the political parties have shown how they intend to make our lives better. They have all hidden under the canopy of Okorocha’s perceived misrule as a basis to aspire for the number one seat of Imo State. It’s now a case of pouring invectives on Rochas, bla, bla, bla, then you qualify as a governorship hopeful.
Imo people are on the verge of wandering in another desert of bad governance if we allow the present set of governorship candidates confuse us with their make belief war mongering political disposition and self designed political battles. We must demand for their roadmap on education, health, youth development, etc.
This has reinforced the need for independent candidates. Imo State needs a break, a departure from the present discordant tunes blown by a desperate lot whose personal aggrandizement supersedes any other considerations. Imo State needs an independent candidate only if the Constitution had permitted it.
Mr. Nwokeji writes from Owerri
