By Ifeanyi Maduako
The Imo State Governor, Senator Hope Uzodimma dissolved his 28- member state executive council cabinet on Wednesday, May 12, 2021.
Announcing the dissolution to members of the press after the weekly state executive council meeting, the Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Declan Mbadiwe Emelumba, said that eight of the commissioners were retained as members of the cabinet to continue in their various ministries pending when the full executive committee will be reconstituted.
The dissolution came as a thunderbolt. It was unexpected and surprising to majority of Imolites because not a few expected it, especially at this point in time in Imo State. The governor has the prerogative to appoint, reappoint and disappoint. He has the sole right to hire and fire.
The dissolution may be surprising to the masses, but the governor definitely had a deeper knowledge why the dissolution was necessary. He appointed them and he knows better about their activities than the uninformed masses.
It is a very rare privilege to be chosen among millions of eligible people in a state to serve in whatever capacity, especially as a commissioner. These immediate past commissioners should be immensely grateful to God and Governor Uzodinma for deeming it fit to call them to serve.
They shouldn’t be aggrieved and join the opposition because they should never forget that if Governor Uzodimma didn’t win his case at the Supreme Court on January 14, 2020, to become the governor of Imo State, they wouldn’t have tasted the seat they just left for even one day.
If former Governor Emeka Ihedioha had continued as governor, would they have smelt the position of a commissioner? They should be grateful to God for the opportunity given to them to serve which has consequently changed their profiles or curriculum vitae.
Joining the opposition to antagonize Governor Uzodimma who has changed their status wouldn’t be morally and politically expedient. The opposition can never give them a greater political mileage in either Ihedioha or Senator Rochas Okorocha’s camp. Let them remain faithful to the governor as some of them may even be drafted to become local government chairmen or contest the general election in 2023, by the grace of God.
One of the eight commissioners who survived the sudden cabinet dissolution is, Honourable Declan Mbadiwe Emelumba, who is the current Commissioner for Information and Strategy. Emelumba’s appointment as Information Commissioner was a round peg in a round hole.
He has a rich resume as a journalist and an editor of a national newspaper for many years before venturing into the shark-infested water of politics.
He had managed the media office of a sitting governor. He was a member of Imo State House of Assembly where he handled the House Committee on Information as chairman.
Many journalists who covered the state assembly at the time can attest to his peculiarity and uniqueness among all the information committee chairmen that the House of Assembly had ever had.
He was the Director, Media and Strategy of the Senator Hope Uzodimma Campaign Organization in 2019. I learned that he had worked with the governor for many years even while the governor was a senator representing Imo West (Orlu Zone) Senatorial District from 2011-2019.
All this notwithstanding, Chief Emelumba ranks among the best of all information commissioners the state ever had or at least in the past 30 years. Plaudits should also be given to Governor Uzodimma for deploying him to the ministry of information where he is a specialist.
Prior to Governor Uzodimma’s administration, Emelumba’s immediate predecessor was a lawyer who didn’t know much about information management and dissemination. During Okorocha’s regime, Imo had about eight commissioners of information for the eight years Okorocha was in power.
Except, perhaps for Chief T.O.E Ekechi, all Okorocha’s information commissioners could be regarded a carpenters who assumed the position of a medical doctor and performed surgical operation on patients. Some of them were engineers who were assigned as information commissioner.
The most ridiculous of them was a young man who just graduated from Rochas Foundation College at the time and made the information commissioner. The young man had never written a news story or any article worthy of publication even in a local newspaper.
He had no iota of knowledge or working experience in the media. But, Rochas made him a commissioner for information thereby ridiculing the esteemed office. The appointment of Emelumba restored dignity and esteem to that office.
Under the leadership of Emelumba as commissioner, agencies and parastatals under the information ministry have become more useful and functional. Of particular interest is the Imo Newspaper Limited, the publisher of Statesman newspaper.
In Okorocha’s regime, Statesman published for only eight times which is on the average of one per year for the eight years he was in power. Juxtapose those moribund or redundant years with the current resurgence of Statesman newspaper.
For the past one year, the newspaper has been publishing on daily basis, including Saturdays and Sundays. Emelumba’s scorecard in reviving Statesman newspaper alone is enough good attestation for his laudable performance which warranted his retention as commissioner by the governor.
Why did Statesman newspaper go moribund for over a decade before Emelumba came? The blame shouldn’t be heaped on the staff because these staffers who had resurrected the newspaper were all there during these years.
They were simply redundant; the then government didn’t reckon or wanted to revive the newspaper. The staffs whose productivities have been energized were simply wasting away in those locust years. Plausible commendation should go to Emelumba for reviving the newspaper.
His vision and sagacity to also bring on board, a seasoned and experienced editorial team should also be commended.
Emelumba has also improved on the performance of Imo Broadcasting Corporation (IBC), there is a relative improvement on the quality of news and programmes in IBC.
However, on a lighter note, I use this medium to advise the IBC management to take a second look at one of their jingles which says, “If you drink, don’t drive. If you drive, don’t drink”. I always get amused whenever that jingles is played. What does IBC mean by that? The drink should be specified and pronounced. Should anyone who drives abstain from drinking water, juice and other soft drinks?
Every discerning human knows that the jingle is referring to “alcohol” but it should be mentioned. Water and other soft drinks are all drinkable liquids.
Again, should someone who drove all day be prohibited from drinking alcohol at night in his house when IBC say, “If you drive, don’t drink? Jingles shouldn’t be nebulous and ambiguous to the listener. IBC should rephrase that jingle as, “If you drink alcohol, don’t drive and If you are driving, don’t drink alcohol.”
Maduako, writes from Owerri (08061562735).
