In the world of politics, especially in Nigeria where hearsay, very difficult to verify allegations and character assassinations are easily leveled against the sitting governors, mudslinging becomes the order of the day. Some dirty politicians use these tools more often than not to smear their political enemies, simply because they can get away with it without anybody holding them accountable or have legal recourse. Credits are not given to whom it is due, rather innuendos become the principle tool used to propel character assassinations, and more often than not, they stick to peoples’ mind for a very long period of time.

Imo State Governor, Chief Ikedi Ohakim has only been in the office for three and half years. Within this period, he has been accused of, among other things, neglecting the necessities of life such as water, electricity, and roads. They accuse him of raising the school fees for tertiary education to N150, 000 per semester while teachers have not been paid since he took office. Not done, they also accuse Ohakim of closing the only teaching hospital in the state located at Orlu, and not working hard enough to get more security personnel in Imo State, among others.  

I am not here to defend or praise Ohakim for all the good and bad things he has done in Imo State during his first tenure in office. After hearing and listening to political enemies making these unfounded accusations, I begin to wonder if the opposition are indeed talking about the same Imo State I have been visiting from the United States consistently for the last 20 years.  I will spend some time discussing the first two accusations because they are the main concerns of both people at home and abroad.

Governor Ohakim has relatively done a very good job for the short duration he has been in the office. He has done well in a lot of areas like clean water and environmental sanitation, improving security, transportation, payment of teachers’ salaries, massive road construction projects.  He has done all without taking some credits for them.  Unbelievably, I am saying this without prejudice. In the last 20 years, I have visited Imo for an average of three times a year, and have had the opportunity to visit a lot of friends from all walks of life in the state. Indeed, Ohakim has given hope to a lot of people in Imo State.

For instance, in Owerri, about five years ago, the roads were as dirty as anyone can imagine. In Whetheral and Douglas Roads, heaps of garbage were so huge that you wonder if there was any government in existence in Imo State. Today, Ohakim has given the long neglected capital of Imo a new look.  In the last three and half years, Owerri has gone through transformation and reconstruction that friends from Abia and Anambra States in United States have acquired some residential houses there.  These individuals, without knowing who Ohakim is, testify that apart from Abuja, Owerri is the cleanest and most peaceful city in Nigeria.  They credit Ohakim with the progress.

Ohakim has created tens and thousands of jobs since he assumed office. Are those jobs enough to benefit every person in Imo State? The answer is no!  However, this is an indication that he will do more if re-elected, despite the fact that his opponents have ignored the massive job creation initiatives. In terms of electricity, water and roads, they will never be worse than the previous administration. The governor has promised to continue to improve the lives of Imo people by providing them with basic necessities. 

During the last administration, each time I visited home, I used to contribute money to my community for them to have electricity two hours a day.  In the last four years, nobody has ever knocked on my door asking for help to pay their electric bills despite the fact that electricity is available far longer than the two hours a day during the Chief Achike Udenwa’s administration. Indeed, the people of Imo deserve better than Udenwa’s reincarnation by voting for Rochas Okorocha.  

 One thing many politicians have in common is that they talk more than action. However, in case of Ohakim, he has defied the law of gravity in politics, by deciding not to take credit for everything he has done for the people and go about his business of serving the people. For instance, one can hardly hear about the projects undertaken by his government. Ohakim, being a pragmatic governor and a man of action, rather than words, he has decided to implement all projects quietly. Whether this is good politics for the governor knowing that his political enemies might ridicule him as ‘do nothing governor’ is debatable depending on which political isle you are in. Conservative politicians will call his action the quality of good governance and libertarians will say it is politics of self-destruction. You take your pick. 

Perhaps, it has taken Ohakim too long to inform the people what he has achieved since he took office barely three and half years ago. By so doing, he has given his enemies the time to define him. The obvious reasons are two folds: If Ohakim decided to make all his projects and other achievements known to the public, this election would not have been a contest, not even talking about being too close. All his opponents, political pundits or sworn enemies, who have not seen anything good that he has done in the state, would find his style disturbing.

These same people tried to convince Ohakim to listen to their agenda on how to loot Imo treasury after their bid to oust him failed through the courts. The pragmatic governor immediately rejected their demands because the people deserve better than what they have seen in the last eight years of the previous administration. As a result, they declared war on Ohakim and his administration. The governor also decided not to make this problem public. At that time, the governor, who emerged under Progressive Peoples Alliance (PPA), was at the same time trying to make some friends on the other side of the isle so that his agenda could scale through at the Peoples Democratic Party-dominated state House of Assembly. No matter how hard Ohakim tried to reach out to the previous administration, they rewarded him with stupid accusations. Udenwa’s cronies like Araraume and Rochas spent almost two years taking Ohakim to court just to distract his agenda for the people.

None of Ohakim’s detractors has ever told the good people of Imo what they will do if elected. Rather, they have spent their time in character assassinations and mudslinging. They keep throwing all kinds of false accusations, hoping that one of the false accusations will stick in the minds of voters. A case in point is the outright lie that Ohakim has raised school fees in Imo in all tertiary institutions. However, everyone knows that Ohakim would not be foolish enough to raise fees a few months before elections. Another lie is that Ohakim has closed the Imo State Teaching Hospital in Orlu because he is not in good terms with his predecessor, Udenwa.

In fact, his opponents do not have a good message to sell to the people to vote for them. One then begins to wonder if these people are in a state of alter consciousness that they are blindfolded from seeing Ohakim’s accomplishments. Common people, when are you going to drop the idea of the ends justifies the means, and anything goes in politics? It is time to tell the good electorate what your agenda is if you have any plan. Let the opposition stop the politics of division and character assassination!

You cannot blame the governor of neglecting your local government while the individuals you sent to Owerri either through election or by appointment are getting richer. Hold them to account for their stewardship. Indeed, it is the sole responsibility of these individuals to remind the governor about his pledge to their people. Sometimes, they have to broker a deal with their fellow honourable members in the House or state executive council members to bring some projects to their constituencies. It is not a matter of physical fight. It is a matter of politics and lobbying. And it takes smart people to win the hearts of others in politics.

The point I am making is that in the forthcoming elections, the electorate should be bold and wise enough to elect smart, openhearted, sociable and intelligent people as representatives at all levels of governance. That way, the dividends of democracy will be sure to spread to all nooks and crannies of Imo and, by extension, the nation.  I do believe that if Ohakim is given a second term, he will make the lives of Imo people better than his predecessors had done. Ohakim deserves to be re-elected so that he will finish his projects!

The same applies to President Goodluck Jonathan. The same accusations are also being leveled against Jonathan by the opposition, some of whom are just empty brains and light papers. I think they need to think again. What new direction will they offer Nigerians? Jonathan is already taking the nation to the right direction. He has done wonderfully well within the short period he has been on the saddle for late Umaru Musa Yar’Adua. He has to be given the opportunity to finish the work the joint ticket of Yar’Adua/Jonathan started. Nigerians have to eschew ethnic and religious sentiments, and elect Jonathan to complete the marvelous and transformational projects, which are already making significant impact on Nigeria and Nigerians. This is my take.  

Nze Ukaegbu, a retired officer of the United States Army, writes from California, USA.