By Princewill Anyanwu
Amid the paranoia over the Owerri zone governorship matter, some elements in the zone have shown exceptional courage to differ from the rest of their kit and kin to the extent that they have been branded black legs. Yet, each time the matter is tabled for discussion, the position and advice taken or given by these few keep reoccurring as the most realistic approach in search for a panacea for what is now a clear quagmire. At the last meeting between Governor Hope Uzodimma and stakeholders from the zone, the governor for a second time in less than six months, again told the stakeholders that, as legitimate as the quest for an Owerri zone-born governor in 2027/28 is, the entitlement mentality with which they are going about it will lead to nowhere.
As a matter of fact, Governor Uzodimma sounded even more vehement than he was at an earlier meeting on March 10, 2025. He was categorical in stating that except Owerri zone leaders go about the matter with the needed diplomacy, the other two zones will sabotage the project, pointing at Okigwe zone in particular. Minus the fact that most of the so-called Owerri leaders seem to prefer to listen to themselves only, the emphasis on Okigwe zone is significant.
It has been said severally before by some of the best heads in the entire state that a deliberate engagement with our brothers in Okigwe zone on the matter is highly imperative. But such suggestions have been continually dismissed by the so-called leaders of OZOPOLF, IHP, OZAC and what have you; in preference for pilgrimages to the Government House, Owerri in search of an anointment.
Long before the March 10, 2025 meeting at which Governor Uzodimma told our people that power is not a “turn-by-turn-affair” – as my people in Owerri zone seem to see it – at least three eminent indigenes of the area have dwelt on cautious optimism as an imperative in the search for an Imo governor of Owerri zone extraction come 2027/28. One of them is Chief Mike Nwachukwu, a son of the zone well-grounded in political engineering. Nwachukwu had since early 2024 advocated for a conclave of eminent leaders from both Owerri and Okigwe zones, where the matter would be trashed out and a consensus reached. But he was called names by his own people, a black leg. It was perhaps out of frustration that Nwachukwu, in what clearly detracted from the candour with which he is known, posited recently that if his people must insist, then they should go for the Mbaise-born Emeka Ihedioha who had a seven-month stint as governor of the state between May 2019 and January 2020.
With that submission, Nwachukwu must have further heightened the anger of his kinsmen in the Owerri federal constituency – especially the Owerri North axis – who are widely believed to believe that an Imo governor of Owerri zone extraction must come from amongst them. Beyond Nwachukwu, however, have also come words of caution from highly respected indigenes of Imo state of Owerri zone extraction. We have had submissions from a prince of Owerre Nchise, our own Ndaa Bob Njemanze, who has maintained that in the spirit of equity, Okigwe zone should produce the next governor of Imo state, that is, after Uzodimma.
Let’s see what Prince Njemanze posited in a widely read newspaper interview in July last year: “…My first choice is Owerri zone but how do we realize it? If we do not recognize that Okigwe has as much right as we do and we generate a situation where Okigwe zone comes fully back into the contest, they will achieve an understanding with Orlu which will cost Owerri the seat. So, it will either be that an Okigwe person takes the seat or Orlu will take it”. Maybe Njemanze’s kinsmen took him for granted since, as they say, a prophet is not recognized at home. But that same prophecy has now come from a greater prophet: the governor himself!
Uzodimma was even more vehement when he employed the metaphor of a good sportsman in admonishing the Owerri leaders at the August 20, 2025 meeting. He advised that rather than the paranoia that is largely evident, we should go about it in the spirit of sportsmanship and be ready to take the outcome of the game in good faith. He didn’t stop there. The governor reminded our people that contrary to sympathy-seeking and, indeed, fallacious narratives that Owerri zone has always been denied the opportunity of producing the governor of the state, the late Evan Enwerem, who governed the state for eighteen months, was from Owerri zone. Of course, some of us were not happy hearing that from the governor but I think we forced him into going that length. He has been blackmailed with making a promise to hand over to a fellow from Owerri zone; which turned out to be an outright falsehood. Yet, a highly vexations but senseless refrain, “On Aburi We Stand”, and authored by one of us, is currently trending in the social media.
But perhaps the most touching intervention on the matter under reference is the one made by one of the oldest political figures in Owerri zone, indeed an elder statesman, Mr. Paddy Obinna. Ndaa Paddy, as he is more popularly known, is 82 years old – indeed far more older than all those parading themselves as leaders of Owerri zone – and the elder brother of the Archbishop emeritus of the Owerri Catholic Archdiocese, the Most Reverend Anthony J.V. Obinna. Like Bob Njemanze, who is also over 80 years old, Obinna has been unpretentious in asking his Owerri zone brethren to drop their governorship ambition and support Okigwe zone to produce the next Imo governor. Obinna is of the view that if the “grave mistake of 2011, which 80 per cent of Owerri zone political leaders orchestrated, must be corrected, Okigwe zone should be allowed a seamless completion of the remaining four years of its abridged tenure”.
But the most touching yet courageous aspect of Paddy’s advocacy is in conceding to the fact that his younger brother, the Archbishop emeritus, was among the Owerri zone elements who aided and abetted in the abridgement of Okigwe zone’s tenure in 2011. Of course, the story of Archbishop Obinna’s involvement in the 2011 Imo governorship election is too well known to be repeated here. What struck every pundit is that his elder brother, Paddy, who is the head of the Obinna family, was able to summon the courage to apologize on behalf of the family over his younger brother’s involvement in that unfortunate incident during a television interview. “I apologize to the world that the Obinnas are sorry about what happened … in 2011. As Catholic faithful, we go to confession when we sin. There is an atonement. But there is also the need to let the public know this”, Obinna had said during the interview.
My heart sank into my stomach as I watched the senior Obinna make those utterances as my initially instinct was that of an imminent family rift. But as things stand today, he must have spoken the mind of the entire family. The Archbishop, himself, set the stage for that contrition when some years after the 2011 saga, the Catholic Archdiocese of Owerri, which he then headed, invited Chief Ikedi Ohakim, the major victim of the 2011 fiasco, and gave him an award. The senior Obinna corroborated that when, during the interview, he added that his younger brother, “on realizing the error”, gave Ohakim an Award.
He also made reference to the fact that Reverend Father Ejike Mbaka of Adoration Ministries, Enugu, who composed the infamous song against Ohakim, has also apologized publicly after admitting that he was misled. I have heard some pro-Ohakim pundits argue that the Archbishop emeritus should also personally publicly apologize but that is absolutely unnecessary. What his elder brother, who holds the Offor of the Obinna family, did is enough especially if we take into account the earlier gestures by the Archbishop himself.
From feelers, quite a good number of those who were similarly involved like Archbishop Obinna and Mbaka have gone privately to Ohakim to apologize but for me, that is not the most important thing. Whether or not Ohakim should be personally compensated by allowing him to mount the thrown again in 2027 is not the issue. The issue is that the entire Imo state, not just Owerri zone, now has an opportunity to address the confusion that arose from the 2011 “mistake” and which has continued to haunt the entire state. Those who listened attentively to Governor Uzodimma at the August 20, 2025 meeting would remember that he spoke about “addressing the lingering confusion that arose some mischief of the past”. That was self-explanatory. The confusion the governor was referring to is that which arose from supporting another fellow from Orlu zone to return to the office of the governor – after the former had done eight years – instead of allowing Okigwe to do just another four years to complete eight years like Orlu.
As far as I am concerned, Governor Uzodimma should pursue that cause without let or hindrance. He will be abused and called names but post-office, I can assure him that clearing this confusion will be one of his greatest legacies. For, if by happenstance an Owerri zone fellow succeeds him, the confusion will linger with even graver force in 2031. But as I have earlier noted, the governor has acknowledged that Okigwe zone will sabotage Owerri zone’s efforts in 2027 and we all know what the result will be; which is the likely hood that the office will go back to Orlu zone. That is the confusion the governor and all other well-meaning Imolites are talking about.
As expected, some die-hard elements in Owerri have dismissed this argument as a blackmail and an intimidation but they fail it completely. Let us hear from another of the best from Owerri zone: George Nkwoji. In a recent newspaper article entitled, “Owerri Zone, Leadership And Uzodimma Successor”, Nkwoji, himself a newspaper publisher, gave an interesting metaphor of his brethren in Owerri zone and the people of ancient Israel at a point in their life as told in Second Chronicles 18 Vs 16. He wrote: “The picture of Israel assembled for a war without a shepherd is exactly the condition of Nde Owerre in present day Imo state. The zone is ready for the battle for the governorship seat but it is scattered over OZOPOLF, Nzuko Owere, Ezurezu Mbaise, Olu Owerri, Imo Harmony Project etc as sheep that have no shepherd. Like Israel, Owerri zone should “return home” to the drawing board because it has “no master”.
Here, Nkwoji was drawing a parallel between the current state of affairs in his Owerri zone with Israel when it sought to go to war with Syria as narrated in the bible. Israel had assembled at Ramothgilead for the battle but without a leader. As was their tradition, King Ahab requested Prophet Micaiah to consult the Lord concerning the battle. When Prophet Miciaiah made the inquiry, the first thing God asked the prophet was if Israel was ready for the war. In response, the prophet affirmed that Israel was ready. However, the prophet added that the Israeli soldiers were scattered at the war front “as sheep that have no shepherd”. In reaction, God told the prophet to tell Israelites to return home as according to Him, “they have no master.” Okenze Nkwoji, therefore, posited that the lesson to be learnt from that story is that notwithstanding the fact that the people of Owerri zone have assembled for a war, the absence of a leader makes them appear scattered and, therefore, renders them incapable of fighting.
In conclusion, Nkworji wrote: “Nde Owerri should allow Okigwe zone to succeed governor Hope Uzodimma. The zone should go further to display insightfulness by supporting the emergence of Ikedi Ohakim as the next governor. Supporting Ohakim will shorten the gestation period of an Owere man in Douglas House, Owerri. Also by doing this, Okigwe would have completed its turn …This scenario will pave the way for Owerri zone to sort out the critical leadership question before embarking on another guber contest to succeed Okigwe zone. This will make a seamless establishment and nurture of the Imo Charter of Equity which we all yearn for. It will end in a win-win situation”.
In a nutshell, what Nkworji has done is nothing but an elaboration of what Governor Uzodimma meant when he made reference to a “lingering confusion” that arose from the “mischief” of the past which need to be address. Nkworji, who hails from Egbelu Obube in the Owerri North local government area of Imo state, might have been appealing to his kinsmen but I think the entire state stands to benefit if his advice is heeded to, just like those of his other bold, courageous and well-meaning brothers in Owerri zone.
Anyanwu Writes From Obibiezena In Owerri North LGA, Imo State
