By Ugorji Okechukwu Ugorji
Today, December 12, 2024, is the birthday of the governor of Imo State, Senator Hope Ododika Uzodimma, CON. On this day, I offer a wish.
As I commemorate my governor’s birthday, I am reminded of the angst that has been aired in the media and privately about governance in Imo State. I am also cognizant of the vigorous and muscular responses from government officials to that angst. Those of us who worked for and with the governor know our principal well, either before some of us came to serve or while we were serving. He is at once ubiquitous and at the same time scarce. It is the nature of the man’s enigma that sentiments about him fall on both extremes of the continuum. In other words, he is deeply consequential.
During the last gubernatorial election in Imo State, I shared the Odoziobodo principle: Where there is a term limit of two, it is in the best interest of the state to reelect an incumbent, provided that the ship of the state is not adrift. Imo people reelected Uzodimma.
Now, as the public discourse, in orations and in whispers, point to passionate and dispassionate appraisals of governance in the state, it is time to propose another dictum: In the second and last term of office for a leader, and as the promising specter of succession looms, it is best for all to take a chill pill.
The ardent critic and the insufferable sycophant are both serving the same Odogwu. They come from stone and water, both of which are needed to sharpen the tip of the spear. And sharpen the tip of the spear, is a task for all of us.
So, here is a birthday wish for the governor general and for Onwa Oyoko: Let Hope be Hope!
_Dr. Ugorji Okechukwu Ugorji was the pioneer commissioner for Homeland Security and Vigilante Affairs, Imo State. He writes from Owerri._
