Igbo group urges Uzodinma to write his name in gold as best Imo Governor
From Boniface Okoro, Umuahia
A Southeast socio-cultural organisation, Igbonine Development Initiative, has enjoined Imo State Governor, Senator Hope Uzodinma, to use his second term in office to etche his name in gold in annals of the governance history of the state.
Rising from a stakeholders meeting in Umuahia, the group also urged the Governor to embrace all political gladiators in Imo in a display of the spirit of sportsmanship, following the recent affirmation of his re-election by the Supreme Court.
Igbonine, said in a communique signed by its Abia State Coordinator, Comrade Lucky Akabuike, and the Abia State Scribe, Comrade Uzomba Ekwuribe, that with the apex court ruling on the November 2023 Guber poll in Imo, Senator Uzodinma would devote more time to governance and delivery of deomcracy dividends to Imo people.
The communique reads in part: “The Stakeholders of Igbo Nine Development Initiative, a Social-Cultural Organization of South East States Extraction, met in Umuahia, capital of Abia State, on Friday, 23rd August,2024, and after a thorough analysis and review of current frontline developments in Igbo land and the Nation in general, resolved as follows:
“That the affirmation of the election and victory of HE, Senator Hope Uzodinma, as Governor of Imo State, by the Supreme Court of Nigeria recently, portends a number of positives for the people of Imo State and Ndi lgbo.
“Viewed from legal prism, the unanimous decision of the Apex Court deserves a grand commendation for demonstrating uncommon respect for continuity, political stability and unity for Imo people and, by extension, the Igbo and Nigeria as a whole, coming against thebackground of the political and social upheavals generated by the recent hunger protest across the country.
“The verdict which dismissed the appeals of the Labor Party ( LP) and that of the People’s Democratic Party ( PDP) on grounds of lack of evidence and subsequently upheld the election of HE Senator Hope Uzodinma as valid and in consonance with the Electoral Act would douse the political tension in the State.
The ruling would equally enhance the devopmental agenda of the Governor in Imo State, giving him the impetus to demonstrate leadership as Chairman of South East Governors Forum via the attraction of more democratic dividends, in terms of infrastructure and human capital development for the entire Igbo land, from the federal government.
“We ,therefore, congratulate HE Senator Hope Uzodinma on his victory and urge him to continue to demonstrate capacity and leadership by embracing all the political gladiators in Imo State in the spirit of “no victor, no vanquished” and devote the remaining time in his second term to write his name in gold as the best Governor in Imo State and Chairman of the South East Governors Forum.”