By Sam Amadi
Imo is in a state of shock over the killing of some youths in Awo-Omamma. The pictures of their bodies in wheelbarrows are gory and dehumanizing. Perhaps, they paint a picture of the state of play in Imo State.
I am reluctant to accuse the Governor of Imo State of massacre at this point until I get all the facts. I have spoken to my friend Odogwu Deka about the real situation. It looks like this is the ongoing attack against the so-called ‘Unknown Gunmen.’ But the tragic truth is that such undefined war against a nebulous group of criminals called ‘Unknown Gunmen’ will end up being a war against young people in Imo State. And in the context of vicious politicking in the state, some hapless youths may become innocent victims of wars of attrition or appeasement.
But the more tragic truth is that Imo State is fast deteriorating into a state of mindless violence. We now have brutish killers and cannibals amongst the good citizens of the state. It has got to the point that foreign embassies advise their citizens and contractors not to visit the state. This is a horrendous quick reversal of fortunes for Imo State and the South-East. We used to be the cleanest, and the most livable and peaceful part of Nigeria.
There are many different interpretations of the collapse of order and civility in Imo and most of the South-East. Clearly, the irresponsible militarization of the agitation for the restoration of Biafra and the inept and compromising leadership of governments in the South-East are the major factors that turned a peaceful region into a cauldron of anger, hate and nihilistic violence.
In the special case of Imo State, there was no notable violence or criminality until the PDP government was removed by the Supreme Court. It might be a coincidence that the period Senator Hope Uzodinma became governor saw the redirection of the Biafra struggle with the formation of ESN and the reactionary Ebubeagu. However, this was an inflection point in Imo State becoming a killing field, by nihilistic Unknown Gunmen and the murderous Nigerian security agents. Governor Hope Uzodinma may be a victim himself of the wicked inflection. But he failed woefully to manage the situation. He actually has enhanced the potency of the concoction against the state and his administration by resorting more to politics rather than leadership at the nascence of the crisis. He could have transformed into a leader and administrator rather than a politician. A crisis, according to Rahm Emanuel, President Obama’s Chief of Staff, is a big advantage to waste. Governor Uzodinma wasted the advantage that the crisis gave him to become a champion of the people and thereby reduce the political legitimacy burden he bears since the Supreme Court got him into the office of a governor.
Yes, Governor Uzodinma is a legitimate Governor of the state. No question about that. If the Supreme Court makes you a governor, you are a governor indeed, as much as the man INEC made a governor. But political legitimacy is another thing. Even the amount of votes you got in an election can de-robe you of political legitimacy, if it is too small. Statements you made after winning election may clothe you with the gown of political illegitimacy. If the Supreme Court drags you from the fourth position to become number one, then you have been pasted with political illegitimacy, no matter the legal merits of the judicial pronouncements.
But political illegitimacy is not a fatal disease. It can be cured. It is mainly cured by what the Bible calls ‘speaking tenderly to the people.’ The cure is to win the people’s favour by standing where they stand, bearing their burden and speaking up for their well-being. But to do that, you have to refocus from politics to governance; you have to switch masters.
Unfortunately, this is a hard act for a political maestro like Governor Uzodinma. He loves the political game. He is good at it. He has to keep wining. He has to be politically visible in Abuja and elsewhere. And so his eyes keep drifting away from the ball. The disease festers, or rather metastasized. And here we are.
It is never too late to start solving a problem. Governor Uzodinma can be less a politician and more an administrator and leader to control the spiraling of his state into the Hobbesian state. Just that this is less than a year to 2023 general elections. And politicians cannot keep their eyes on the ball of governance while the bells of partisan politics ring.
I wish my Governor can do more to arrest the violence. It will ultimately pay a big political dividend for him and the people of the state in the future.
Dr Sam Amadi, a lawyer and former Chairman of Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC), is the coordinator of Abuja School of Social and political thought
