HOPE AGAINST HOPE
Barely four days after being hurled into power by an inglorious supreme court ruling, Imo State governor, Senator Hope Uzodinma has swung into action with all the eagerness needed to erase a highly controversial past.
Though Uzodinma now comfortably occupies the Eastern heartland's leadership seat, there still hovers above the sexagenarian ex-Senator, a nebula of silly and reckless fraud stints and money laundering escapades from as far back as 2001 that has coalesced into a reputation for the newly installed governor. From the Nigeria Maritime Agency to the defunct Spring Bank Plc and the more recent Nigerian port authority ( NPA) fraud cases, Hope is alleged to have been hopelessly involved in several corruption cases with the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
However, without looking back, the governor on Wednesday vowed to probe all his predecessors in the past decade in a bid to ensure transparency but this move though laudable, has been criticized by many as untimely and a clear waste of resources for a state badly in need of meaningful progress, especially when a cloud of unsettled 'probe-worthy' dust still hangs around his past life and the process of his ascension to wealth and power.
Looking to the future, Hope must run an all inclusive government built on trust, equity and Justice. Imolites love results and Hope must give it to them. From the hospitals to schools and roads, there is a lot of work to be done and Hope must do it. Hope must be warned against intensifying his unholy alliance with the modern day Ahab – Rochas Okorocha, and must desist any attempt to return to Rochas any of the assets confiscated by Ihedioha in order to avert the wrath of God and the rage of the people. Hope can take a cue from Seyi Makinde and place the state on a part to meaningful development devoid of stooging or party-power theatrics. From a dirty past to a clean future.
Let's hope against hope that Hope can work it out.
