BY ETHELBERT OKERE
It is baffling that some elders were present while the wife of our late brother, Dr. Chris Asoluka, addressed a political gathering less than forty-eight hours after his burial. Since the video of the event surfaced, I have been making inquiries from Igbo women, including top women politicians, women academics, top women journalists, top women Christian leaders, etc. on whether it is customary in Igboland for a widow to be seen speaking publicly, more so at a political gathering, a day after the burial of her husband; and they all chorused “Abomination!!”. Even when they accept that modernity, education and civilization might have diluted certain cultural practices concerning widowhood, they insist that till date, there is a minimum period of time a widow must observe after her husband’s burial before making public appearances save, perhaps, going for church services.
But on Saturday, July 26, 2025, two days after her husband’s burial, Lolo Nneka Chris-Asoluka, addressed a political gathering made up of political leaders from Owerri zone. The gathering, ingeniously tagged “OWERRI HONOURS DR. CHRIS ASOLUKA”, had earlier being advertised by its convener, Chief Martin Agbaso, a frontline politician in the state. As a matter of fact, there were insinuations that it was intended for Agbaso, a former governorship candidate and former senatorial aspirant, have an opportunity to launch his own group for championing the quest by the people of Owerri zone to produce the next governor of Imo state.
A day after Chris Asoluka’s burial, that is a day before the (post-burial) political mourning in his home in Ihiagwa in the Owerri-West local government area, one Victor Agbarakwe had, in an article published in some Owerri-based and online newspapers and entitled “Are Owerri Zone Leaders At War?”, drawn attention to the fact that Chief Agbaso’s proposed Ihiagwa meeting on July 26, 2025 clashed with those of two other political groups in the zone – the Owerri Zone Political Leaders Forum (OZOPOLF) and the Imo Harmony Project (IHP) , both of which had fixed their own meetings on the same day – Saturday 26th July, 2025. As far as Mr. Agbarakwe was concerned, the clash of dates was further evidence that the leadership of the different groups – about five of them – are engaged in a battle of supremacy over which is the number one in the struggle.
Incidentally, I met Chief Agbaso at the entrance of the Church building where Dr. Asoluka’s funeral service was being held and we greeted each other very warmly. When I extended to him my condolences, he said, “look at Chris, our brother, all his struggles are in vain”; and I said to him, “we won’t give up, the struggle continues” Just at that point, the barricade, earlier placed while the sermon was going on, was lifted and we all rushed in to join the service. Towards the end of the service, the master of ceremonies announced that the governor of the state, Senator Hope Uzodinma, was being represented by his Deputy, Mrs. Chinyere Ekomaru and thereafter called her to deliver a message on behalf of the governor. She, as usual, did that excellently to the applaud of the congregation, and with an apology over the governor’s absence due to other pressing state matters.
Now, fast forward to Lolo Asoluka’s ‘oratory’ at the summit two days later and see her blasting Governor Uzodimma for failing to personally attend her husband’s funeral; and that his deputy came on her own. She went on the say that the governor never called to condole with the family and that her husband, just moments before he gave up, accused the governor of telling him“lies” over the Nekede-Ihiagwa-Obinze road. She said even though she had learnt that works had began on the road after her husband’s death, that she remained “skeptical”
What a gross misrepresentation of a dead man by his spouse. What a speedy demolition of the ebullience for which Dr. Asoluka was known. As a former public servant and highly knowledgeable citizen, Dr. Asoluka knew that no deputy governor would on his or her own proceed to a public function, no matter who and what is involved, to represent a governor without being sent to do so by the latter. It is possible that Mrs. Asoluka, given her situation during that period, did not know that the day her husband was being buried was also the very day the governor’s party, the All Progressives Congress (APC), held its National Executive Council (NEC), and that it is mandatory for every governor elected on the party’s platform to attend. But even if the governor was right in his Lodge in Owerri drinking Champagne, to query him for failing to personally come to the funeral and sending his deputy instead is a manifestation of a level of brashness which any fellow associated with Dr. Asoluka, more so a spouse, should not be identified with.
As they would say, Okwuruoha, as he was fondly referred to by his people, must have stirred in his (fresh) grave. If he were to alight that moment, he would have said to his Lolo, “You Are Wrong, The Governor Was Ably and Fully Represented”.
As far as I am concerned, Mrs Asoluka’s rejection of the deputy governor, her fellow woman, as a representative of the governor is a personal insult to Dr. Mrs. Ekomaru and an affront to the collective dignity of the women folk. It is a reckless repudiation of the sophistication for which her husband was known. But unknown to Imolites, Mrs. Asoluka herself never informed the government officially of her husband’s death as is expected of the spouse of a fellow of Dr Chris Asoluka’s status. That was not fair to the late politician who was a friend of all. I am not in a position to say exactly what the relationship between him and Governor Uzidimma was like but even the most cynical fellow in Imo state would beat his or her chest to say that it was impossible for any animosity to have existed between the two gentlemen, easily among the jolliest good fellows the state has ever produced, politics or no politics, roads or no roads.
Mrs. Asoluka must have sexed up what she claimed her husband said about Hope Uzodinma in his dying moment. A more creative wife would have looked for a better way of depicting her husband’s last moment on earth, instead of creating for him an image of a fellow departing with bitterness. As far as I am concerned, what Chris’s wife attributed to him as saying completely reversed the peaceful and calm life he lived. All her talks about roads were just politics; talks couched in a language Chief Asoluka, perhaps the most soft-spoken fellow I had ever known, could never have employed no matter the level of provocation or disappointment.
Now that Lolo Nneka Asoluka has become the “rallying” point of Owerri zone politics, it is proper to let her know a few things about the road she was talking about, including the fact that she feigned ignorance of the efforts made by the current administration to fix it.
It is pertinent to remind her that Owerri zone leaders, among whom she has now assumed an arrowhead position, are to be blamed for the state of that road. The road was under construction during the administration of Governor Ikedi Ohakim when some of them decided to spearhead its callous termination and, in its place, midwifed that of Rochas Okorocha with one of their own, Jude Agbaso, as deputy. The senator representing Owerri zone at that time, Senator Chris Anyanwu, was part of that perfidy and was one of the closest allies of Governor Okorocha throughout his tenure as governor which lasted for eight years. The administration drove away the contractors and abandoned the Naze-Ihiagwa-Obinze road which was part of the outer-ring road that was being constructed by the Ohakim administration.
Before the advent of the Uzodinma administration, the zone had been having its natives both in the House of Representatives and the Senate. As a matter of fact, both the last but one and current members representing the Owerri Federal Constancy are from the same Owerri-West local government area as Chief Asoluka. Both use the road in question to get their homes. The serving senator, Ezenwa Onyewuchi, is a native of that Federal Constituency. He is , in fact, a two time senator after first serving in the House of Representative s.
Since the road leads to three federal institutions, getting it into the budget of the federal government would have been the proverbial low hanging fruits for any or all of them in the last fourteen years. Lolo Asoluka should, with the same urgency and speed with which she metamorphosed into becoming the “rallying point” of Owerri zone politics, direct her inquiries towards those quarters. More important, she should look elsewhere for things to say to launch herself into political stardom, whether in the zone or in the state as a whole. It is certainly not in the area of roads where Governor Uzodimma has excelled.
Agreed, those who came to mourn her illustrious husband would have expected or wished to ride through a smoother road leading to his home but they must have also passed through the road leading from the Sam Mbakwe International Airport while coming into the capital city of Owerri. If they came from parts of Anambra state by road, they must have used the Owerri-Orlu road as it exists today. Those who came from the Enugu-Ebonyi and the Northen states axis would have passed through the Okigwe-Owerri road and seen what it looks like today and, for those used to the road before now, compared it with what it used to be. Her late husband while alive must have also seen all the other intra state roads the governor has done. May his gentle soul rest in peace but I think it is too early for the world to know that Dr. Chris Asoluka’s spouse didn’t quite get used to his approach to politics.
