Ugochinyere Ikeagwuonu thrives on controversies. In fact, he is a product of controversies and he wouldn’t be where he is today without his knack for cashing in on controversies and even scandals. From his days as a student union politician from where he got that platform to launch himself into national limelight with the formation of the PDP national youth movement and up till date, I do not think Ugochinyere enjoys anything else but riding on the wings of crisis to actualize his political, social and economic goals.
It should therefore baffle those who had given Governor Hope Uzodimma some credits for being a smart political player that he made himself available to be used the Ideato Federal Constituency PDP candidate to breath new life into his fledgling campaign. Any keen observer of Ideato politics would have observed that the entrance of Dr. Chika Abazu as the APC candidate for the same seat took the sails off Ugochinyere’s wings. The young man who likes to be addressed Ikenga Imo State must have been racking his brain to find some new strategies to take himself back into the contest before Governor Uzodimma’s ill-advised harassment and apparently cooked up allegations against the young man.
How the governor believed that sending policemen and allegedly some thugs against any true son of Akokwa would be of help to him or his candidates is what I don’t understand. Ugochinyere is not my best of friends, but no matter how you hate a man, you must not fail to concede his strengths to him. Ugochinyere had trodden on shark infested waters that threatening him with a local fish pond filled with juvenile catfish would amount to attempting to frighten a rottweiler with rats.
I won’t be voting for Ugochinyere. But it won’t be fair to try dismissing his chances in this election. On one of my chance meetings with him after many years, I told him that I would have wished to make him fail in this election, but it would be a herculean task. But for Chika Abazu’s entrance into the race, the Ideato Federal Constituency contest would have been a straight two man race between Pascal Obi and Ugochinyere, and the Labour Party candidate would have had a real fight of his political life.
Ugochinyere had spent more time campaigning and raising the structures for this election longer than any other running for Ideato Federal Constituency election. It was a surprise to even the most passionate supporters of Dr Chika Abazu, including myself, that he was able to cover the much grounds he covered within a short time. Ugochinyere felt he had Akokwa under his belt and by extension, Ideato, but the brilliant medical doctor turned politician came in with his infectious aura and genuine humility and turned everything around, that if not for the breather given to Ugochinyere by Governor Uzodimma, that dear brother of mine would have settled for third position in this election.
Trust him to make the best of any situation, the exposition of the alleged padding of Imo Voters Register with fake names was a masterstroke, but it would have still fizzled out and only a very few politically enlightened individuals would have minded rewarding him with their votes for that audacious exposition. But, the governor’s handling of the fallout of that exposition did not only give credence to Ugochinyere’s allegations against the governor but also helped to keep that incident fresh in people’s memory while raising the profile of the self acclaimed “Messenger of the People” as a one who fights for social justice.
Trust Ikenga to maximise any such opportunities that come his way, he made a lot of fuss about the whole thing and today he returned to Imo as a hero. His return to Imo after every effort made by Governor Uzodimma’s “Chief Fixer” was a strategic humiliation to the governor and automatically places the PDP candidate, not just as a rival to the governor’s anointed candidate for Ideato Federal Constituency seat, but as a rival to the governor himself.
The APC in Ideato nation should know that, rather than the governor helping them to put up a good performance in the election, he has rather dampened their chances further. And, if anything can still be done with the few days remaining to the election, they must impress it on the governor to leave Ikenga alone and rather concentrate on working hard to see if he can win a seat for his Party in the general elections.
