IMO STATE DEPUTY GOVERNOR AND THE IMPEACHMENT STORIES

The will to act is entirely dependent on the decision to act. Ideally, a resolution should flow seamlessly into its corresponding action such that there is little to distinguish between the decision and the action. The bible mentioned a servant girl of Naaman's wife. However, the girl was brave enough to tell her mistress of a prophet in the country of Samaria, which is in the Kingdom of Israel, who was able to heal Naaman of his leprosy. Naaman was the captain of the Syrian Army around 850 B.C. In the account of the war between Syria and Israel, as recorded in I Kings 15, God gave Captain Naaman the victory over Israel. In II Kings 5, it is written that Naaman was a mighty man of valor, but was a leper. The unknown servant girl showed Naaman were he got his healing. There are people that are bold like the servant girl of Naaman today. They point out the wrong things going on and call for change. They shout at those adding poisons as medicine for chronic ailment, to stop it. They call for things to be done right for the overall good of the majority. They are the civil servants of the society. In Imo state, the unknown servant will not stop talking. I am the unknown servant who will never stop calling on leaders of my state to do the right thing for the good of the majority. Take it or leave it.

I have been undergoing personal problems for some time now. Some persons are happy that I am down. They want me to remain down so I will be busy with personal problems and stop shouting at the International thieves in my state. But no kind of incapacitation will make me stop saying the truth to our leaders. Ralph Waldo Emerson , the sage of concord startled New England when he became a free spirit and resigned his pastorate. He then devoted the rest of his life of free spiritual enquiry into the minds of many who would have been able to acquire it no other way. Also, Ralph Miliband a key twentieth century political thinker once said that the hottest place in hell will be reserved for those who sit on the fence in the face of great moral crisis. No one will want to go to the hottest place in hell, at least not me.

I heard that Governor Okorocha wants his deputy, Prince Eze Madumere impeached. I heard that the State House of Assembly has commenced impeachment processes against him, accusing him of absence from duty without official reason or permission for a period of three months and being an ex-convict. I must confess that the man Prince Madumere is not bad. I developed an air of breathless excitement whenever I hear anything about him. He is one of the Imo state politicians in my “watch list”. Take it or leave it, from my findings Madumere is good. He does things right. His simplicity and doggedness to issue are legendary. He is one of the extremely few people that can be relied upon and who has the genuine desire in the uplift of Imo State. To me If Madumere who ran joint ticket with Okorocha in 2015 is an ex convict as alleged, then both the governor and his deputy should immediately be impeached for concealment of felonious conduct.

Knowing who governor Okorocha is, I don’t believe the accusations against the deputy governor. Imo House of Assembly thinks Imolites are brain dead. They expect Ndi-Imo to swallow this concoction that Madumere is an ex convict. Why should we believe the allegations when we know how the Jude Agbaso-Impeachment story ended? In 2011 Jude Agbaso , was made deputy governor of Imo state via the political connection of his elder brother Martin Agbaso . Those who foisted him on Ndi-Imo painted him as a credible face. We were told that he was Mr. Integrity, that he carried the banner of Mr Incorruptible. We believed them and listened when he spoke. When he was given an extra role of commissioner of works of the state, we clapped. In February 2013, Imolites woke up one morning to hear that the same Jude has received bribe monies totaling N458 million from a construction company. We were “shock- struck”. There are things that happen, and you will be dumb-founded, you will be filled with so much shame that your eyes will close in indignity. That was how many of us who believed the Mr. Integrity story of Jude Agbaso felt. Twenty three members of the 27-member Imo State House of Assembly impeached him on March 28, 2013. Some months later, we came to discover that the allegations against Agbaso were false. Jude was witch hunted by the governor of the state and impeached over disagreement between his senior brother, Martin Agbaso, and the governor on who will become governor in 2015. Now it is the turn of Madumere another Owerri man to be accused falsely and be disgraced. Ndi mmadu self!

If Madumere is impeached for his stance against the third term in office of Governor Okorocha, five million Madumeres are still standing by and still saying no to family to family government in the state. It is not about Madumere. It is about Ndi-Imo that have said no to imposition of the governors son in-law on the people. Uche Nwosu is the third term agenda of Okorocha. The tragic irony of the state’s financial situation is not lost on us who have watched with horror and trepidation, the state’s dramatic slide into bankruptcy. What happened to the ‘Industry, Industry, Industry; Factory, Factory, Factory; Job, Job, Job’ policy mantra of the governor’ second tenure? What is very clear to all right thinking people of good faith is that, the people of Imo State actually need an urgent rescue mission from both Okorocha’s strangulating firm grip on the state’s finances and his poor leadership. In over seven years that he has been sitting as Governor of Imo State, he has done nothing to improve Imo despite huge allocations he has been collecting. Yes, the roads in our LGA’s are in their worst state, public water supply has become fairly tale, insecurity has become such that only the very poor is safe, unemployment has reached a crescendo, the only sign of Governance in Imo being blaring of siren by Governor’s children, their maids, their in-laws and motley crowd of hangers on who feed fat on the allocation of the State. This is a man who still nurses the ambition to govern for another 8 years through his son in-law. May God forbid!

There is no doubt today Imo people are tired of the Okorocha’s government and need someone else with fresh ideas as governor in 2019. Imo will not remain a one man and his family business. We want a NEW FACE to be the governor of the state, someone outside blood or marriage relationship with the governor, someone who will implement pro-masses policies as against the existing pro-rich pro-imperialist cum capitalist thief-thief policies in the state. We need not at this juncture say that the patience of the people is running out in the face of barefaced looting using fake projects as conduit pipes but we ask again, Who is Uche Nwosu and in whose interest is his governorship project meant to serve. For now all we saying are NO THIRD TENURE for Okorocha, Mbanu! Never again!

-Kenneth Uwadi writes from Mmahu Egbema, Imo State, Nigeria and can be reached via 08037982714.