ONWUASOANYA FCC JONES
I have been taken to task by a few people on why I have suddenly shifted my opposition to Uzodimma’s re-election to being a loud voice projecting him, not just to win, but to win with a landslide. Politics all over the world is in many ways like business; he who invests more, profits more. It is competitive, you cannot win by crying foul, but by working and outsmarting your rivals. In a democracy, the higher the number of people you are able to convince and win over to your side, the brighter your chances of winning. You cannot expect someone who has worked like a horse to eat like an ant.
I would always tell those who disagree with my permutations on political issues to prove me wrong with superior logic and or facts. For me, I do not only think that Uzodimma will win, but I will consider it a bad outing if the governor does not win outright in at least twenty LGAs and score the required 25% in all the 27 LGAs. As I outline eleven reasons why I think Uzodimma will win the November 11th governorship election, I expect those who disagree with me to counter me with facts, and if their logic and facts are superior to mine, I would not hesitate to agree with them. Now, let’s go…
- INEFFECTIVE OPPOSITION: Less than ten days to the governorship election, anyone who is sincere would admit that there is practically no opposition in Imo State. Imo people have not been presented with valid reasons why they must align with any of those pretending to want to be governor. From the media to grassroots mobilisation and other factors that make for effective opposition, the current band of pretenders have largely fallen short.
- ABSENCE OF CREDIBLE ALTERNATIVE: Imolites are definitely very enlightened and not the kind of populace to embrace change for the mere sake of it, but because such change presents them with promises of better governance and a brighter future for themselves and their children. There is no evidence to convince anyone who genuinely wants the betterment of Imo State that any of the key opposition candidates is better than Governor Uzodimma, in character, leadership training, patriotic vision or any of those traits that would guarantee better governance. None of the leading opposition candidates can boast of a wonderful precedence that would inspire the people to align with him against Uzodimma. This leaves a large majority of the electorate with no option but to continue to place their hope for a better Imo on the incumbent.
- PERFORMANCE: With all the challenges that his administration has had to contend with, Governor Uzodimma has credible evidence of good performance in the last three years of his administration. In critical areas of governance, Uzodimma has legacies that cannot be denied. From reconstructing three critical roads in the State to regular payment of salaries and pensions, to his undeniable reforms in Imo public service, reclamation of key public assets, interventions in the educational sector, youth empowerment and critical interventions in key sectors that had laid moribund before his adminstration came on board, Imolites cannot be blind to these undeniable performance records.
- EFFECTIVE VOTER MOBILISATION: The APC is the only political Party in this election that has strong presence across all the polling booths in the State, with its booth army and ward leadership, apparently more formidable and united than that of all the opposition Parties put together. Across the 305 wards in the State and the various autonomous communities, Uzodimma’s army of mobilisers are visible and campaigning vigorously for the re-election of the governor, while the opposition candidates seem to still be lost as to what to do in preparatory to the election.
- STRATEGIC ADVANTAGES: Governor Uzodimma is not fighting from a losing angle, but from strongly advantageous position, yet, he hasn’t become complacent. He is working assiduously to ensure that all gaps are closed and that his victory is seamless and incontestable. We have seen incumbents lose their re-election campaigns in the past, and Governor Uzodimma is certainly not taking his incumbency as a guarantee for automatic victory, hence, his deliberate efforts at working overtime to earn his victory.
- ABSENCE OF UNITED OPPOSITION: Even the most unpopular incumbent cannot be defeated in an election by the current gang of ragtag opposition in the State. In an election with four strong opposition and at another ten spoiler candidates sparring against one incumbent, there couldn’t have been a better way to concede defeat to the incumbent long before election day.
- WEAK OPPOSITION STRUCTURES: All the key opposition Parties; LP, PDP, AA and APGA are struggling with internal Party crises. The Labour Party which, riding solely on the back of Peter Obi’s popularity, should be the most viable opposition Party in this election is bogged down with internal disenchantment among its key members and structures in the State. The PDP has broken down to the middle, with its candidacy apparently nullified and more than 85% of its original membership deserting her to join the APC. The AA candidate has seemingly succeeded in resolving the confusion regarding its authentic governorship candidate, but lacks the structure and cohesion to compete in this election.
- SUPPORT OF CRITICAL STAKEHOLDERS: In all democracies, every contestant cherishes the endorsement of critical stakeholders and leaders, because, no matter how we might want to deny their influence, they remain critically influential across all voting demographies and strategic divides. 90% of Imo’s critical stakeholders, comprising of former governors, incumbent and past national and State legislators and other key opinion leaders in the State are openly aligned with Governor Uzodimma, while the rest are either aloof or equivocal.
- POOR VISIBILITY OF OPPOSITION CANDIDATES: On a recent visit to Imo State, I took it upon myself to visit a number of local government areas and interacted with local people, including using public transportation and listening to people air their views about the various candidates. The level of apathy towards the opposition is alarming. Many people in the local areas do not even know that the PDP has a candidate in this election and many believe that Governor Uzodimma does not have a challenger in this election. Across the State, the APC dominates the landscape with their publicity materials, while the opposition is glaringly missing.
- LACK OF MOTIVATION AMONG FEW OPPOSITION SUPPORTERS: The few people who will come out on election day with the tag of opposition political Parties might end up working for the APC, because they are poorly motivated. This motivation is not only about money, but many of these opposition operatives, including the Party leaders across wards and chapters are not inspired by the personality of their candidates and their preparedness for the election. For an opposition Party to win an election against an incumbent, it must boast of operatives who are ready to give their lives to secure victory for their Party. The last time we had such passionate opposition in Imo State was in 2019.
- FEDERAL FACTOR: The President’s seeming reluctance to interfere in any of these off-season election would negatively affect the opposition in Imo State more than the incumbent. All the opposition candidates relied on a phantom presidency support rather than their popularity with the people. A lot of resources were dissipated in trying to undermine Governor Uzodimma within the presidency, and anyone who has had the privilege of listening to the key opposition candidates, would have heard them boasting about how they have the presidency and INEC in their palms and would dislodge Uzodimma. These candidates failed to make the necessary investments in the masses because they were relying on getting President Tinubu to foist them on the people with or without their consent. Unfortunately, President Tinubu refused to be drawn into such anti-democratic activity and has rather directed all the agencies to ensure that the people’s votes count.
IMO MUST WIN!
