By Lincoln Jack Ogunewe
“The worsening insecurity in Imo State could be likened to a television that is frozen; you cannot change the channel, volume or any function on the remote until you reset it. It is my utmost belief that Imo State needs resetting, hence our motto “TEAM RESET IMO 4 OBIDATTI.” We will work tirelessly to actualize the Peter Obi presidency. Soon, we will be embarking on Town Hall Meetings in the 27 LGAs of Imo State vigorously sensitizing Imolites and selling Peter Obi and all our other candidates.“
I consider it a great honour to be the Chairman of this great event and want to use this opportunity to welcome everyone here present and those with us in spirit.
We all know that we are now living in abnormal times. You do not need a soothsayer to know that Nigeria was on a free fall but for the emergence of an interventionist in the person of Peter Obi. Many states in Nigeria share this same fate and are fervently praying to God to send an interventionist, especially in the state of my birth, Imo State.
I want you to know this about the book presentation in honour of Peter Obi.
The book is a chronicle of the achievements of a servant-leader who did not know that today shall come. I want us to know we all have a day of reckoning, a day of accountability if not before men, certainly before God. Peter Obi was just working and delivering services to the people that elected him as the Executive Governor of Anambra State. The scorecard of our actions and inactions of yesterdays shall surely be made manifest in a today.
Peter Obi’s yesterday has created a movement, “the Obedient Movement” that has changed the face of Nigerian politics. The only way we can justify this movement in our clime is to state that it is divine and of appointed time. The Obidient movement has become a moving train taking us to the promised land of equity and justice.
Leadership is a burden and not an investment. This is a self-evident truth that many ignore or don’t understand. A test of leadership is that it must not only be transparent but must be seen to be transparent. Those that have passed this test of leadership are always on the side of justice, equity, history and the people. The late Chief Samuel Onunaka Mbakwe (Dee Sam) passed this test of leadership. Dee Sam was simply clothed in his simple self and not clothed in titles or praise names. As the first Civilian Governor of Imo State, he lived and served his people, Ndi Imo. He was passionate and even traded his dignity and was tagged as the Weeping Governor. Dee Sam was not weeping for yesterday but for today. He saw Imo of tomorrow, the hatred, the chaos, the killings and therefore wept. Mbakwe’s government was a people’s revolution, a revolution of love and peaceful co-existence that galvanized the people to achieve common goals. Chief Sam Mbakwe galvanized Imolites to build the Imo Airport through their sweat and blood.
Indeed, Dee Sam wept. He saw tomorrow and wept. Look at Imo State today, a peaceful and progressive state and judge for yourselves. We are so divided, we hate one another, no brotherly love which has turned a once peaceful and progressive state to a state of killings too many. We now live, move and sleep in fear because we know that we can be killed within the slightest provocation or for no just cause.
Why can’t we come together as one people and forgive each other in love? Can’t we as one people strive for a genuine reconciliation? Don’t we know that a state of strife and insecurity drives away investors and stifles progress and development? Are we not aware? All Imolites need to make sacrifices and embrace peace before it is too late.
I am a security expert having spent 35 years in the service of Nigeria in the Army. I held several command, staff, intelligence and diplomatic postings which greatly exposed me in different spheres of life. I know that conflicts of any nature cannot and can never be resolved by bullets, guns and threats but by negotiation, pacification and reintegration. No one is happy with the rate of killings in Imo State which could have been resolved if leadership at all levels played their parts; leadership at the family level, community, Local Government Areas and the State.
The worsening insecurity in Imo State could be likened to a television that is frozen; you cannot change the channel, volume or any function on the remote until you reset it. It is my utmost belief that Imo State needs resetting, hence our motto “TEAM RESET IMO 4 OBIDATTI.” We will work tirelessly to actualize the Peter Obi presidency. Soon, we will be embarking on Town Hall Meetings in the 27 LGAs of Imo State vigorously sensitizing Imolites and selling Peter Obi and all our other candidates.
A new era has come in Nigeria’s political history and Imo State especially. Let us join hands and resolve that “Old things have passed away; behold the new has come.” Join us to “Reset Imo 4 ObiDatti.” It’s a new beginning. It’s a new era.
I thank God for this day. I thank God for the opportunity. I am grateful to all who graced this occasion. God bless us all.
Text of chairman’s opening remarks by Maj Gen Lincoln Keonyemere Jack Ogunewe (rtd) FNSE MFR, Imo State Labour Party gubernatorial aspirant, on the occasion of book presentation in honour of His Excellency, Peter Obi, November 15, 2022, in Owerri.
