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The worst is over! Uzodimma rouses Imo for New Year *Says 2023 full of good tidings
“Things are looking up and 2023 is likely to be better than 2022,” were the encouraging words with which, Hope Uzodimma, Governor of Imo State, sought to rouse citizens into the 2023, assuring that the state was moving away from the worst days.
Uzodimma, who fingered political foes for most of the crisis the state witnessed in 2023, assured that many policies and projects that would improve the living standard of the people, with more critical road infrastructure coming.
He named such roads as Owerri – Umuahia road, the Orlu – Mgbee – Akokwa-Uga road and the Oguta – Okporo-Orlu road will all be completed this year and with the already completed Owerri – Orlu and Owerri-Okigwe signature roads, saying with them, the state would never be the same again in terms of road network that will catalyse trade and commerce and boost the economy of the State.
The Governor, while conveying his New Year message sentiments to the people, acknowledged that despite the fact that 2022 came with a lot of challenges nationally the state had every reason to thank God for sparing our lives to see this year.
The message, in full, read: “My beloved Ndi Imo, Ndewonu. I wish you all a happy and prosperous new year. To the glory of God, we have seen the end of the year 2022, and we are alive to celebrate the beginning of another year – 2023. As people of faith, we give God all the glory and adoration for the divine privilege of being alive to see this new year of our Lord 2023.
“The last year – 2022 – was a challenging year for the entire country and we have every reason to thank God for sparing our lives to see this year. As we know, many of those who celebrated the beginning of 2022 with us are no longer alive today to see the beginning of 2023.
“Yet, it is neither by our might nor by our righteousness that we have been so favoured to see this new year. It is only by the special grace of God. So, as we celebrate and congratulate ourselves for surviving the new year, we should also pause for a minute to appreciate and praise God for His abundant mercy and grace on our lives.
“Therefore, as I say very happy new year to all of us, let me, on your behalf, express our profound gratitude to God Almighty for keeping us alive to witness yet another year in our pilgrimage on planet Earth. Indeed, for Imo people and Nigerians in general, the preceding year of 2022 was a very challenging one. Yet to the glory of God, through all the trials, we all came out triumphant. May God be praised.
“My beloved NDIMO, as Imo people, looking back into last year it wasn’t all about trials and survival. Many of our prayers were also answered and some of us received some blessings from God, both individually and collectively as a people. For example, I am aware that some families were blessed with new babies, new houses, new jobs, and some got promoted to new positions. Some also started new businesses while others grew their old businesses. Thus, in addition to being alive, we have other reasons to thank God for.
“On the part of government, we are thankful that in spite of the monstrous challenge of insecurity which was deliberately contrived to frustrate and cripple my administration, we were able to accomplish our objectives in governance. For instance, two of our signatures projects – the Owerri – Orlu road and the Owerri – Okigwe road were commissioned by no other person than President Muhammadu Buhari.
“This is in addition to several other roads and infrastructural projects which were completed last year. (I am satisfied and encouraged by the testimonies I received from our citizens who retuned and used these roads during the festive season).
“We were also able to get the Federal Government to upgrade the Federal Medical Centre, Owerri, to a University Teaching Hospital for use by the Federal University of Technology, Owerri. Of course, these developments come with abundant employment opportunities for our people and the additional prospect of value addition to the growth of the economy of the state.
“The same goes for the Alvan Ikoku College of Education, which we got the Federal Government to take over as a Federal University of Education. We also signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Nigerian Navy for the dredging of Oguta Lake/ Orashi River to the Atlantic Ocean. This will grant Imo State, and indeed the South-East, the much needed access to the sea with vast potentials to boost international trade and commerce in the region.
“This also comes with the concomitant opportunities for investment in the oil and gas sector. With the establishment of a Naval base at Oguta, facilitated by my administration, maritime security is assured in the area which will help to combat crude oil theft and pipeline vandalism.
“Equally heart-warming is the fact that in the preceding year, we were able to wrestle the remaining pockets of security challenges and banditry to a standstill. The few remaining kingpins of bandits were rounded up and are now dancing to the music of the law. To the glory of God, security agencies were able to act with greater precision in confronting banditry as witnessed in the foiled attempt to burn the office of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in Owerri. So, on the whole, I can assure you that we are on top of the situation and Imo is relatively safer each year. A clear evidence of this is that no incident of insecurity was reported in the state during the festive season.
“The good news is that things are looking up and 2023 is likely to be better than 2022. We hope to complete the Owerri – Umuahia road and the Orlu – Mgbee – Akokwa and the Oguta to Okporo- Orlu road, this year. Adding these strategic roads to the two already commissioned signature roads will serve to catalyse trade and commerce and would ultimately boost the economy of the state.
“Let me also assure you that the security situation will continue to improve this year. Our security agencies are now better equipped and better trained to confront the security challenges. I can further assure you that this year, the few unrepentant ungodly people and their sponsors, who want to continue to unleash violence and insecurity in the state, will be doing so at their own peril. NDIMO should be assured that we will all be safer this year. Above all, I give you my word that our dear state will do better this year in all ramifications than it did last year.
“It is noteworthy that I have already signed the 2023 budget of N474.4billion into law, and we are set to go this fiscal year. As you know, the budget is tagged “The Budget of Wealth Expansion”. It seeks to improve the state’s economy, with priority on security, agriculture, education and transportation, among the others. With a capital outlay of N373 billion – that is about 72 percent of the entire budget – nothing will stop us from attaining our developmental goals for the year.
“This is a year to watch because it a year that Imo people will look back to and further appreciate this administration for keeping faith with our social contract with the people. Today, even our worst critics will acknowledge the huge difference between the Imo State of today and the Imo State we inherited in 2020.
“I must tell you that this great transformation that has taken place is as a result of hard work, sacrifice, honesty, prudence and tenacious dedication to duty by my team. Needless to add that we could not have done much without your support and prayers which crowned our modest efforts with God’s blessings. To God be the glory.
“I should also remind our people that 2023 is an election year. My appeal is that the good people of Imo State should conduct themselves peacefully before, during and after the elections. I do not want our state to be in the election news for all the bad reasons. Let us go out peacefully and elect the candidates of our choice.
“Ndi Imo nwem, let us collectively resolve that Imo shall not witness any bloodshed in 2023. Let us resolve to work together to ensure that peace, unity and progress shall be our goal and that the interest and welfare of Imo State shall supersede our narrow selfish interests.
“May God keep us safe and bless the works of our hands in 2023. I wish all of us a happy, prosperous and blessed 2023.”
I will always refer to the encounter I once had with Kenneth Idiodi. He was then the leader of the Rosicrucian Society in Nigeria, otherwise known as Amok. It was a sit-down at Zodiac Hotel Enugu. Then, I was the reporter of The Guardian in the Coal City.
You know the Amok faith bases its philosophy or belief on the law of Retributive Justice – the law of Karma. That is to say, everything you do in life has its rewards or punishment in equal measure – much like the measure you give, the measure you receive.
I don’t know how much this society draws or links this belief from or with the Bible, but I do recall Jesus Christ warning Simon Peter – return your sword to the scabbard – for he who kills by the sword, dies by the sword.
As a child growing up I listened to one of the epics of Oriental Brothers with the lyrics – ogbu mma ga-esi n’mma na, ogba egbe ga-esi n’egbe na ooo! Translated – he who kills by the sword will die by the sword, he who kills by the gun will die by the nozzle of the gun.
Now, here is where this is relevant in present Nigerian reality – the reason I’m putting details of that encounter out publicly once again, having done so previously.
During that encounter, Idiodi used one event in Nigeria to illustrate his point. He told me of a Nigerian leader who commanded the troop that carried out the Asaba massacre in the heat of the Nigerian civil war – an episode, said to have claimed over 2,000 able-bodied men who had come out to welcome the Nigerian soldiers with songs and dances only to fall in the hail of bullets that descended on them like rainstorms – was not spared by fate.
That commander was to meet his own death in a hail of bullets even as a Head of State. He never mentioned the name of the military top brass. But I used my tongue to count my teeth to come to the answer. You could also do same – use your tongue.
Now, how does this relate? You may have followed the outing of General Yakubu Gowon at the Bola Ahmed Tinubu International Conference Centre, Abuja, where he presented his autobiography titled: My Life of Duty and Allegiance, that contained what seemed his memoir on the Nigerian civil war, which he prosecuted as Head of State.
I’m sure you must have been observing the debate therefrom that event. Now, I’m not so much enamoured of the debate as I’m of the nuances surrounding that unfortunate episode and the role of Gowon in it, given my takeaway from that Idiodi encounter some two decades ago.
Does Gowon, now a nonagenarian really believe that presenting a pious, if not saintly account of himself to the world as snippets of his book, which I picked up here and there suggests, truly suffices for the atrocities of that period?
Take the Asaba massacre for example. Was that the handiwork of Odumegwu Ojukwu, the Biafran leader, whom the former Head of State seems to blame for everything that went wrong. Was he also the one that commanded that mass slaughtering of innocent men?
Under your nose as Head of State, you watched citizens slaughtered mercilessly like infested herds in the streets – you watched young girls corralled into leprosy colonies and wantonly raped before being wasted – you watched as train coaches bearing people fleeing the scene were stopped and their human cargoes thrown alive into River Benue like rotten goods for fishes to feast on – you watched all these and didn’t lift a finger.
Then as Head of State, you not only supervised but watched millions of children with distended stomachs, tiny feet, glazy eyes, heavy heads on ropelike necks, practically begging for death to come quickly and save them from further punishment.
You supervised and watched the cataclysmic eruptions from the blitzkrieg on churches, markets and hospitals – all to keep Nigeria together. In your mind the brutal and merciless butchery of innocent people who were not soldiers and had nothing to do with the war could be explained away just like that?
O! It was Ojukwu that caused it. Ojukwu was the one who released the bombs, caused the blockades that led to the kwashiorkor that killed millions or other atrocities thereof? What a pity!
Now, I return to Idiodi. How else could anyone interpret today’s Nigeria without introducing the law of retributive justice that the Amok leader spoke of? How do you fault the link of the commander who massacred over 2,000 souls dying by the barrel of the same gun, even as Head of State?
How could anyone fail to relate what is happening to our Gowon today with the past? This is a Geneal that wakes up to see hundreds of his brothers and sisters being buried in mass graves as was done during the onslaught he supervised against another people and he still thinks it has nothing to do with him?
Now, the story you told at that event in Abuja on Tuesday, is not new. You simply repeated yourself. My interpretation of that event is that you’re a man undergoing daily torture. You wouldn’t be a human being otherwise, given what is before you, which didn’t start today.
You’re probably trying to escape your fate by appealing to public sympathy. How helpful could that be in the face of the clear evidence of your culpability in the deliberate wasting of more than three million souls? Nobody would believe you.
Yes! They could humour you. But that’s the best anyone could do for you. I hear money rained like a fountain and that you left the scene with billions of naira in your kitty. At 90? Haba General!
Now, here is the thing General. None of these would help.
None would work. You have tried prayers. But you forget that the prayer of sinner is an abomination and a reproach before God, unless he repents. You have also written the book. Surely, this too would end up in the trashcan of history – meaningless piece of conjectures, propaganda, half-truths and outright lies – perhaps!
But, why don’t you try the one thing you have been running away from, for more than five decades – go on your knees in total supplication and surrender, repentance and penance – then rise, call all Nigerians and empty yourself with the truth.
Thereafter openly apologise to the millions of souls whose tormenting wailing you probably hear every day during your disturbed sleep and in your quiet moments, but choose to suppress with these baby tales. Ask them for forgiveness, genuinely and see. There may lie the answer you seek.
Try that and see if it wouldn’t be a more efficacious cure for this decades-old wound than this Ojukwu-bashing and those wasted prayer sessions. You might not only have atoned for the past, but saved the future. May God guide you.
My name is Sunny Igboanugo, I’m The Tiny Voice
“Now that the court has ruled against it, we are sure that, in the coming days, we will witness a mass exodus from the ruling party,” were the words with which the African Democratic Congress (ADC) welcomed Wednesday’s ruling of the Federal High Court, Abuja reversing the deadline for party primaries, among others.
Bolaji Abdullahi, spokesman, who conveyed the party’s excitement over the development, said it viewed the ruling as vindication of its objections to key aspects of the electoral body’s guidelines at the time they were issued.
Recalling its specific objections to the strict timelines on membership registration as well as the conduct of party primaries, the statement, said: “The decision of the court on these issues, including those that directly contradict the constitution, is therefore a welcome vindication of our position.”
Stressing that the ruling, which removed the impediment placed by the guidelines on politicians who wished to seek alternative platforms to contest elections, was a positive development that would promote freedom of association, the statement, added: “We believed at the time that that particular restriction was designed to prevent people from leaving the ruling party, APC.”
Secretary of State Marco Rubio warned Cuba on Thursday that the United States was laser-focused on changing the communist system, after the island was stunned by a US indictment of its former president Raul Castro.
The US military announced that the USS Nimitz aircraft carrier and its escort warships had entered the Caribbean, although President Donald Trump, asked if the deployment was meant to intimidate Cuba, said, “No, not at all.”
Rubio, a Cuban American and vociferous opponent of Havana’s government, described the island 90 miles (145 kilometres) from the US shore as a “failed state” as it suffers a major economic crisis.
“Their economic system doesn’t work. It’s broken, and you can’t fix it with the current political system that’s in place. What they’ve gotten used to all these years is just buying time and waiting us out.
“They’re not going to be able to wait us out or buy time. We’re very serious. We’re very focused. The US preference is always a diplomatic solution, but President Donald Trump has other options at his disposal.”
Stating that Cuba had tentatively accepted an offer by the United States of $100 million in aid in return for reforms, he said it was unclear if the United States would accept Cuba’s terms, as Washington insists on circumventing the military-backed conglomerate GAESA, which dominates the island’s economy.
Rubio said Thursday that the GAESA chief’s Florida-based sister, Adys Lastres Morera, had been arrested and was being held by US immigration authorities, adding in an X post: “Managing real estate assets…while also aiding Havana’s communist regime, until I terminated her permanent resident status.”
The charges against Raul Castro — younger brother of Fidel Castro, the late iconic US nemesis who led Cuba’s communist revolution that culminated in 1959 — stem from the deadly downing of two civilian planes manned by anti-Castro pilots in 1996.
Cuban authorities called on citizens to protest the “despicable” indictment, with the official newspaper Granma urging Cubans to gather outside the US embassy in Havana on Friday at 7:30 am (1230 GMT).
“This isn’t really an accusation, something from more than 30 years ago, but rather a public attack on a public figure,” Fabian Fernandez, a 30-year-old accountant, told AFP in Havana.
Trump in January seized on a US domestic indictment of Venezuela’s leftist leader Nicolas Maduro to send in US forces to depose him and take him into custody.
“The idea is to say, we can do to you what we did to Nicolas Maduro,” said Christopher Sabatini, senior fellow for Latin America at Chatham House.
The Maduro operation led to the end of free oil from Venezuela to Cuba, which relied on its ally for nearly half its needs.
Cubans have suffered power outages of up to 20 hours a day and taps running dry.
Runaway inflation has caused the price of basic goods to soar and mountains of trash have piled up on the streets of Havana.
In addition to murder, Castro has been charged with conspiracy to kill Americans and destruction of aircraft.
The Cuban government called the 1996 shootdown was “legitimate self-defense” against an airspace violation.
China and Russia both criticized Trump’s steps on Cuba, which come as he tries to end an unpopular war he started with Israel against Iran.
Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Guo Jiakun told a press briefing that Washington “should stop brandishing the sanctions stick and the judicial stick against Cuba and stop threatening force at every turn.”
In Moscow, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said: “We believe that under no circumstances should such methods — which border on violence — be used against either former or current heads of state.
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