Nwokeocha Ekeh
The journey to fulfilling destiny is never an easy one. The journey is always rough and tough and characterised by myriad of distractions and severe opposition. Overnight you become a victim of contrived intensive and extensive falsehood, propaganda, blackmail. There is so much sweat, grime, pain and all manner of setbacks, but at the end the tape of success is breasted and destiny is fulfilled.
Surely, as long as one is destined and courageously takes his own destiny in his own hands, with eyes firmly on the medal and ignoring all pull him down antics, no human antics or scheming,no matter how well plotted and delivered can stop you!
The Igbo put it succinctly and poignantly: ‘Chi dera Odesi go’.
Distinguished Senator Athan Achonu is the man destined to take over from the failed government of Gov Hope Uzodinma. And it seems the governor and his camp had premonition of that inevitable scenario long before he won the Labour Party primary election. As a result they vowed to do all within their human powers to stop it, even if that will mean spending the whole of Imo State monthly allocations on the project.
That’s already happening because two months to the end of the 2023 fiscal year and one month to the governorship election, which obviously is going to be between Imo people and the incumbent governor, credible sources in the state Ministry of Finance and Accountant General’s office have disclosed that over 70% of the 2023 budget has already been wasted on the fruitless fierce mandate to ‘Stop Achonu’ by all means and at all cost.
But, sadly for the governor, and this could be the reason why he’s gone gaga in recent days, as shown by his boys descent into sinister personal blackmail attacks against Distinguished Senator Achonu, the “Pull Him Down” (PHD) onslaught against the incoming governor keeps crumbling and biting the dust.
The whole macabre drama started playing out early this year sometime in late February when the governor got wind of the likely interest of Senator Achonu to vie for LP ticket. The simple thought that the man had everything to pick the ticket seriously unsettled him.
So, he promptly moved to thwart it by coughing out over $300.000 to buy up the party structures in the state through moles he planted in the party. His moles in the party were many but, prominent among them were Batos Nwadike, Fabian Ihekweme, Kelechi Kennedy Nwagwu, Martin Agbaso, Basil Maduka, Chris Anyanwu, Joseph Ukaegbu, and Kingsley Ononuju, just to mention a few of them.
All of them have returned back to their ‘home’ (APC) today!
Interestingly, Basil Maduka and Fabian Ihekweme negotiated the buy over of the party, but, they were very unfortunate as the plot died even before it took off.
Immediately Gov Uzodinma realized that his first plot had kissed the dust, he switched tactics. He again coughed out $500.000 and paid to the illegitimate Lamidi Apapa renegade group to try to first of all invalidate the primary election of the party conducted by the authentic and only national executive led by Barr. Julius Abure. Should this ignoble plan fail, the alternative was to use the courts to forment confusion, and attempt to corruptly grab the ticket from the court.
He also handsomely settled Joseph Ukaegbu and Basil Maduka who are the foot soldiers of the camp in the state, that would be used to execute the fraudulent scheme. Lamidi’s camp deceived him into believing they are the legitimate camp, when they were imposters and impersonators. As agreed after their parallel primary, Maduka dragged Ukaegbu to court. Just as they wanted the issue sowed temporary seeds of confusion and crisis in the party, the minds of its teeming members and indeed, the Imo electorate.
The overall objective of that orchestrated confusion was to push back the interest and passion of Imo people majority of whom would vote LP anytime and anyday in the coming governorship election. In their thinking, if the people get frustrated enough they may back down completely from voting or, resignedly vote APC since voting LP may end up being a “fruitless” and waste of their vote.
Again, the governor and his handlers felt with ‘Ghana Must Go’ bags they could also buy the ticket from the courts for one of their masqueraders, who will ultimately chicken out on the eve of the poll.
However, all their efforts ended up a mere academic exercise. The courts not only dismissed Maduka’s suit as a wild goose chase but, sternly warned Ukaegbu not to joke with its time with his mischievous application for consequential order. Ukaegbu and his co-conspirators had resorted to that last minute desperate measure, when it dawned on them that the court is no father Christmas that give out freebies.
Neither him nor Maduka sought to be declared governorship candidate in their frivolous legal academic exercise, and when that lacuna opened up before them, they hurriedly cobbled up the consequential order application and tried to ambush the Supreme Court into considering it, but the court threw it out with all the strength it could muster.
It’s worthy to point out here that, the over ten billion naira the governor had wasted in the doomed effort to stop Labour Party and the man destined to replace him, has dug a big hole in the treasury of the state. As we speak the ugly consequences of that desperate campaign have started manifesting as the government is now rationing payment of Imo workers salary. It’s the third week of October but workers in some Ministries Departments and Agencies MDAs, are yet to paid and those paid were paid in staggered fashion. With the purse of the state literally empty the governor as squealed by highly placed bureaucrats is now relying on the state’s IGR to pay workers. Every week he sweeps the accounts of the Imo BIR and uses whatever is available to pay the number of workers that could be paid.
From credible indications, thousands of workers may end up not being paid October salary as the weekly returns of the tax agency is not enough to get every worker paid.
Very sadly, rather than step back and take a look at the adverse consequences that have befallen the state as a result of his unprovoked war, being fueled by blind desperation, the governor is still blindly shooting himself on the leg.
Having lost the debate so to speak against the LP candidate, the governor it seems now, has resorted to playing gutter politics of abuse and personality attacks.. He seems to have instructed his media urchins to start attacking the person of Senator Achonu, having come to the inevitable conclusion that, he lacks the capacity to fight with issues and facts. This is most definitely why like all political foes of Gov Uzodinma his media hirelings are now trying to point accusing fingers on Senator Achonu for the insecurity ravaging the state. Worse, is the attempt to demean him as morally bankrupt, irresponsible and lustful.
But this, too, will fail and backfire. Nde Imo and Nigeria know very well that Gov Uzodinma solely masterminded Imo insecurity with the deal he allegedly struck to contract out Imo security to Asari Dukubo.
It was the entrance of that man whose venomous hate for the Igbo stinks to high heavens that, participated in the unfortunate bloodbath, violence and destruction that is being witnessed from 2021 till today.
The morality of Governor Uzodimma’s antecedents still remains unbeatably questionable especially within business and political circles.
If you doubt me go and ask Nze Ebubeagu Ekenulo of his experience in the hands of Uzodimma. Gov Uzodinma mirrors in every perspective the archetypal occupant of a glass house. As a result, rather than cast stones, which when retaliated may cause him and his lackeys irreparable damage, they should rather focus their attention on selling their economic plans to Imolites.
But then, Imo deserves better than it is currently experiencing. A better alternative Agu Otu Aka is here. Achonu is a child of destiny whose time has come to liberate Imo from the sharks and shackles holding it down. His, is akin to the proverbial cat of nine lives, who despite all the gang ups, betrayals, barriers, falls, endures till the end. Truly, Athan Achonu is destined to be Imo Governor.
Nwokeocha Ekeh writes from Owerri.