The Ihekweme Charade: Buyer Beware
By Collins Ughalaa
Fabian Ihekweme has one thing going for him, he is shameless. Throw him a bone, and he will bark up any tree. It does not matter to him whether he bites off the fingers that fed him. He has barked since puberty. He is barking again. This time around, his target is his former boss and champion, Senator Hope Uzodimma, the Governor of Imo State. Unfortunately, most of those cheering him on as he maligns Uzodimma whom he once worshipped will cry wolf if their ex-employee did the same to them. Such is the hypocrisy of modern society, unfortunately.
Ihekweme paints the man who elevated him as a villain. He demonizes the very person who gave him a platform. Buyer beware. Some of us recall that until Governor Uzodimma appointed “Dr.” Fabian Ihekweme as Commissioner for Foreign and International Affairs on March 24, 2020, that office did not exist. Uzodimma pioneered it and entrusted it to Mr Ihekweme, a decision he may not make again, given another chance. Indeed, why create that office, and why choose Mr Ihekweme of all people to run it? Critics had questioned.
But, perhaps, as a new governor with much to prove, and who was in a haste to lift the face of Imo, a state reeling from the afflictions of two locust predecessors, Uzodimma must have established that office to expand the frontiers of economic opportunities for Imo State. This made sense. But the choice of Fabian Ihekweme for the role was tough to explain.
Fabian Ihekweme is better known as a hotel-dwelling weirdo who survives from all manner of hatchet jobs. Spend two minutes with him, and he is likely to boast of how he had held a former governor to ransom because he possessed secrets that would have cost him his electoral victory in court. Apparently, this was his biggest political trophy. He tells the same odd stories about his prowess as a political mercenary who is in politics to satiate his appetite. With an effeminate voice to match, he carries himself with the swagger of a swindler who was too smooth to slip up.
Ihekweme claimed to have schooled in Germany and operated from London at a time. Plus, in the later weeks of the 2019 governorship campaigns, he led a group of disillusioned PDP members under the so-called “n-PDP”, a clique of small-timers who had lost out in the power play leading to the primary, to back Uzodimma after being shunned by other serious candidates. Put together, not excluding the fact that a few influential individuals may have persuaded the new governor to embrace both friend and foe in his new government, Uzodimma took a chance on Ihekweme.
This appointment marked Ihekweme’s first proper role in public office. While in the cabinet, Ihekweme turned out to be lost at sea. He struggled to situate his office, to find his feet, and to adjust to life as a public servant. Instead, Ihekweme got busy with gossip and petty schemes. Rather than face his assignment, he picked fights with a fellow cabinet colleague from his LGA, vandalized and illegally sold off government assets, and landed himself in detention from which Uzodimma would save him.
Reportedly, Uzodimma had called Ihekweme to order during cabinet meetings, all to no avail, yet he continued to tolerate him, hoping for the best. But human patience is finite. And the Ihekweme man had shown real reprobate tendencies. Uzodimma may have made him a commissioner, but Ihekweme still saw himself as a con-man. Having “studied in Germany” as he claimed, he also carried himself as a Marxist proletariat, one who sells his labour. Not even his short spell in government could reorient him. He was always looking for the next hatchet.
As a commissioner, Ihekweme couldn’t add any value to the administration. In fact, by his own admission, he was “redundant for 12 months” before Uzodimma showed him and 19 others the door on 12 May 2021.
If Ihekweme had resigned from the Uzodimma administration to pursue his new-found hobby as an activist, one would understand. But he didn’t. Instead, after his dismissal, Ihekweme spent nine and a half months gate crashing into almost every state function just to be sighted around the governor. He also lobbied extensively for reappointment but failed miserably.
In February 2022, he staggered back to his vomit in the PDP. But in the PDP, he met a dying party. Most of the money bags had taken off for greener pastures in other parties, leaving Ihekweme with no host to leech from.
On the verge of drowning in unpaid hotel bills, he ran into the Obi-dient movement and tried to rebrand himself as a man of integrity. Like a serpent, he slithered his way into powerful circles within the party and the movement. But after a few months, the facade wore off, he bared his fangs and seized the opportunity of a party crisis to pose as the party leader in Imo. When he failed, he formed a so-called parallel structure pretending to be protesting his rights.
Fast forward to the end of the 2023 electoral cycle and the conclusion of all ensuing legal disputes, the Labour Party losing both at the centre and in Imo State, he turns around to say he was sent on sabbatical to destabilize the party!
Today, having lost favour with both the government and the “opposition”, he has become an emergency activist. Unfortunately for him, it is easy to see that the goal is to cash out from the sympathy of the gullible and ill-informed, or from the naivety of a money-bag stalwart bent on distracting the governor for whatever purpose.
This is the portrait of the Ihekweme who claims to have been mistreated after serving faithfully under Uzodimma and wants to lecture him on integrity, reward, and good governance. How ridiculous. A leopard might as well change its spots. Would Ihekweme be an activist or whistblower if he had been retained by the governor?
Nevertheless, even though Ihekweme’s pernicious propaganda is both hypocritical and unfortunate, it is necessary to set the records straight.
Severance Package Saga
The outcry over unpaid severance is merely a smokescreen. Not only is the package already being processed on the governor’s orders, but Ihekweme conveniently forgets the extensive bonuses and special approvals he received during his tenure – benefits reportedly worth double his severance package. His complaints about delayed payment ring hollow given his privileged financial history with the administration. Moreover, having been sacked from cabinet, does he qualify for severance pay?
Land Control Controversy
Governor Uzodimma’s direct oversight of the Lands Ministry wasn’t a power grab or a legal breach – it was emergency surgery on a corrupt system. After years of rampant land racketeering, the governor stepped in to clean house. Ihekweme’s claims about N12 billion in land form sales are dismissed as baseless speculation from someone no longer privy to government data. The administration maintains that proper allocations will resume once the system is purged of corrupt elements.
The Loyalty and Rewards Question
The facts tell a different story than Ihekweme’s narrative of betrayed loyalty. Long-term supporters who delivered results remain in government – some with 30-year histories of service working alongside Uzodimma. The 2019 campaign coordinators were elevated to party chairmanships, while others secured positions as administrators and local government chairmen. Ihekweme’s removal wasn’t about loyalty – it was about performance. His track record, particularly the controversies surrounding Avutu Modern Poultry and Okigwe Water Scheme, speaks for itself.
The so-called “Orashi Power Plant”
Ihekweme talks ignorantly about an “Orashi Power Project” accusing the governor of trying to personalise a state project. For starters, there is nothing like the “Orashi Power Project”. The Egbema Power Plant in Mmahu, Imo State, is a real project that was started in 2006 and is now being revived by Governor Hope Uzodimma. This gas-fired plant has a capacity of 380 MW and will provide a major boost to the economy of our state, Imo. The governor is working with the federal government to complete the project and is actively seeking investors. Claims that this is a “ruse” are simply false. The governor is committed to bringing this power plant online for the benefit of the people of Imo State. Essentially, this plant will power up the upcoming Integrated Free Trade Zone in Imo and be of immense benefit to every Imo person. This is visionary leadership.
Alleged demolition of Concorde Hotels
Another falsehood Ihekweme peddles is that the governor plans to demolish the Imo Concorde Hotels, Owerri. This is a lie from the pit of hell, but Ihekweme deliberately tries to stire up sentiment against the governor knowing full well that the people of lmo State are nostalgic about Chief Barr Samuel Onunaka Mbakwe, who was the governor of the old Imo State. In the early 1980s, Mbakwe built the Imo Concorde Hotels, Owerri, which has been a legacy project and a symbol of excellence and state pride. Sadly, this legacy project has been allowed to die by successive administrations. Governor Hope Uzodimma did not inherit a working Imo Concorde Hotels, but his plan is to rehabilitate the legacy project and hand it over to better managers, thereby retaining the people’s pride and deepening investment in the tourism sector.
The governor’s decision to rehabilitate the hotel stems from his deep belief that developing the tourism sector can have a significant positive impact on the economy of the state. Besides rehabilitating Concorde Hotels, the governor plans to build another 5-star hotel with over 200 rooms. This hotel, when completed, will run side by side with our cherished Concorde Hotels. Boasting a wealth of natural resources, cultural heritage, and tourist attractions that have the potential to attract visitors from both within Nigeria and across the globe, it cannot be overstated that by strategically investing in and promoting tourism, Imo State can create new economic opportunities, generate revenue, and boost local businesses. Filled with bile, Ihekweme cannot understand issues like this, so he finds it easy to peddle falsehoods.
The Core Issue
Bottom line, Ihekweme’s outburst is neither whistleblowing nor activism. It is a desperate cry for attention, for rescue, for alms, from a bitter hatchet man drowning in failed expectations. Acting like a bull in a china shop might get him the attention he craves, but that is all he will get. Governor Hope Uzodimma will remain focused on his task to deliver good governance to Imo people.
Hon Sir Collins Ughalaa is the Special Adviser to Governor on Public Orientation.
