By Amby Uneze KSJI
JESUS CHRIST was crucified on Good Friday after being betrayed by one of his twelve disciples, Judas Iscariot. What was the motive of Judas in betraying Jesus? It was because of greed. When Judas realized his mistakes, it was late for him to seek atonement and that is why he went and hanged himself. That is what the Bible tells us. Of course, the Holy Book does not lie.
Talking about Judas Iscariot and his antecedents, there were so many inconsistent pictures he represented. Therefore, to equate him with a person of this generation, particularly a leader who carries his shoulders high as one who came to power by whatever means may not be contradictory anyway.
The Governor of Imo State, Senator Hope Uzodimma is a fine gentleman. He plays politics with every amount of blood in his vein. When it comes to defending his party, the All Progressives Congress (APC), he does not mind where he comes from. His interest is sticks more towards satisfying the needs of his paymasters.
He is ready to deny his kinsmen in order to satisfy the interest of those who sent him. He is rather a messenger and like the Igbo proverb says “a child who is sent to do something by his father would not mind to break the door”.
Going further, the governor who hails from Omumma in Oru East local government area, as son of the soil and one who had contributed immensely to the development of his area, deserves heroic welcome by his people. The same way goes to his senatorial zone, Orlu. Having represented the zone (Imo East) twice in the red chambers of the national assembly, Uzodimma deserves accolades.
But, is he a happy man when the issue of Orlu zone is discussed in this year and age? The response is emphatically to the negative. The reasons are not far-fetched because everybody in the State is transparently aware “from where the rain started soaking them.”
Shortly after he was sworn in as governor, crisis erupted in Orlu, his senatorial zone and Uzodimma accepted to have invited the military to the area with a view to arrest the situation. According to him, inviting the military was to dislodge the activities of the dreaded and unfortunate self-acclaimed security outfit of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) known as “the Eastern Security Network (ESN).”
From that singular act, people believed that the governor misfired because instead of the insecurity in Orlu area to abate, it rather snowballed into serious and unimaginable proportion, leading to the unfortunate emergence of the faceless unknown gunmen that led to the massacre of several hundreds of innocent citizens, majorly the youths.
Off from the insecurity issue, another angle the governor is believed to have betrayed the Igbo is the issue of Igbo presidency for 2023. There was no consistent clamour from him and his brother governors from the South East, especially his APC counterpart, Dave Umahi. Their perceived call for Igbo presidency was just a cover-up as their interest remained to play second fiddle and become vice president. Unfortunately, they lost both chances.
To buttress this assertion, Uzodimma recently boasted that each All Progressive Congress governor will ensure victory for the party in their respective states in the 2023 presidential election. He made the boast in Daura, Katsina during a Sallah homage to President Muhammadu Buhari.
As if he has not deceived the Imolites enough, Uzodimma also supported the Muslim-Muslim ticket of the APC, noting that the decision of Kassim Shettima as Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s running mate in the presidential election was “a collective decision.”
He went as far as saying that in 2023 general elections all the 22 States where APC are governors would be voting for Muslim-Muslim ticket of their party. That is a great disservice to Ndigbo and a betrayer to the highest order. Such character can no longer be trusted by our people because he does not believe in the Igbo agenda which means that power must be shifted to the South East in 2023.
The worst disservice the governor has done to his people and the South East in general is to supervise the gruesome murder of over 14 youths in Awomama last Monday. For the chief security officer of the State to accept that 14 youths from his local government or Orlu to be murder in blood by agents of the State is more than enough offense to warrant resigns of impeachment. He rather described the deceased as bandits killed by DSS in his State. What a leader?
Imo people have long waited for the governor’s reaction against the Fulani terrorists that have killed, maimed and kidnapped many innocent citizens within Onuimo along Owerri/Okigwe road without his showing concern. It has become a daily occurrence of such terrorists activities of the Fulani herders along that route. Funny enough, Imo State government is not bothered because the Fulanis must be protected while the governor’s kinsmen are butchered.
What a betrayer? Even Judas Iscariot had some remorse after the death of Jesus Christ but he did not seek for forgiveness before he hanged himself. And our governor had the temerity to describe those youths killed in cold blood as bandits when there was no weapon found on them is an act of recklessness and unbecoming of a chief executive of the State.