Uzodimma's three years of effective leadership

• Published date: 15 January 2023
• Publication title: Nigeria - The Nation

Change will not come, if we wait for some other person or some other time. We are the ones we have been waiting for. We are the change that we seek. - Barack Obama

Exactly three years today, January 15, 2020 to be precise, destiny thrust Sen. Hope Uzodimma on Imo State, as he was sworn in as the Governor amid pomp and circumstance. On that fateful day, Uzodimma, like those with deep intuition, who believe in him, knew that change had come to our dear Imo, though the road leading to where the state was dumped by the buccaneers in the bush was thorny and muddy.

Therefore, the popular view now that Uzodimma's government has kept faith with Imo people three years down the road, in line with the oath of office he took, simply speaks to the voice of reason. It is both exhilarating and encouraging noting the general thinking about the effectiveness of Uzodimma's government that was brought to the fore at the recent stakeholders' meeting in Owerri, where Imo leaders painstakingly reviewed his performance after three years in office and scored him highly.

I do not need to bore us with what we already know as additional fallout from the stakeholders meeting such as the leaders' call, via a motion for Uzodimma to seek re-election to continue with the good work he is doing in Imo. Regardless, I must add, however, that three years ago when Uzodimma's government came on board, what he met on the ground, coupled with seen and unseen forces that coalesced to frustrate his regime, but for God's grace, were there for any discerning mind to see and be the judge today.

That Uzodimma has provided effective leadership three years in office is not in doubt and never the sole point we are out to espouse in this intervention. Rather, what Imo people have seen, which other persons across the country are witnesses to, is that he came to office prepared, the way genuine leaders do, but there was calculated attempt not to give him a chance.

It is rather unfortunate and regrettable that those opposed to Uzodimma's coming to Imo three years ago, and fought to derail what God had purposed for the state through him, defined him in their own way. Being blind to Uzodimma's visionary, pragmatic, courageous, transformative and other covert leadership attributes, they never reckoned with him as a leader, perhaps not in their mould of leaders. Three years ago, those I prefer to call our 'familiar leaders' were so impatient to ask the question, what are the characteristics of a good leader?

Good...