By David Lawani, Abuja
It is no more news that Governor Hope Uzodinma won his re-election with a wide margin beyond the imagination of his opponents and those who were averse to his emergence as a governor through the verdict of the Supreme Court in his first tenure.
But unknown to a lot of people the power play, intrigues, and politics behind the scenes that paved the way for his re-election victory were beyond imagination.
The INEC headquarters in Owerri was thrown into a frenzy the moment the Returning Officer and Vice-Chancellor, Federal University, Oye Ekiti, Prof Fashina Abayomi announced Governor Uzodinma as the winner of the election having scored the highest number of votes cast.
Uzodinma, of the All Progressives Congress (APC) polled a total of 540,308 votes to defeat Senator Samuel Anyanwu of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), who scored 71,503 votes to emerge second while Athan Achonu of the Labour Party came third with 64,081 votes
With the declaration, Gov. Uzodimma has been re-elected for a second term in office and is expected to take the oath of office on January 15th, 2024.
*Path to victory
Before the election, it was obvious that Gov. Uzodinma was riding on a roller coaster to victory because he had enormous resources to run his campaign. The sitting governor was everywhere featuring on television and regularly sponsoring advertorial campaigns virtually everywhere in the media.
Due to the enormous financial strength at his disposal, political pundits believed that the incumbent governor was able to muscle his opponents.
This was confirmed by this reporter who covered the election in Imo State. It was observed that the governor posters dominated the entire state and the opposition’s presence could not be felt before the election.
The residents also attested to this view, “It is difficult for anybody to paste poster here. The ruling party supporters will not allow you to do that. They made it difficult for the opposition to breathe. Well, we cannot confirm if the governor was aware of this ugly development.”
Aside from the incumbent factor, Imo State APC-led government also used the Federal might to campaign thus encouraging the people of the state to vote for the governor, which invariably will connect the state to the centre.
It was learnt that this was part of the central point of their campaign.
Meanwhile, the political pundits corroborated this reality saying it was a strong factor leading to the victory of Uzodinma at the just concluded polls.
*Effects of the security challenges, Obi’s factor
A medical practitioner, Doctor Ben Chimezie, at the Ikenebue Ward 1 under the Owerri Municipal Area Council Township Primary School now known as Owerri City School, attributed the low turnout on the day of the election to fear of being attacked by hoodlums despite the presence of security agents everywhere.
“I have been voting at this unit because I grew up here, and also reside here. Today there is apathy. It is obvious because ordinarily by this time, you would have seen a large turnout of persons coming out to vote. But what I am seeing, I am not impressed at all.
“Ordinarily you would have seen a lot of people coming out to vote. One, so many people are disenchanted because of the way the Presidential election went. You know the Easterners were emotionally involved in that election because of Peter Obi.
Two, the problem of insecurity is another factor. Most of our people are afraid to come out to exercise their franchise.
Invariably, these factors were to the advantage of the incumbent governor it was obvious some of these votes were the people who were disenchanted with the entire electoral process for obvious reasons.
*Uzodimma’s performance
Another strong factor that also worked in the favour of the governor was his performance in his first term despite the disturbing security challenge confronting the state.
Also commending the exercise, one of the Commissioners in the state, Simon Egbebulem had this to say.
“No, doubt across the state people came out to re-elect His Excellency, Senator Hope Uzodinma as governor of the state. Just less than four years that he had been in the saddle, he has touched the three Senatorial Districts.
“He executed very significant projects. The election was somehow easier for him actually because the party had a good candidate and that was what we saw on November 11th, 2023.
“Lots of people came out across the 27 local government areas to cast their votes for the APC. This election has shown that distinguished Senator Hope Uzodinma and APC are on the ground in Imo State.
“And you know when we cried that his mandate was stolen in the first election, by the PDP, people thought we were joking. They were even calling him Supreme Court governor and all that.
“But of course, this has proved to people that the case we took to the Supreme Court was not only germane but has later restored the confidence of Imolites. They voted massively for him that time and repeated the same. His Excellency has won and nobody can doubt the integrity of his popularity in Imo State anymore,” he noted.
Another Commissioner in the Uzodimma cabinet, Noble Atulegbu, maintained that the governor is popular everywhere which is why people are voting for him massively saying he has done well to deserve the votes.
