By ELI Dibia
Let me start by stating that I completely regret the fate of our good friend, Mr Cyprian Akaolisa, who, until a couple of days ago, was the Imo State Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice. Akaolisa was removed from office by Governor Uzodimma in what the state government, through its Commissioner for Information Strategy and Orientation, Declan Emelumba termed “a minor cabinet rejig”. That is not uncommon but coming just about a week after my earlier article, “Uzodimma, Call Your Attorney-General to Order Before He Destroys Your Reputation”, I feel compelled to make this commentary not with a sense of vindication but to draw attention to the lessons government appointees, whether now or in the future, should learn from the Akaolisa experience.
Of course, this is not the first time Governor Uzodimma is dropping commissioners from his cabinet, including those who were said to be quite close to him long before he became governor. Mr. Akaolisa is said to be in that category and as is well known, this is not even the first time he is being removed from office by his friend and boss, Uzodimma. Governor Uzodimma can be accused of anything but nobody can take away from him his demonstrable capacity to be fair and firm and that he places high premium on the interest of the generality of the good people of Imo state far above that of his friends and cronies, as was recently experienced in the state under a previous administration.
I am not close to Mr. Akaolisa but I understand he is a jolly good fellow though self-opinionated and eccentric. There are many others with similar attributes who are quite successful in life but such people do not go far in public office. A public officer can be eccentric or self-opinionated but not to the extent of making utterances that are in clear contradiction of the policies of their principal or the administration they are serving. In my earlier article, I pointed at the fact that whereas Governor Uzodimma has sounded it loud and clear that nobody should say things or posture in a manner that would over heat the polity in order that he could have the needed ambience to conclude his assignment in the next couple of years, it has been discovered that it is his own appointees that have shown the penchant to flout that order.
Nobody knows if they were part of the reasons Akaolisa was sacked but many observers saw his utterances on the matter of equity – which was widely reported – as amounting to challenging the Supreme Court ruling on a matter it dismissed eighteen years ago. Given the fabled closeness between him and the governor, not a few wondered if the latter could afford to challenge the same Supreme Court which in its wisdom gave a ruling that led to his emergence as governor in 2020.
Till this moment, many Nigerians wrongly believe that the Supreme Court ruling of January 14, 2020, which paved way for Uzodimma’s ascendancy into the office of the governor of Imo state, was wrongly headed. But we have even since gone past that stage as His Excellency has gone ahead to prove the cynics wrong through his sterling performance.
Unfortunately, Akaolisa’s statement that the 2007 governorship election matter – which got up to Supreme Court and was determined – should be revisited before the matter of equity can be discussed in the state, compelled many observers to ask: “So we can similarly request that the January 14 2020 Supreme Court ruling should be revisited”. Clearly, that was not salutary to the Uzodimma administration which Akaolisa benefited from for five years. As I noted at the beginning, this write-up is not just about the fate of Akaolisa but about the lessons other government functionaries, whether now or in the future, can learn from it.
At the risk of being accused of exaggerating or particularizing, it has come to notice of many observers that political appointees in Imo state tend to be exuberant. The signs began in 2011 following the ascendance of Governor Rochas Okorocha who claimed to be on a “Rescue Mission”. Majority of his aides mirrored the arrogance with which he went about his mission and harassed members of the public to no end. The Ihedioha administration, which came after Okorocha’s, was perhaps too short to allow for any reasonable assessment of the demeanor of its appointees but it was discovered that contrary to Governor Uzodimma’s rare proclivity for being accommodating and tolerant, even in the face of extreme provocation, the posturing of majority of his appointees tends to be the very reverse.
It is common knowledge that the governor have had to personally intervene to curtail the excesses of some of his appointees following public outcry over the way and manner they were going about their duties. This is to say nothing of the fact that the governor himself has fallen victim of the conduct of some of his aides who took advantage of his calm and tolerant nature to abuse their offices and even defrauded the government and the people.
We have instances where appointees delved into pure political matters and engaged in personal fights with individual politicians to the extent that some observers began to insinuate that either the governor is looking the other way or is too weak to reign in on his appointees. But it is neither of these as the governor has shown a lot of resilience and a clear understanding of the problems of the state.
After all, it is said in Igboland that no matter how tall the Okro plants grows, it cannot be taller than its planter because anytime the owner wants to harvest the fruits, he will simply bend the plant and do what he wants to do.
Governor Uzodimma may be slow to anger but he can never be taken for granted. He has done so much to stabilize the state which some had wanted to plunge into a conflagration after he retrieved his stolen mandate in January 2020. If Governor Uzodimma did not put to good use his God-given attributes of reticence and comportment, those who promised to make the state ungovernable for him would have succeeded in smoking him out for a fight and the state would have been engulfed in total conflagration. His appointees should take a cue from that and comport themselves better.
Agreed, government functionaries should defend the governor and his administration from unconstructive criticisms but it should be more by showcasing the achievements of the governor – and which are quite enormous – than by making political statements that are capable of making the people doubt the governor’s sincerity on sundry matters. As noted earlier, we have a situation where some appointees engage in personal battles with individual politicians over failed negotiations or agreements.
Time was when Imo indigenes were the envy of their compatriots across the country. Not anymore. Today, we are seen as a cantankerous people. Imo has become, to borrow the words of a former university Vice Chancellor, “an atomistic society perpetually at war with itself”. Today, our brothers and sisters in the other Southeast states jeer at us for never agreeing on a formula for equitable power rotation, which is working in all the other five states in the zone except Imo. That narrative must change.
We blame sitting governors and former governors but do even non politicians conduct themselves properly? Look at the sheer lawlessness that has enveloped the state capital, Owerri. Drivers of commercial shuttle buses, popularly known as Bus Imo, are lords unto themselves. They stop at any point to pick passengers even when there are designated bus stops. Private motorists do not do better. Even lawyers dressed in their practice uniform are seen driving through red traffic lights.
There was a time Owerri was impassable during working hours due to the numerous roundabouts built by Rochas Okorocha but Governor Uzodimma came, dismantled and replaced them with state-of-the-art road junction architectures that completely eliminated traffic bottlenecks in the city of Owerri. Yet, road users do not obey the traffic rules that govern the use of this modern technology.
As I noted at the beginning, I sympathize with our friend Akaolisa. In any case, it is not all over for him. Governor Uzodimma has his own style. He may well call him back as he had done in the past. However it goes, I wish him the best of luck in his future endeavours and call on younger politicians and office holders, whether currently or those aspiring to be so privileged, to learn the proper lessons.
