By Ogu Bundu Nwadike, M.A
The chanced, unscheduled meeting between His Excellency, Distinguished Senator Hope Uzodimma, the duly elected governor of Imo State and Senator Ethelbert Anayo Rochas Okorocha at a Yobe State event in Abuja recently generated enough heat in the Imo polity.
A critical view among many views that were brewed and poured out in the course of the discourses on the meeting between the Imo governor predecessor and successor was the maturity, charisma, statemanship, tolerance, accommodation, and general finesse displayed by Governor Uzodimma on the rather very sensitive encounter.
Pundits have subsumed in one word the gamut of descriptive nomenclature to the very rich conduct of the Governor Uzodimma on that auspicious rendezvous. Wisdom!
The egg heads are strongly convinced that the way and manner Governor Uzodimma managed and handled Rochas, his traducer-in-chief and major detractors, evinced his wealth of wisdom.
Now, wisdom is the noun for the adjective wise. The Oxford Advanced Learners Dictionary defines wisdom as “the ability to make sensible decisions and give good advice because of the experience and knowledge that you have”!
The same dictionary defines “wise” as “able to make sensible decisions and give good advice because of the experience and knowledge that you have”! Also, it’s “sensible, based on good judgment”!
In short, as far as interested reputable pundits are concerned, for receiving Rochas the way he did, Governor Uzodimma is a wise man who acted based on his wealth of wisdom. For me, the Imo governor is a wise man from the East!
One of the very exciting narratives in the Holy Bible is the adventure of the wise men from the East. Significant, about them was that they had the anointing of seeing stars, watching and following their movements and progress.
It reminds of the seers, ancient and modern, as represented by such great visionaries as the biblical Joseph, Daniel and the more contemporary Nostradamus, and other men that have the divine gift of seeing tomorrow.
Incidentally and instructively, in this generation in the East of Nigeria, there has risen a visionary who’s proved himself to be a wise man from the East. As already above, he’s none other than His Excellency, Distinguished Senator Hope Uzodimma, the current executive governor of Imo State.
The conclusion that Governor Uzodimma is a wise man from the East may be argued and challenged by some of the dye-in-wool antagonists and detractors of the governor’s.
However, the excuse is that the biblical King Herod, who was casted in the role of a heartless wicked man, couldn’t believe, trust, love, commend and support the Wisemen from the East.
So, it’s not important that some people won’t key into the vision being espounded about wisdom of Governor Hope in his capacity as the Wiseman from the East.
What’s important is that, as the Bible teaches, “by their fruits ye shall know them”! By Governor Uzodimma’s verifiable character, attitude, integrity, probity, transparency and accountability, he’s easily known as a wise leader of the East.
It didn’t start with his successful tenure so far as the duly elected governor of Imo State. His display of wisdom dates back to his early days in the political stratosphere, where he made expected breakthrough that’s open to the wise and came to limelight.
He has always believed in unity, peace and progress of the part of the world he found himself. He’s evidently detribalized. He’s patriotic in his convictions about his citizenship in Nigeria. He’s very nationalistic.
Just as the biblical wisemen didn’t discriminate and segregate against the divine king whose star they saw from far, but painstakingly sought him out in the Manger, Governor Uzodimma doesn’t discriminate against any tribe, group or person in Nigeria.
Looking at some appointments that he has made in the recent times, he has display his unique gift of wisdom. He has appointed Indigenes and Non-indigenes, Christians, Muslims alike. That’s an interesting story of wisdom.
When many men and women from the East will swear their hatred and dissociation of men and women from the North, West and South, burning bridges of unity, peace and progress, Governor Uzodimma strives to unite the East with the rest of Nigeria – North, South and West.
After reading and re-reading “Reflections On The Igbo Question”, the compendium of his ideas, opinions, views, suggestions, advice, etcetera, and establishing his attitude towards the continued subscription of the Igbo in the Nigerian national enterprise, it becomes very how dear the continued unity, peace and progress of Nigeria is to Governor Uzodimma.
He strongly advocates for the emergence of a Nigerian president from the East or more specifically in the parlance, a Nigerian president of Igbo extraction as against the mistaken couching of “an Igbo president of Nigeria”.
Deploying the paraphernalia of his office, he resists the free reign of anybody or group that preach exorcizing of the East from Nigeria, while evangelizing on the continued co-existence of Ndigbo in mainstream Nigeria. That’s wisdom at work.
There’s no gainsaying it that as the sages say: “It’s better to be a small fish in a big ocean than a big whale in a small lake”!
In his book, “Reflections On The Igbo Question”, Governor Uzodimma, convincingly and successfully argued that it will be better for Ndigbo to remain in a united, egalitarian and just Nigeria than to ostracized to any obscured corner.
Generally, in his catalogued horizons and viewpoints vis-a-vis his character and attitude predisposition and disposition to issues of life and national importance, Governor Uzodimma has proved to be a wise man. And because he’s an illustrious son and leader of East, he qualifies to be received as a wiseman from the East.
It’s not surprising that notable elders of the East have been recognizing the roles that Governor Uzodimma has been playing in the the East and in the country. Hence, they assign befitting chieftaincy titles upon him.
The latest is that honest and sincere title of “Onyendu Ndigbo” or “Leader of the Igbo nation” or indeed “Leader of the East”, that he was crowned with by the locally, nationally and internationally recognized, regarded and respected His Imperial Majesty, Eze I. Ikonne of Aba.
The octogenarian traditional ruler and royal father must have seen the blossoming and flourishing attributes in the antecedents and pedigree of Governor Uzodimma to warrant his public coronation of the governor as “Onyendu Ndigbo”!
Having served merotoriously and rewardingly as a Senator of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Governor Uzodimma, the Federal Government of Nigeria also notices the undisguised desire of Governor Uzodimma to see Nigeria remain an indivisible and indissoluble national entity.
That’s why, probably for the first time in the history of Imo State, the governor has a very free access to the seat of power in Aso Rock, receiving due attention of the president and the presidency, with resultant federal presence and support in areas of programmes and projects.
So far, Governor Uzodimma has been serving well as reliable eyes, ears and legs of the Federal Government of Nigeria in the East. He has been galvanizing varying and divergent interests in the East and harmonizing them for the overall mutual benefit of both the East and Nigeria.
Though because of protocol and order of service delivery, much of the work of governance is covert, but yet by their fruits we know them.
The ingenious massive programmes and projects going on in and across Imo State can be seen and are being attested to by even the biblical blind Bartemaus. The dumb are clapping for Jesus at what they are seeing.
Imo State hasn’t had it so good in a very long time; probably, since after the wonders performed by Chief Sam Mbakwe, the pioneer democratically elected governor of Imo State.
It’s quite encouraging and reassuring that Governor Uzodimma is pulling so much weight and posting excellent results in his stewardship scorecard at midterm.
There’s every reason to believe that by the end his leadership and governance tenure in Imo State, whenever that will be, Governor Uzodimma would have successfully accomplished his vision of bringing Nigeria fully into the East and taking the East into Nigeria.