EMEKA IHEDIOHA: THE OVER DESPERATION OF A PERPETUAL GOVERNORSHIP ASPIRANT

Written by Kenneth Uwadi

The title of a film I once watched is, “I’ll die for Mama” in which the legendary Indian Bollywood actor, Amitabh Bachchan does everything possible to fulfill a promise he had made in regard to dying for his mother . I love the film because it shows a human being who understands the basic meaning of the word, promise which in universal parlance is a debt that must be paid. If you give someone your words try to fulfill them.Recently someone in a group that I belong to told me that I was complaining too much. I smiled. I was asking that I be recognized for a certain effort that I had put in and I was told that I was complaining too much.

Every group has its own fair share of people who are complaining and blaming people for one thing or the other. Here in Imo State we have seen the Uche Onyeagocha whose habit of complaining and blaming the people is legendary and then the Emeka Ihedioha – who claims to have been robbed of the Imo governorship by a grand conspiracy of the Judiciary. Ihedioha till today is blaming the Supreme court for the loss suffered by his party in Imo without pointing to any concrete evidence compelling enough for him to change suddenly from a Supreme Court ‘praiser’ he was before to the basher and complainer he is today.

Ihedioha is out for a third run at the Imo governorship under the PDP. Struggles between his supporters and that of Senator Samuel (Sam Daddy ) Anyanwu on who will be PDP’s flag bearer for the Imo State governorship election is ongoing . Ihedioha sees the Imo PDP governorship as his birth right. His penchant for power and vanity rather than service to the people are legendary. He recently announced that he stands today where he stood before. He wants a third shot. This announcement was received with mixed feelings. He had lost the 2015 Imo governorship, lost the 2019 governorship and wants the party’s ticket at all cost for a third shot. He is standing in the same place—outside the gates of the Imo Government House, looking in. He knows how impossible his plans will be but he is putting on a brave face for the public. The Imo Government House is his home plate, his lunch box and he wants to get there by all means.

Emeka Ihedioha and his ilk represent the most vicious and insidious element of retrogression within the Imo society. Their actions and pretensions are sickening to every sensible Imolites. It is time for him to be told that there is nothing patriotic about hating the Imo people, or pretending to love the state while he despises the people that live in it. He represents the ugliest face of primitive politics Nigerians are fighting to do away with. He has grown so desperate that he can kill to get to power. Outside power, he does not know what life portends for him. He is finding out that the heavy inducement he doles out to bloggers, newspapers and editors to publish fake stories about governor Uzodinma and Imo is yielding dwindling results as he quarrels with more bloggers.

The desperation of this man is getting deadly by the day. His huge deployment to the media to present a gory picture of the state is bringing no fruit because falsehood has limited span. It is failing him because Imo is not in outer space.

Listening to his speeches, there is no attempt to hide the fact that the man believes he is playing on the intelligence of the people. His speeches are so hollow that most times, they were meant to amuse and provoke laughter. They lack depth, facts and conviction and he believes he is always in a theater any time he speaks in public. He goes about with a retinue of hangers on who make merry at his concerts and interrupt his speeches with loud praise of him.

He should put an end to his noise making. Ndi-Imo will not vote for him in 2023. Imo people will vote for Hope Uzodinma once again.Governor Uzodinma is widely forecast to win his re-election by a large margin against fake social media opinions. The results of an election can alter the political landscape of a state. Who the voters elect to office affects candidates, political parties, policies, the government’s balance of power and the people.

Imo PDP should be prepared to lose some of their House of Assembly and House of Reps seats in the coming elections. They will lose so many more than expected and emerge from the election as a beaten and battered donkey. After the Presidential, State and National Assembly elections, the Imo PDP will come to realize that their attempt to get to Government House will end in defeat. We will be here, cheered by Uzodinma’s second tenure, to console the defeated PDP donkey as the old year sets over the horizon. Imo will prevail.

–Kenneth Uwadi lives in Mmahu-Egbema, Imo State.