Correcting 2011 Injustice: The Primary Task For Imo Charter of Equity

By Chidozie Njoku

It is a common aphorism that “whatever that is worth doing, is worth doing well.” This presupposes that anything an organisation,a group of people or society consider very important and set out to achieve, no effort should be spared in ensuring not just its mere actualization, but rather its meaningful actualization.

Today, Imo,my dear State, has been witnessing discordant political tunes occasioned by divergent interpretations of the real intent of the Imo Charter of Equity. Trust the political class, each politician,depending on his or her geopolitical zone, or interest, has continuously struggled to skew the narratives to favour zonal irredentism. None seems to border about the grevicious harm such parochial zonal interests could do the larger collective interests of Imo State and her people.

To these zonal irredentists, it must be their zone or nothing. They talk with unbridled arrogance and empty haughtiness as if Imo belongs to them. They exhibit traits of desperation, including but not limited to prostrating before the incumbent Governor, Distinguished Senator Hope Uzodinma, and even washing the dirty plates in his kitchen. Shamelessly, they publish these nauseating things in the media.

The people of Owerri zone are the ones in reference here, though not all of them. The unnecessary heat in Imo’s political space is also traceable to these same group of people.

Desperation is not a noble virtue. Desperation kills. It is deceptive just like those who wear it like armor.For those who must have read MACBETH by William Shakespeare, it was desperation and vaulting ambition that ruined and pushed him to his ultimate doom.

Imo people can not be fooled by desperadoes again who have chosen to make recklessness and loquaciousness their virtues. Governing Imo State is not about being garrulous. It is about being tactful, focused,and visionary. The incumbent Governor, Hope Uzodinma, is a case study. He rarely talks, but does much, a case of “action speaks louder than words.”

If the Imo Charter of Equity is to be properly domesticated and given a solid foundation to once again take off seamlessly, the abhorable injustice of 2011 concerning Imo’s governorship must be squarely addressed first. “He who seeks for equity must come with clean hands.” Seeking for equity which encompasses equality, honesty, fairness and justice,with dirty hands, is tantamount to cleaning the anus before visiting the toilet.

In 2011,political leaders from Owerri zone conspired and encouraged some other political desperadoes in Imo State to truncate Okigwe zone’s tenure. All appeals made to Owerri zone political leaders to shun such political perfudy and hirakiri in 2011, fell on deaf ears because of their blind pursuit of porridges of yam. The leadership of Owerri Zonal Political Leaders Forum (OZOPOLF),Imo Harmony Project (IHP),Archbishop Anthony Obinna of Owerri Catholic Archbishop, his 2i/c, Reverend Father Gerald Njoku of Assumpta Cathedral where Archbishop Obinna formerly held sway, Senator Chris Anyanwu,who publicly confessed to conniving with the military to destroy Okigwe zone’s tenure in 2011 and some political leaders in Ngor Okpala local government area(all from Owerri zone) actively committed this political injustice against Imo people in 2011.

Shamelessly, these same self appointed political messiahs have come again to hijack the 2027 Imo governorship project. They have revived their moribund political machineries, erroneously believing that Imo is for sale. In their desperation and warped imagination, they forget that “once beaten, twice shy.”

For Imo to get it right and run away from the looming nemesis and retributive justice which have temporary stayed action against Imo State,probably because of Governor Uzodinma’s defined approach towards rectifying the anomalies and catalogue of injustices he inherited, political leaders in Imo should in unison, agree and allow Okigwe zone to complete its unjustly truncated tenure 2027. The book of Proverbs 4 vs 34 says, “Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a reproach to any people.” This quoted biblical verse highlights the essence of living righteously and doing justice to all manner of persons, so that God can prosper His people, in this case,Imo State and her people.Conversely,indulging in manifest injustice against a people (Okigwe zone, a case in point) could again disgrace Imo and her people as witnessed between 2011 and 2019,and defeat the gains recorded under the present administration.

Chinua Achebe of the blessed memory, reputed to be the godfather of African prose literature, once said that “an elder does not stay in the house and watch idly while the she-goat delivers in her tethers.” Imo elders can not fold their arms and pretend that the injustice meted to Okigwe zone in 2011 was a happenstance. That will be injurious to their consciences and unhealthy for the political development of Imo State, particularly the seamless implementation of the Imo Charter of Equity. There can never be equity without equality or fairness and justice.

Gladly, some well-meaning elders in the State have started speaking up. Evil only thrives where responsible and knowledgeable people in society keep silent in the face of obvious injustice and inequality.

According to the former President of Academic Staff Union of Universities(ASUU) between 2008 and 2012,Prof Ukachukwu Awuzie from Orlu geopolitical zone, “a Charter built on amnesia can not endure. In Imo, justice for Okigwe zone in 2027 must precede equity.” He contended that “the major mistake made in 2011 against Okigwe zone must be collectively corrected by collectively supporting Okigwe zone to complete its one remaining tenure by 2027.”

Prof Awuzie, who was also the former Vice Chancellor of Imo State University (IMSU), and currently, the National President of Alaigbo Development Foundation, further posited that the Imo Charter of Equity must be rebalanced with justice as its starting point which supports Okigwe zone completing its remaining one tenure in Imo governorship by 2027.

In a similar vein, elder statesman, Chief Paddy Obinna, in another forum,made clear that Owerri zone has no business with 2027 Imo governorship. He was emphatic that the zone having connived to truncate Okigwe zone’s tenure in 2011,can not in good conscience,still be making noise about having 2027 imo governorship ceded to it.

Chief Obinna,from Emekuku Community in Owerri North local government area and elder brother to Archbishop Anthony Obinna, who was allegedly part of the grand conspiracy against Imo people in 2011,cautioned that nothing short of Okigwe geopolitical zone completing its remaining tenure by 2027 would be acceptable to Imo people. He advised his people of Owerri zone to wait for 3031 to take their shot at Imo governorship in the spirit of equity, fairness and justice.

Conclusively,there is no gain re emphasizing that Imo must consolidate on the gains of the present administration. The ruins Imo faced between 2011 and 2019 must not be allowed to resurface again, else succeeding generations of Imolites will not forgive their fathers and mothers of today.

Okigwe zone should be allowed to breath by 2027 because “what is good for the geese, is also good for the gander.” Correcting the grave injustice meted to Okigwe zone in 2011 should, therefore, be the primary task for the Imo Charter of Equity and its implementors,rather than pandering or listening to rancorous tunes emanating from a few self-serving politicians with avaricious and inordinate interests.