By Henry Ekpe
Whoever does not know where he is coming from, certainly may not know where he is heading to. And a proper diagnosis of a disease is the first attempt to get a correct cure. Truth is sacred, but unfortunately in politics, most times truth is coated with sweet tongues. Therefore, if you want to say it how it is, stay away from politics.
But then, how do you arrive at justice without truth? Because without justice, you can’t get peace.
That is the reason it is usually said that he who seeks for equity must come with clean hands.
Truth and justice go together because they are Siemens twins. You can’t have justice without truth, as you cannot have peace without equity.
Regae music legend, Peter Tosh sang that “I don’t need no peace, all I need is equal Rights and Justice. This is because, you can’t preach peace, when you are subjugating another’s right.
Truth be said, Imo State is in need peace. But it cannot come without equal rights and justice.
I write today after retrospecting how Imo State is going through motions without movement for over twenty years now.
The State is striving to move on, but the constrictures it created by itself limits her movement and keeps the State stagnant, while other neighboring States are moving on better.
Have Imo citizens and its Leaders asked themselves why some new States created after Imo State have moved faster than the State? This is despite the fact that Imo has bountiful human and Natural Resources way above these States.
The point is that in Imo State, everybody cares only how he/she succeeds without minding who is trampled upon in the process of that.
However, what Imo fails to realize is that no problem goes away without solving it. Even if you give it a half measure, it will return, in a larger proportion.
This is the reason some States like Cross River, Lagos, Akwa Ibom, Ebonyi, Enugu, Anambra, just to mention but a few have men of wisdom, who have realized that even if they die today, these States will still live. Therefore, it is better to fix the States for those yet unborn.
Today in Cross River, for instance, the people of the State know from which zone the next Governor will come from. So, all that is needed is for that Zone to begin the process of fishing out who will take over from incumbent Governor, Prof Ayade.
Therefore, if there is any crisis, it would be solely restricted to that Zone whose turn it is to produce the next Governor for Cross River State.
However, this does not exclude other political parties to produce candidates. But instinctively, and by moral suation, the electorate already know where their votes should go.
Under this situation, there will be peace and justice because the truth is clear in this circumstance. And all Zones are carried along.
This was the method Nigeria used to produce Chief Olusegun Obasanjo as President of Nigeria in 1999.
Following the death of MKO Abiola in prison, Power Brokers in the country knew that the best option to assuage frayed nerves was to allow Yorubas to produce the next President.
Hence the two major political parties in Nigeria then, All Peoples Party, APP and Peoples Democratic Party PDP, filled two candidates of Yoruba extraction in the persons of Olu Falae and Olusagun Obasanjo.
So, whichever way it goes, it must be a Yoruba President.
In Enugu State in 2015, the then Governor, Sullivan Chime wanted to contest for Senate seat, and yet worked for the Governorship position to move to the Nsukka axis that has not produced a Governor in Enugu State before.
So, Chime Sullivan was asked to either drop his Senatorial ambition and let peace reign in Enugu State, by ceding power to Nsukka Zone, or topedoe the arrangement and stick on with his personal ambition of moving to the Senate.
But the urbane and unselfish youthful Governor simply abandoned going to Senate for the peace of Enugu State. That was how Hon Ugwuanyi from Nsukka became a Governor today. But had it been in Imo State, Chime would not have bothered about the peace of the State but his ambition. It does not matter if Imo State boils. Why is it so in Imo State?
Visit Enugu State now and see what Ugwuanyi has done in Enugu State, especially Nsukka Zone that was neglected by previous administrations.
With this situation, there is a balanced of power today in Enugu State, as development has shifted from the already over-developed Enugu town to the rural areas, boasting the economy of Enugu State.
This brings me back to Imo State. In 1999, the Elders of the State had envisaged the same models playing out in some of these successful States now but unfortunately, Imo has derailed and missed the track.
In 1999, the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP and then All Peoples Party, APP were all new, breaming with men of altruistic dispositions.
That was the reason they looked at truth, justice and peace in selecting who becomes the Governor of Imo State immediately after the military went back to the Barracks.
In the Peoples Democratic Party, two particular zones of Imo State were incharge of PDP controlling its levers of power. They were Okigwe and Owerri Zones.
The State chairman of Imo PDP then was Chief ID Nwoga from Ahiazu Mbaise, the Acting Secretary, Chief Ugochukwu Nnawuihe is from Mbaitoli LGA. All in Owerri zone.
The National Leader was Chief Emeka Echeruo, Chief Charles Ugwu, the present State Chairman of Imo PDP, was the Zonal chairman for Okigwe, Chief Amaugo Ugorji was Owerri Zone chairman, and Chief CN Obioha the only Orlu man in the Team, was the Orlu zone chairman.
From all indications, if put to vote Okigwe or Owerri would have manipulated whatever happens in the party to their own advantage.
Even at that, the PDP Governorship primary was won by Bar Humphrey Anumudu from Mbeiri, in Mbaitoli LGA, but Chief Nwoga and Nnawuihe, including Amaugo Ugorji, felt that Imo State should come first, instead of pandering to sectional greed.
Therefore, in their wisdom, Echeruo, Nwoga, Obioha, Ugorji, Nnawuihe and Ugwu who appended their signatures on the nomination paper that certified the PDP Governorship candidate in 1999, endorsed that Chief Achike Udenwa, who came a distant third in the primary should fly the party’s ticket.
I learnt they arrived at this conclusion because before then, Chief Evan Enwerem, and Chief Sam Mbakwe, both from Okigwe and Owerri Zones respectively had been once governor of Imo State. This is not minding that Enwerem spent only a few months on the saddle.
Therefore to give their Orlu brothers sense of belonging, the lot fell of Udenwa from Amaifike. Has Orlu and Okigwe Zones handed plate to a Lion, and problem now is how to retrieve it?
Indeed, the world is turning to justice and truth as the panacea to peaceful cohabiting of comity of ethnic Groups, Nations and Peoples.
A few weeks ago, Nigeria witnessed a tumultuous demonstration by youths that the Leaders felt were gullible, docile and lazy to know what really is their right.
Even in the almighty USA, the voters have expressed their choice of President as demanded by time.
We in Imo State should not stop gloating over important issues just because it favours us now. The way and manner Imo politics is constituted must be readdressed for the future generation, than leave it as it is presently.
A State that is made up of three political zones cannot be fashioned for only one particular Zone to Lord it over the rest.
This is the reason of the general clamour for restructuring Nigeria. You cannot be supporting that call as it concerns Nigeria, but wave it aside in your immediate domain.
Since 1999, Orlu has ruled Imo State through Achike Udenwa and Rochas Okorocha for a total of sixteen years.
Infact, it was in search of equity and Zonal power balancing that the 2019 Imo Governorship election favoured the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP and its candidate, Rt Hon Emeka Ihedioha.
Imo people revolted against injustice represented by then Governor, Senator Rochas Okorocha, and stopped his prefared candidate, Chief Uche Nwosu, who is not only his son inlaw, but comes from Nkwerre, same political Zone as Okorocha who was handing over power after Eight years.
But the masses were robbed again of their peace, justice and equity when another Governor, in the person of Senator Hope Uzodinma was declared winner by the Court. And he is from the same Orlu Zone.
This scenario sent Imo State back to the starting block of injustice stirred by the court judgment.
Uzodinma may say he should not be blamed since he is not the court that arrived at making him Governor. He is right. But had peace, justice and equity been the focal point in Imo, as performed by Nwoga, Nnawuihe, Obioha, Echeruo, Ugwu and Ugorji in 1999, Imo State would have been on the same roaster with Enugu, Akwa Ibom, Cross River and others.
We should remember that it was because of Orlu Zone that even APP filed Dr Ezekiel Izuogu from Arondizuogu as its candidate in 1999 election. Meaning that however it goes it must be Orlu.
Many would be wondering why I am still talking of zone now, when the next election is still far.
As a writer, I am pushed to move as directed by spirit. How did the Junkun/Tiv War fester? Please, forgive my wandering.
The question now is; has Imo lost sense of history that all we care about is the opportunity that accrues to us now, and not its consequences later. Do we remember tomorrow since the State will outlive all of us?
I make bold to say that Imo State as presently constituted lives on injustice. Is it not written on the faces of the masses? Under this lopsided arrangement, where a section; Owerri zone, precisely, is left out in the scheme of things in the State for years, things will not shape up because even the Leaders are burdened by their consciences but refuse to say the truth.
Imo State must go back to the drawing Board and call a spade by its name. A Pharaoh who knows no Joseph may spring up within the marginalized system and it may be too late to contain. ENDSARS is an eye opener.
