By Kelechi Jeff Eme
In my earlier published piece written a few days ago, I was cautious enough to limit the disposition of the article towards the fruitful 7 months administration of His Excellency, Rt. Hon. Emeka Ihedoha. I intentionally didn’t engage in a critic of the present regime of the APC. However, you can never make an omelette without breaking an egg. This is an absolute truism that has stood the test of time.
Declan Emelumba, in a desperate hunger for toxic engagement, personally robed my piece with toxicity in pursuit of illogical desire to descend into the political gutters of infamy. My piece was neither toxic nor exaggerative. Frankly speaking, I expected more from a high ranking cabinet member of government. ‘Rofo Rofo’ in political engagement is an aliment of the weak and players drained of logic, philosophy, reality and ability to strict proof facts.
Declan Emelumba must understand that he’s remunerated at the expense of the State exchequer to defend the government and promote its positives, hence should not expect roses and orchids from private commentators. While I did not make the 3R government the centerpiece of my last publication, I was cautious not to do the work of a paid staff of government. In this reply to the pedestrian rejoinder penned down by the Honourable Commissioner, I will maintain my position to isolate the present administration from my current piece despite the unwarranted attack directed at myself and His Excellency, Emeka Ihedoha, Omenkeahuru n’anya. Let facts speak!
Commissioner Emelumba ascribed Messianic tendencies to His Excellency, Rt. Hon. Emeka Ihedoha based on the title of my article. For starters, he failed to disconnect the content, writer and object of my treatise. He grossly imagined that every positive attempt to present a sane narrative must have been sanctioned by the object of the article. That in my view is a crass appreciation of what political marketing entails. There’s nothing Messianic about Ihedoha and I never attired him as indispensable and only administratively endowed citizen of Imo State. However, I stated and will continue to state that based on previous records of past and present administrators of the State, those angling to succeed the present administration and those on the flank hoping to be pushed into the arena by a “massive” godfather, His Excellency, Rt. Hon. Emeka Ihedoha towers supremely above all without any iota of contradiction. If Commissioner Emelumba defines my position as Messianic, it’s within his right to do so. I am only responsible for what I write and not responsible for the misunderstanding by the Honourable Commissioner.
It’s ridiculously embarrassing that Emelumba would disrespect the soul of Dee Sam Mbakwe, the gift of God to old Imo State in an attempt to undermine Rt. Hon. Emeka Ihedoha. He claimed that all the enduring roads in the State were the handiwork of Ndubuisi Kanu. Can he point at those enduring roads? My understanding is that the Honourable Commissioner is alien to the use of figurative writing and statements to underscore a political point. Any citizen capable of an attempt to erase the footprints of Dee Sam Mbakwe in old Imo State in desperate bid to score cheap political points is not a patriot of our dear State.
Some of us are not politically myopic to overlook positive developments churned out by any government as I stated in my earlier piece. I wrote: “while one can acknowledge a few positives by the present administration in the area of road construction, especially on the 3 of the 6 major exit routes from Owerri municipality, however, Imo State is beyond the 3 routes out of Owerri.” The interpretation is clear and unambiguous that though something has been done, enough remained undone. The Ihedioha administration deployed RAMP to construct 381km rural roads to connect the cities with the agricultural hubs of the State for cheaper foods for the citizen. The opinion of this writer is that had the Rural Access and Mobility Project (RAMP) roads been sustained, Imo State GDP would have quadrupled by now. Are we going to pretend that work on Assumptha end of the Port Harcourt road was not started by the Ihedioha administration? What of the complete recovery of the major World Bank boulevard? Have we forgotten who Completely cleaned the debris in the huge World Bank boulevard gutters all the way to Umuguma road? What about the Okigwe Road-IMSU- Bishop Court road and roundabout? Concorde boulevard ring road-Jacob Zuma-Port Harcourt road? The N13.5bn RAMP project was successfully mobilised in Mbaitoli, Isu and Onuimo Local Government Areas.
It’s bewildering that Declan Emelumba is not in touch with current realities of modern development. His inability to understand modern tools of job creation speak volumes of the quality of contributions he makes in cabinet. His mockery of the Ihedioha vision of building 27 sports centers in all the Local Government Areas is shocking. The economic and social benefits of the program would have added significantly to the GDP of Imo State. Ihedioha planned to generate multi million dollars from the sporting programs annually and this is based on empirical research. This is a far better way of empowering the youths instead of miserable handouts and high decibel promises of impossibilities.
Imo civil servants and labour leaders are in a better position to confirm the strides of Rt. Hon. Emeka Ihedioha in alleviating their plight. Why’s Declan Emelumba concerned that consultants cleaned up the civil service payroll? The Ihedioha administration restored 100% salary payment to civil servants in the State. He equally restored training for public servants and made sure that promotions are thoroughly merited. It’s a known fact that independent consultants are always better positioned to deliver impeccable management audits.
Reading through the rejoinder by Emelumba, one is absolutely not convinced that he was actually responding to my piece. He ended up bringing his boss into the arena for no just reason. May be, just may be he’s looking for an avenue to impress his boss and cream off some favours. Otherwise, how come an article that was about His Excellency, Rt Hon. Emeka Ihedioha was turned by Commissioner Emelumba to focus on his boss. This overzealous own goal is unheard of in political marketing. Yes, Ihedioha didn’t clear pension areas in 7 months and I never wrote he did. However, his pension reform was a positive and bold attempt at ensuring complete liquidation of all the arrears. He paid full pension and salaries that accrued during his 7 months in office and was steadily paying arrears without hitches. This is governance and the beneficiaries still have nostalgic feelings about the brief Ihedioha era.
There’s something critical about Ihedioha that distinguished him from other Imo political leaders. He’s a great planner and comprehensively believes in due process and solutions based on the outcome of research. His integrity is unassailable and there’s nothing Emelumba can do about it. He queried Ihedioha’s integrity by deploying opaque and figmental examples to draw clueless conclusions. In case the rejoinder writer has forgotten, this is the definition of integrity: “the quality of being honest and having strong moral principles.”
For a man that occupied the 6th highest political office in the Federal Republic of Nigeria and was Executive Governor for 7 months, not even a single indictment has been directed at him. Commissioner Emelumba should appease the gods of Nde Imo for attempting (though in vain) to ridicule one of the brightest stars of our State.
The Rice Revolution of Ihedioha was a program designed to feed the entire State. The Rebuild Imo administration carefully selected 500 young men and women across the 27 Local Government Areas for special training on rice cultivation and milling. They were sent to Nasarawa State for this training under the auspices of Imo Youths in Agriculture Program (I YAP). The Rebuild Imo administration commenced the establishment of functional “Rice Seed Farm Cluster” on the Imo River Basin at Amumara, Ezinihitte Mbaise Local Government Area.
Imo State was set to host the only Agribusiness Park in Nigeria at Ngor Okpala.This was conceptualized to comprise of agribusiness academy and a smart agribusiness center for revenue generation. Mr. Commissioner, what happened to these worthy State rejuvenation programs?
Finally, Hon. Emelumba, reading through this piece, you will of course notice that I purposely left your principal out of this reply despite your ill informed attempt to drag him into it. He will not be on the ballot in 2027, why should I drag him into a matter his supposed image maker mishandled?
Kelechi Jeff Eme
The Cicero of Mbaitoli.
