By Oguwike Nwachuku
Today, December 12, 2020, His Excellency, Distinguished Senator Hope Odidika Uzodimma, Governor of Imo State, clocks 63. He was born on December 12, 1958.
Exactly 63 years ago, God caused Hope to be born into the humble but royal family of Igwe Michael and Ezinne Rose Uzodimma in a small community called Ozuh Omuma in Oru East Local Government Area of Imo State.
Interestingly, if you leave Governor Hope Uzodimma to his conscience, today, he would love to spend the whole of it in God’s Sanctuary, more so, as his birthday this year falls on a Sunday. Why would he do that, you may ask? He loves God, the things of God and neither pretends about it nor would he apologise to anyone for doing so.
For those who may not know, the attention Governor Hope Uzodimma gives to other days of the week looking up to God for guidance to discharge official and unofficial duties is always quadrupled on Sunday.
As Christians (Catholics and Anglicans to be precise) we are admonished to keep Sundays holy, but I know majority of us are in breach of that biblical injunction.
But Governor Hope Uzodimma has proven to be wired to keep the rules to the extent that, God help you, if you try to distract him from giving his all (total supplication) to God on a Sunday.
Last year as I paid tribute to this amazing and lovely principal of mine at 62, I had referenced Aristotle who said “men are marked from the moment of birth to rule or be ruled.”
Now, relate Aristotle to what the Holy Book says in Romans 9:16: “It is not him that willeth, nor him that runneth, but of God that showeth mercy” and one of the popular lyrics of Bongos Ikwue: “What’s gonna be’s gonna be, what goes up must come down, what’s gonna be’s gonna be, ain’t nothing you can do about it,” then you have a proper understanding of why Governor Hope Uzodimma can conveniently be dubbed a child, nay, man of destiny.
It has been said time and again that the circumstances and the vicissitudes of life that saw Hope Uzodimma occupying the coveted seat of governor in Imo State, was in keeping with what God said he would be.
Today, Governor Hope Uzodimma’s family, true/real friends, political associates and well wishers will once again converge in God’s Sanctuary to bless and offer their prayers for the gift of this rare breed of a being who, like most people, is not swayed by the allure of office or the material things God has endowed him with that he even believes, he is holding in trust for fellow mankind.
We are in agreement that another year of Governor Hope Uzodimma’s birth is enough reason for us to celebrate God’s faithfulness upon his life.
Governor Hope Uzodimma is one person who agrees with Plato that “you should not honour men more than truth.” And it takes a man who has conquered himself, which is the first and noblest of virtues, to buy into the above thought by the great philosopher.
I am confident that Governor Hope Uzodimma has conquered himself hence he does not believe in unnecessary praise-singing, sycophancy, eye service, et al – garbs most men have been erroneously dressed in, but quite anti-thethical to reality.
The emphasis on Hope Uzodimma’s true/real friends honouring him today at 63 also shows the confidence they repose in him as an amazing great man; one with Midas touch who has used his being (spirit, soul and body) to bring happiness to millions of people regardless of religion, sex, age or even race.
In the inner chambers of the heart of Governor Hope Uzodimma’s friends, associates and family I am sure they would be praying to God not to allow him to change from who he is, but to stay as amazing as he has always been even at 63 – a caring, talented, witty, marvelous work of God.
Who wouldn’t offer such prayer for a man like Senator Hope Uzodimma who has demonstrated that he was born to serve with excellence? It is therefore not a surprise that at 63, those who love Hope Uzodimma are chorusing what Mark Twain said: “Age is a case of mind over matter, if you don’t mind, it doesn’t matter.”
One of the greatest references to Pope John XX111 is that, “men are like wine, some turn to vinegar, but the best improve with age.”
No doubt, Governor Hope Uzodimma has proven time and over again that his own improvement with age is to remain a good man he has always been.
What he was more than three decades ago when he rose to the occasion of selfless service, taking philanthropy to an unprecedented apogee as a private person in business, he improved upon as a distinguished senator whose services reverberated in all the nooks and crannies of the zone he represented and beyond, and now as a Governor, blazing the trail in governance in Imo.
In line with his 3-R mantra – Reconstruction, Rehabilitation and Recovery –Hope Uzodimma is using his position as Governor to address the basic needs of the people of Imo State who trusted him with their mandate to provide sincere and God-fearing leadership at a time all hope seemed to have been lost.
A man who believes that ideas are the source of all things, Senator Hope Uzodimma, since January 15, 2020 when he was sworn-in as governor, has remained not only strategic in the implementation of government policies and programmes, but has exhibited the highest level of prudence and frugality in the management of the common patrimony and resources of Imo people.
Contrary to the rabid antagonism of miniscule political opponents and their minions against his administration, a combination of mischief, ignorance and perhaps, the syndrome of “without me nothing will work in Imo” (or what some call divine right of the king syndrome), Governor Hope Uzodimma has proven the nay sayers wrong.
He has been able to neutralize the “divine right of the king syndrome” mindset which his political opponents are suffering from. He has also succeeded in curing them of the diarrhea of “without me nothing will work in Imo.”
Onwa Oyoko has firmly keyed into Plato’s saying: “I am the wisest man alive, for I know one thing, and that is that I know nothing,” a view that is one of the hallmarks of great leaders constantly learning despite their social status and age.
Governor Hope Uzodimma understands clearly what Aristotle means when he said that, “democracy is a government in the hands of men of low birth, no property, and vulgar employment,” another way of saying democracy is “the government of the people, by the people, and for the people” as Abrahim Lincoln is often quoted to have said.
Hope Uzodimma as governor of Imo State knows too well that democracy is a system of government in which laws, policies, leadership, and major undertakings of a state or other polity are directly or indirectly decided by the people.
No wonder he is in the habit of consulting the people on virtually everything that affects them as far as the tripod upon which his administration stands – reconstruction, rehabilitation and recovery- is concerned.
Governor Hope Uzodimma’s government is not only pursuing infrastructural development and renewal with uncommon zest but working hard to recover, rehabilitate and reconstruct the jaded and almost dead project called Imo that past administrations left behind before January 15, 2020 when he came on board.
Under his watch, Imo people are beholding fully completed motor-able and enduring roads within and outside the Owerri metropolis with state of the art urban renewal that recently saw the ubiquity of roundabouts as the major source of harrowing gridlock in Owerri giving way. The ongoing Owerri-Orlu and Owerri-Okigwe roads are two major signature projects that past governments could not have dared venture into because the leaders do not have the large heart to embark on programmes that are enduring and capable of impacting the people positively.
New buildings have, since Hope Uzodimma became governor, germinated inside the once ramshackle and grossly unmaintained and aesthetically defective Government House. They include the newly constructed Executive Chambers, the Banquet Hall, the Governor’s Lodge, all of which go to show the test of the man who calls the shot in Douglas House.
He is attending to water infrastructure, building and equipping hospitals in all the 305 electoral wards in Imo, encouraging youth empowerment/employment through cash transfers to 15,000 youths and strategic investment in hitherto moribund companies like the Adapalm, Owerri Standard Shoe Company, Nsu Ceramics, among others.
Governor Hope Uzodimma has turned the Civil Service in Imo into a disciplined and productive aspect of governance. Workers are trained at will, their health and welfare given priority attention, emoluments paid as at when due as a result of the automation process of staff and pensioners which he initiated, and prosperity generally being shared to the good people of Imo State.
While most governors in the country are struggling with the strategy on how to deal with the devastating security challenge in their states, Governor Uzodimma has left Imo as not one of those states designated as “dangerous places to visit in Nigeria” despite the thinking of the naysayers and political opponents who would rather Imo becomes a perpetual hotbed for insecurity because it would favour their political calculation.
But for Hope Uzodimma’s deft political moves, the frenzy for Christmas which we are witnessing today and the upsurge in human traffic in Imo for the occasion would not have been possible has he reclined to the wishes of the cynics to discard properly trained security agencies and allow bandits dictate the tone of security in Imo.
Morning, they say, shows the day.
Despite the fact that Governor Hope Uzodimma has continued to operate under the worse economic hardship and environment made worse by challenging security, he has demonstrated capacity to deliver the goods to the people of Imo State. That he is on the saddle now is not an accident, being not a greedy, selfish, wicked, intolerant, sly, mischievous, ungodly man.
Those are actually among the emulatable qualities he possesses that people will always want to celebrate him. Because God is not a man that he should lie, Governor Hope Uzodimma’s mission in Imo will continue to be a thing of joy to all men of goodwill because his best will keep manifesting year in and out.
Your Excellency, may your day bring you lots of happiness, love and fun because you deserve them a lot. Not just today as you turn 63 but as you continue to age and render legendry service to our people.
·Nwachuku, Chief Press Secretary/Special Adviser (Media) to Governor Uzodimma, writes from Owerri.