By Ori Martins I would have completely ignored the current infantile social media attack targeted against Rt. Hon. Emeka Ihedioha, but for the involvement of two prominent Mbaise personalities mischievously associated with the ongoing ill tailored slings on the former governor of Imo State. The sponsors and spin doctors of these disjointed, carelessly scripted and recklessly circulating social media missiles are not well informed. In spite of their failed attempts of employing two great, worthy Mbaise wards., Prof Edward Oparaoji and Prof Uzodinma Nwala, to legitimatize their dirty deals, they still did not get their acts right. Their prose was sorrowfully porous., their argument pathetically hollow while their delivery lacked tact – unconvincing. The case here is very clear and even a toddler can detect these agents of darkness’ anger and frustration. Of course, they are aware that they cannot measure Ihedioha’s political capacity, reach and tentacles. They had at one time or the other confronted him and he towered head and shoulders above them. Even recently, they were among the marauders who attempted to cause a political putsch by disingenuously plotting to take over Ihedioha’s structure in Imo State. But they were consumed in the crossfire they fanned. Therefore, upon being informed that Ihedioha was holding town hall meetings overseas, they miserably colluded to open their machine gun at him. Unfortunately for them, their piping pins failed abysmally. The charge they brought against Ihedioha was in two folds to wit: he is going contrary to the avowed Mbaiseness of Mbaise., that he never supported Peter Obi during the PDP presidential primary election even as he is in London now campaigning against the former Anambra State governor. In all practical purposes, these charges are both infantile and senseless as they hold no water at all. The fact is that, except, perhaps, the legendary and iconic late music maestro Dr/Sir Warrior of the Oriental Brothers International fame, no other Mbaise, dead or alive, has promoted or bought up Mbaise as a nation to the outer world in positivity more than Ihedioha. As the deputy speaker of the Federal House of Representatives between 2011 and 2015, Ihedioha, then a presiding officer, brought honour and glory not just to Mbaise but also to Imo State, South East and Ndigbo in general. While his huge contributions to the growth and development of constitution, constitutionalism., and bills that brought about massive infrastructural execution may not be necessary to be recapped here, it must be stated that, in all his 12 years sojourn as a legislator, Ihedioha, till date, has never been questioned, named, mentioned or dragged about by any law enforcement agency in the country. That is, he not corrupt. He has no skeleton in his cupboard. This record is immaculate as well as it is unparalleled!!! Certainly, this nationally acclaimed impeccable track record attracks envy by Ihedioha’s political peers and it is quite understandable. His seven/eight months stewardship as governor of Imo State was quite super and superb. He proved that Imo could fly again. He was balanced in his appointments based on merit, capacity and they covered the three geo political zones. As a matter of fact, Ihedioha delivered and Imo people still love him for it. Again, the executioners who succeeded him are still searching for what they could lay their hands on to nail him. But they cannot because he was honest and sincere. The second charge was on Obi. Yes. Peter Obi. Most of us are very much aware that Ihedioha had made all necessary preparations to receive Obi while he was still campaigning for the presidency on the platform of PDP. However, the saying that man proposes while God disposes, take the front bench. It was most unfortunate. Obi came to Imo without Ihedioha coming out to receive him. Moments later, Sokoto governor was here and Ihedioha was on hand to receive him. It will take a disciplined mind, a godly conscience and a trained soul to take it that Ihedioha planned to receive Obi but couldn’t because of unforseen circumstances. It was an unfortunate situation that could happen to anyone. You can take it, you can leave it. The second leg here was that Ihedioha travelled all the way to London to bring down Obi so as to elevate Atiku Abubaka. This is really laughable. For those who know Ihedioha and how he plays his politics, he is never a public showman – he never does things for applause. Ihedioha believes in processes and procedures. That is, why should Ihedioha go to London at this particular time to campaign for Atiku when the time for this is still ahead? For now, Ihedioha remains a PDP chief and not Atiku’s campaign manager or director – he can be tomorrow. By the way, why have the sponsors of these ruthless allegations not come up with video clips of Ihedioha camping for Atiku in London? The man who said he came to his church to preach Atikulation, why is it difficult for him to ply the video tapes of where Ihedioha was doing what he claimed? You see, you can deceive a blind man about oil not being in a food, you cannot do so when it comes to salt as he will feel it himself. This insult against an innocent man must stop. Ihedioha is a true Mbaise son of the soil. A patriotic Imo, a good Igbo and a Nigerian star!

  By Ori Martins Governor Hope Uzodimma is not a Satan. He is not a Devil either. The Imo governor is a human being. And, like every human, he has good and bad sides. Uzodimma’s flaws, in comparison, outweigh his strong points. Most times, his comments, contradictions and general performance can be said to be satanic because they go against the laws of nature and all known relevant established norms. The nucleus of all Uzodimma’s failings and acrobatic static verses were his emergence as the governor of Imo State. Finishing fourth in the March 9, 2019 governorship election, Uzodimma, in a most satanic fashion, played around the supreme court of Nigeria and the apex court controversially installed him governor on January 14, 2020. The world stood in condemnation of that judgement. Upon assumption of office in the face of gale of protests, Uzodimma, unmindful of his utterances, recklessly informed his dejected and helpless subjects that he had discovered a condit through which his predecessors milked the state dry. He pledged that upon blocking the leakage, he would be saving the whopping sum of N2b monthly for his dear Imo people. It is about 26 months since Uzodimma made the above pledge. If you multiply 26 months by N2b monthly, it will be equal to N52b. So, there is N52b in Imo State, yet hunger, starvation, deceases, unemployment, insecurity and collapsed infrastructure continue to confront Imo people on daily basis! If this is true (N52B in Imo ‘s vault), then, it is satanic that the sufferings of Imolites are this humongous. If it is not true, then the governor told a satanic lie even from day one. And so the governor, unprepared for governance, by his own account and in his own words, confirmed the fear of most Imolites that his emergence was through a static verse, proclaimed it to the rooftop that he became governor using the Ben Johnson formula. Ben Johnson was the highly criminalized 100 and 200 metres athlete who used banned steroids to catapult himself to questionable victory in the 1988 Olympic Games in Los Angeles, USA. Johnson’s speed was electrifying. His comprehensive road to Olympic stardom was highly unimaginable and contradicted every known athletic rule or regulation. The world athletics governing body was forced to put Johnson’s record to scrutiny and the Canadian came crashing – he cheated. Subsequently, he was banned and his in- glorious medals stripped of him. Today, Johnson is a classic example as well as a reference point to cheating and whatever corruption represents. And this is the man Uzodimma chooses to compare himself with. It was more of a Freudian slip than a slip of tongue. And whichever prism you periscope it, it amounts to a satanic verse. Probably, nothing establishes Uzodimma’s satanic utterances albeit administrative cluelessness than his well advertised billions of naira rabbit scheme meant to boast agriculture in Imo State. Of course, rabbit is not the mainstay of farmers in the state. It is not a mainstream project. It is foreign to Ndigbo in general and Imo agriculturists in particular. If the governor meant well, if he really wanted to uplift the face of agriculture in the state, using the best of international standard practices, he would have applied the simple method of proximity or locale approach. That is, what are the things common to Imo farmers? And he would have known about poultry, snail, pig, goat, fish, sheep, dog., crop and other forms of farming outlets very beneficial to farmers of this clime. But, you see, because of the governors’ inclination to static verses, he does not seem to practically understand the import of people oriented schemes and projects. You now do a proper overview of sports in Imo State since the years of Uzodimma. What beholds you is a pathetic situation. The Dan Anyiam Stadium is more or less a play ground as you read this. The Grasshoppers International Handball Pitch has now been abandoned for reptiles of all kinds even as the female handball team, then respected, admired and adored all round the continent of Africa, is now non existent. As Grasshoppers are in ruination, Heartland FC are on a life support machine. The team are among the four clubs to be relegated to the lower division after this season. Under the watch of Uzodimma, the state owned team will go down for the second time in history. The first disaster was supervised by then governor, Senator Rochas Okorocha in 2016. Both Grasshoppers and Heartland were for many seasons Nigerian champions. Grasshoppers were African champions in 1982 and finalists in 1987. Heartland FC were African finalists in 1988 and 2009. But under Uzodimma, both indomitable sides are facing extinction and liquidation. What a tragedy. What a fate. Still elements of Uzodimma’s satanic verses in full operations. There were civil disobedience in the Orlu Zone of Imo State. Uzodimma, in his capacity as the chief security officer of the state, invited the army for intervention. Ever since then, almost the entire Orlu Zone has never known peace. The question is: what was the rule of engagement given to the army brought to Imo State? Since then, insecurity has been the lot of Imolites. Since then, Imo State is replete with killings and kidnappings of all proportions. Not quite long ago, the APC presidential candidate, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu was involved in all meaner of doubts concerning his birthplace, age, education and parental background, as well as state of origin. Nigerians of all walks of life agreed that Senator Tinubu had questions to answer pertaining to his CV. Uzodimma, characteristically, told Nigerians that Tinubu has no question to answer. He fired an eternal salvo to the effect that INEC must be blamed for the former Lagos governor’s faux pas. Another satanic verse. Just last weekend, Uzodimma came out again with an ugly scripted satanic verse. He called on South East to shun opposition politics if the marginalized zone must ever be taken seriously at the centre.