THISDAYonline

The politics of Imo state is becoming scary and vicious by the day, especially as the forces continue to mass against the incumbent governor, Chief Achike Udenwa. The forces behind the renewed offensive against the governor include what has been regarded as the "Abuja Outpost", the "Imo Elites", the "Owerri people", as well as some other amorphous groups. All of these groups seem to share a common objective of ensuring that the governor is not allowed a second tenure come 2003.

By far, the most vicious of all the offensive against the governor seem to be that being spearheaded by the Owerri community. What initially started as cautious antagonism between the Owerri people and the governor has now snowballed into full blown and open animosity. Each of the two groups has now resorted to calling the other names. The battle line seem to have been clearly drawn. Since the tail end of last year for instance, hardly any week passes without the governor and his administration coming under one scathing attack in the media or the other from the community. When this attack is not coming from the Owerri Elders Forum, it is from the Dozie-Mezie Owerri Central Council or some other masked groups from the community. On its part, the state government has resorted to dissipating a good chunk of its energy and resources to responding to these distractions.

But while this rather unfortunate situation persists, the question on the lips of many is this. What actually are the grouse of the people against the governor? Snipers to this may be found from the outcome of the recent meeting held between the governor and the Owerri Elders Forum, at the Government House, Owerri.

At the said meeting, representatives of the Owerri community used the occasion to point out to the governor their disenchantment with the way the Owerri Senatorial Zone is allegedly being marginalised by the Udenwa administration in the dispensation of political offices as well as implementation of development projects by the state government.

In a press statement allegedly signed by 22 of its representatives, the community short of passing a general vote of no confidence on the administration of governor Achike Udenwa, alleged a general lack of focus and direction in the way the state is being governed. "It is common talk that what is now happening in Imo State has never happened before. It was not so when Chief Sam Mbakwe and Chief Evans Enwerem were governors. Imo State was a happy place. No zone was shabbily treated. Governors Mbakwe and Enwerem recorded successes, yet their financial resources were not hefty". Stating further that "We ask for nothing but good governance so that all the people of Imo State - Owerri, Okigwe and Orlu will be happy", the group advised the governor not to be taken in by the activities of those it described as praise singers that surround him.

But in a sharp reaction, the state government came out with a refutal of the allegations contained in the press release. Dismissing the allegations as "willfully and wickedly concocted lies", the government said the entire statements were "ingeniously twisted to induce social pandemic" among the people. In a widely advertised press statement signed by Executive Assistant to the governor on Media and Public Relations, Mbadiwe Emelumba, the government described the said Owerri Elders Forum that endorsed the press statement as non representative of the views of the real Owerri elders. "The resume from the above facts", it noted, "proves beyond all doubts that this self acclaimed Elders Forum neither represents the interest of Owerri people nor do they love Imo State". He said the real leaders of Owerri are fully aware of what the government is doing and how the government is striving relentlessly to carry everybody along. He named such real leaders of Owerri to include Eze Emmanuel Njemanze, the traditional ruler of Owerri "who recently and in the full glare of 17 Southern governors declared that Governor Achike Udenwa is our son in whom we are well pleased". The list Emelumba gave included barrister Nnaemeka Maduagwu and other younger generation of Owerri people who are part of the Udenwa administration and who are contributing to the overall development of Imo State, he said.

Describing the alleged neglect of the Owerri Zone as fallacy, the statement noted that "A very substantial chunk of government's capital expenditure have been invested in Owerri Zone" It name such projects to include the rehabilitation of the Concorde Hotel, Owerri, the rehabilitation of the Aboh Mbaise General Hospital, new secretariat complex at new Owerri, over 13 asphalted roads in Owerri metropolis, the new SPEB secretariat, the Redemption Housing Estate, on-going construction of six 7.5 MVA NEPA injection substructure at Onitsha Road Industrial Estate Owerri etc.

On the composition of the Imo State Civil Service, Emelumba maintained that Owerri people still dominates the service, and that in the face of that obvious loopsidedness, the state government has been magnanimous enough not to have taken any actions to upstage that situation. Coupled with that, he stated that Owerri Zone has the greatest number of civil servants in the state and ranks highest in the number of both the state and federal political appointees. The list he listed to include Aviation minister, Mrs. Kema Chikwe, Special Adviser to the President on Ecological matters, Chief Martin Agbaso, Special Adviser to the President on National Orientation, Chief Tony Ozurumba, Speaker of Imo State House of Assembly, Nnaemeka Madugba, Commissioner for Women Affairs, Mrs. Julie Onyeukwu, Special Adviser to the state governor on National Assembly Matters, Hon. Ambrose Mezu as well as four other Board Chairmen.

Reacting to the said "glorious" Mbakwe and Enwerem days, Emelumba allude to the statement once credited to the same Mbakwe in which he threatened to pull the state capital out of Owerri because of the incessant harassment he received from the so called Elders of Owerri Elders. It noted that it was not surprising that the group gave a pass mark to the Enwerem administration even in the face of obvious failures because "The cabal was in total control under Enwerem".

Apparently infuriated by the reaction of the Udenwa administration to the claims of Owerri Elders Forum, the Dozie-Mezi Owerri Central Council which described itself as an aggregation of the interests of Nde Owerri, came out in strong support of the position of the Owerri Elders Forum.

While deploring the language of the state government, it stated that it "wishes to state that the genuine and sincere complaints of the Owerri Elders Forum which was a result of extensive consultation and inputs from all facets of the zone is a true reflection of the our feelings and position".

In a strongly-worded statement signed by its Secretary General C. Ohale, warned that it would no longer fold its hands and tolerate any divide and rule tactics aimed at playing its people against themselves. It further threatened that "We shall exercise our mandate by voting for a political party and candidates that respect our sensitivity and consult our people before decisions concerning us are taken and promotes the general welfare of the people. Never again shall we give our votes to an individual or group with sectarian outlook and bias for clannishness".

The first major process by the Owerri people to "deal" with governor Udenwa became manifest at the recently concluded state congress of the PDP where the likes of Kema Chikwe and Senator Evans Enwerem put up a parallel candidate in the person of Marcos Nlemeigbo to challenge Chief Alex Obi as the state chairman of the party. Obi is believed to be favoured by the governor. So while the Udenwa faction organised the state congress election at the Grasshoppers Stadium Owerri where Obi was returned unopposed as the state party chairman, the Chikwe/Enwerem faction organised theirs at the Rosy Arts Theater, Ikennegbu Layout Owerri. As the final result showed, the governor demonstrated that he still enjoys grassroots support when Obi finally emerged the state party chairman of the party.

Not withstanding this victory however, in the politics of Udenwa's second tenure and indeed his remaining first term, how decisively he handles the Owerri debacle will matter a great deal. One way of doing this according to Mr. Tony Ohakwe, a nudging politician, is to continue to pander to the interest of the Mbaise people, considered to be the most thickly populated group within the Owerri Zone. Already the governor is said to be very popular among the grassroots of the Mbaise people because of his developmental programme which favours them. With the support of the Mbaise people, analysts believe the governor will successfully counter the Owerri bluff.

The present political problem of Imo State can however, to a large extent be traced to the zoning arrangement of the state. Like most other states of the federation, it is delineated along three Senatorial Zones. In this case, there is the Okigwe, Orlu and Owerri Zones. Until the present Udenwa administration, all the two other zones had a shot at the governorship of the state which was created in 1976. The Okigwe zone produced the Chief Sam Mbakwe administration in 1983, followed by Owerri which had the aborted Chief Evans Enwerem tenure. It was in respect of the principle of equity and justice that the PDP decided to allow Chief Achike Udenwa who allegedly came a distant fourth in the party's primaries to emerge as the gubernatorial candidate. In that contest, Chief Rochas Okorocha was said to have come first, followed by Humphery Anumudu who came second and Chief Greg Mbadiwe who emerged third.

Beyond the campaign of non performance being mounted against governor Udenwa, the real motive of those who are against his second tenure could well be to maintain the principle of zoning which seeks to rotate the governorship of the state among the three Senatorial Zones. Those who share this position argue that it will be wrong to allow Udenwa, and by extension, the Orlu zone to have a second opportunity at the office when the other zones did not enjoy similar privilege. From investigation, already, the Okigwe and Orlu zones have started jostling among themselves to see who feels the position. Meanwhile, a number of candidates from the two zones have begun to spring up, and engaging in all manner of political consultations and meetings.

Even though the governor still enjoys widespread support from his own Orlu zone, he is believed to have fallen out of favour with some of his major mentors like Chief Tony Ezenna, who is alleged to be disappointed with the way he (Udenwa) has neglected his own people in his developmental programmes. How fast the governor moves to correct this impression will matter a lot for his successful second term bid.

In the Okigwe zone, Udenwa is believed to still enjoy some measure of goodwill. But analysts believe that he may soon be losing substantial number of support from this zone. This they say is particularly because the likes of Chief Rochas Okorocha, who also has his eyes at the Owerri Government House, has enlisted the support of Chief Sam Mbakwe, an indigene of the place and also believed to be quite influential in this zone.

Udenwa, popularly referred to as Onwa, might not qualify as one of the few model governors that have engineered drastic transformation of the lives of their citizens within the short span of the present democratic administration. But at the same time, he sure does not fit into the galling example of those that has brought about untold regrets to their people.

As part of his series of state tours, President Olusegun Obasanjo visited Imo State last year. At the end of the tour of projects executed by the Achike Udenwa administration, a pleasantly surprised President was said to have posed the question to the governor "But how come they say you are not working?".

Part of the problem of governor Udenwa could well be with himself and his public relations management. Analysts argue that in keeping to his modest posture, the governor often forgets that he operates under an intense political environment that requires him to go out of his way to blow his own trumpet. Besides that, they further argue that the governor's media team which they described as too bogus is lacking in co-ordination. Others hold the governor himself responsible for deliberately starving his public relations machinery of the necessary funds to undertake a proper marketing of himself and his programmes.

Alluding to the bogus media team of the governor for instance, this school of thought argue that in addition to the Executive Assistance on Media and Public Relations, Special Assistance on Publicity and Strategy as well as the Chief Press Secretary competing alongside the Commissioner of Information the governor has many other people doing pseudo-media work. Yet hes battered image. A case of too many cooks... The accusation of inadequate funding of the campaign team on the other hand, is neither here nor there.