The Uche Onyeagocha Arise Television Interview: Matters Arising

By: Ethelbert Okere

There are two glaring inadequacies in the narrative on the current spate of insecurity in the Southeast. One is the penchant of some political elements in Imo state, with the seemingly inadvertent collaboration of some operatives in the national media, to circumscribe their interrogations to the state. The reason the former would want to portray their own state as the epitome of insecurity in the country is not farfetched. Politics.

One group which currently has Hon. Uche Onyeagucha as its spokesman sees it as an opportunity to continue to vent its anger over its wrongful dismissal from office in January 2020.

The other noticeable flaw is the tendency of people of the zone, generally, to rationalize what is happening in their area by pointing at insurgency and banditry in the North, as well as the separatist agitation by a group in the Southwest. But that is a topic for another day.

In the time being, the interview granted by Hon. Onyeagucha to a popular television based in Nigeria house a couple of days ago is a good illustration of the first. Apart from that the interviewers tended to skew their concern towards Imo, Hon. Onyeagucha took it from there and made a song and dance of it. It is possible that the interview was packaged to give the tendency which Hon. Onyeagucha represents an opportunity to throw darts at its arch enemy now occupying the government house in Owerri, but even if the television people were not involved in that, methinks that both sides – the reporters and the interviewee – failed to give the viewers a proper insight into the problem of insecurity in the Southeast. For instance, I didn’t see the need for one of the interviewers repeatedly saying, “Why Imo? Why Imo?”

Agreed, the Easter Monday attack on the correctional centre in Owerri, during which about 1,800 prisoners, including both condemned criminals and those awaiting trial were let loose, and the murder of Alhaji Ahmed Gulak on May, 23 2021, have attracted so much attention to Imo state, limiting the interrogation on the Southeast security situation to Imo state is too inadequate to serve the interest of the people of the zone and, indeed, Nigerians as a whole.

Members of Hon. Onyeagucha’s camp might have been singing alleluia during that interview but that would be fool handy; for the simple reason that more than ever before, that outing portrayed them as too fixated to make any meaningful contribution in the search for a solution to the current problems in the state, security or otherwise. This is how I knew.
The gist of Hon. Onyeagucha’s analysis of the Imo security situation is that Governor Hope Uzodimma has not only failed to consult but that when he consults at all, he consults only political “jobbers”. He then asked the governor to come down from “his high horse” and consult the “genuine” leaders. Let’s take consultation per se.

Contrary to Hon. Onyeagucha’s claim, Governor Uzodimma has convened at least three major stakeholders meeting since he assumed office in January 2020. All the meetings were attended by top notchers of his party, the People Democratic Party (PDP) including Chief Emmanuel Iwuanyanwu, a member of the Board of Trustees of the party. In the interview, Hon. Onyeagucha spoke very passionately about the days a former president used to send a presidential jet to fetch him for consultations. Apart from the sheer absurdity in that analogy, it shows that Hon. Onyeagucha himself, and his camp are those flying in a High Aero plane, whereas he accuses Governor Uzodimma of ridding on a mere horse. Hon. Onyeagucha should have been fair to his brothers and sisters in Imo state and honest to the rest of Nigerians by admitting that even if Governor Uzodimma sends a jet to fetch him for consultations, he would not honour it; and the reason is not farfetched.

In the wake of the severe spate of insecurity in Imo state, the governor has widened the scope of consultations to include meetings with different specific publics: Religious leaders, the youth, traditional rulers, traders, artisans, professionals etc. And that brings us to the allegation that Governor Uzodimma consults only “political jobbers”.

In the last four weeks, the governor has been holding consultations with leaders of each of the twenty seven local government areas of the state. Each delegation, made up of an average of 150 people per local government area, was led by personalities of no mean reputation. Here are some feelers: The delegation from Abboh Mbaise local government area was led by Senator Chris Anyanwu, a chieftain of the PDP. The delegation from Ihitte Uboma local government area was led by Nze Ozichukwu Chukwu, also a chieftain of the PDP and a former national vice chairman of the party; that of Mbaitoli local government area was led by no other than the Bill Gate of Africa, Chief Leo Stan Ekeh. In that delegation was also His Excellency, Prince Eze Madumere, a former deputy governor of the state. The delegation from Ezinihitte (Mbaise) local government area was led by a former deputy governor of the state, Her Excellency, Dr. Ada Okwuonu.

The delegation from Ideato North local government area was led by a former Nigerian Ambassador to the Congo, His Excellency, Chief Greg Mbadiwe. The delegation from Isiala Mbano local government area was led by a former governor of the state, His Excellency, Dr. Ikedi Ohakim. The delegation from Njaba local government area was led by one Dr. Ekwem, a commissioner in the federal civil service commission, representing Imo and Abia states. That of Isu local government area was led by Dr. Uche Diogu, representing Imo state in the federal character commission.The list above is to say nothing of the numerous highly placed and successful indigenes of the state that came in from their places of abode – Lagos, Abuja, Port Harcourt etc – to attend the consultative meetings. Only on Saturday June 5, 2021, Governor Uzodimma held a consultative meeting with top religious leaders in the state, including no less a person than the Most Reverend Anthony Obinna, the Catholic Archbishop of the Owerri Ecclesiastical Province and easily the most vocal critic of government in the state.

We can go on and on but it is necessary to pause for a moment to pose the following question: Can anybody, no matter the level of animosity he or she is consumed with, describe the following – I repeat the names for more clarity – as “political jobbers”?: Emmanuel Iwuanyanwu, Archbishop Anthony Obinna, Ikedi Ohakim, Eze Madumere, Greg Mbadiwe, Senator Chris Anyanwu, Ada Okwuonu, Ozichukwu Chukwu, Leo-Stan Ekeh etc. But for the temporary suspension of the state-wide consultations following the unfortunate murder of Gulak, more local government areas would have by now had their own consultations with the governor, in a programme initially scheduled to end on June 9, 2021.

Can we now see the tragedy that has befallen Imo state? Beyond the discomfiture caused by the current activities of hoodlums or even overzealous, ill-tempered security operatives, the real tragedy of the state currently is this type of arrogant narrative that outside those who were involved in the immediate past administration in the state, no one else matters. Or, to say the same thing differently, the suggestion, by this same people, that Imolites should forever mourn its ouster. Does is it not amount to a deliberate assault on the collective integrity of the good people of Imo state to suggest, by any stretch of imagination, that any of the personalities listed above is not a “genuine” stakeholder?

In the circumstance, the question now is, who, between Governor Uzodimma on one hand and Hon. Onyeagucha and his clique on the other, is riding on a high horse? As we have earlier seen through the aeroplane metaphor, Onyeagucha and his group are the ones that should come down from their aero plane and accept the fact that another administration, different from the one they were part of, now superintends over the affairs of the state. He should repudiate his idiosyncratic mindset on the personalities involved in the current administration. I had cause, some time ago, to personally call him to order after noticing this lousy penchant for openly referring to the governor of the state as “an illiterate”. Does that portray him as one who is ready to be consulted?

If the reporters in the television interview in question had the facts, that is that Hon. Onyeagucha was misleading them when he made allusions to “genuine leaders” and “political jobbers”, they probably would have asked him follow-up questions, referencing the distinguished Nigerians with whom the governor has been interfacing with over state matters; and the interview would not have appeared to be the “arrangee” thing Nigerians are now used to.

Differently put, I think it has become quite imperative for the Nigerian print media and its operatives to endeavour to arm themselves with facts before bringing people on set. That will make it possible for them to treat issues exhaustively, ask questions disinterestedly and probably avoid the endless bitter debates on our national television wherein every party is right on every issue.