By Lancelot Obiaku
Many a time, when a group of people stage a strong protest against a system or condition as the Trailer Drivers Association did in Owerri on Wednesday, August 14, 2024, by completely blocking the Owerri-Portharcourt road, the frustration has accumulated over time. It means the oppressor, or more mildly, the offender, has had his field day for a while.
While we have read some hurriedly conjured and face-saving pieces from some of the Governor’s most overzealous appointees, Gov. Hope Uzodimma and the Imo State Government cannot divorce themselves from the Special Adviser to the Governor on Illegal Motorparks, the man in the eye of the storm and the villain, Mr. Frank Onwumere.
The Governor and his acolytes cannot feign ignorance of the despicable activities of Mr. Onwumere in victimizing, brutalizing, and extorting his victims for several months. First, in the State, Unwumere’s name is not new to thuggery, violence, and illegality, as in the Gov. Rochas Okorocha administration, he was notorious for unleashing mayhem on Imo residents. How the Governor did not do his due diligence before appointing him into such a position in which he is most likely to face off with people daily makes the Governor and the government accomplices to the crimes Onwumere is said to have committed.
From the look of things, it was that the Governor sees Onwumere as the perfect man for the job which he is now fantastically executing against innocent Imo residents. Otherwise, the Governor has no alibi for not having called Onwumere to order, sacked, or redeployed him, despite months of his flagrant shows of incompetence.
Onwumere may be one of the worst appointees in the eyes of the people, but to the Governor, he is a darling who must not be touched because he makes so much revenue for the government by hounding and extorting money from innocent citizens. What a shame. Therefore, it is laughable for anyone to try to distance the Governor from Onwumere’s nefarious dealings. If a witch cries in the night and a child dies in the morning, we do not need to go to a soothsayer to ask what killed the child.
Assuming the Governor is not aware of Onwumere’s actions, it makes matters worse as it depicts the death of governance in the State where the Governor lives mostly in Abuja and cares less about the responsibility facing him at home. There are even reports that his appointees and government functionaries are starved of money to run their offices and take care of themselves, causing some of them to take to illegal means of making money, as may be the case of Onwumere.
Again, Uzodimma’s is a government where appointees are like headless chickens running around without any sense of direction because the Governor has failed to stand up to his leadership responsibilities. Most of his appointees are said to not know their terms of reference, thereby going beyond their jurisdiction and causing clashes among each other. Sadly, while this confusion exists, the Governor continues to gallivant, leaving his State disorderly.
Let Imo Breathe!
Lancelot Obiaku, a journalist and public affairs commentator, writes from Owerri.
