By Casmir Nweze
The recent news that Governor Hope Uzodinma is sponsoring the Imo State Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) and twenty-seven local government electoral officers on a pilgrimage to Jerusalem is a brazen insult to the intelligence of every Nigerian. I could not believe my eyes when I saw it. This is a crude, brute-force attempt to bribe the very umpires of our elections, and to do it publicly is absolutely unbelievable. By reportedly sending these officials to Jerusalem just as the 2027 election cycle begins to loom, Uzodinma has abandoned even the pretense of subtlety. The gloves are off now. He is signaling to the world that he intends to buy the next election the same way he has bought every other political favor during his disastrous tenure as Governor. This latest charade is the act of a man who wants to perpetuate himself as a godfather in Imo State, knows he cannot influence a free and fair contest, and must instead rely on unethical alliances to have a chance to maintain his grip on power.
Uzodinma’s entire political career is built on a foundation of undemocratic subversion. We must never forget why he is referred to as the “Supreme Court Governor,” a title he earned by coming a distant fourth in the 2019 Imo State election only to be hoisted into office by a farcical judicial ruling that defied logic.
This shameful derailing of democracy at the apex court set the tone for his administration. Origin always matters. A man produced by undemocratic methods will always seek democratic power through undemocratic means. Because he is a product of undemocratic practices, he recognizes no other way to govern. To him, the will of the people is a mere hurdle to be bypassed through legal gymnastics or brute-force rigging.
His contempt for the ballot box was on full display during the House of Assembly elections. By blatantly manipulating the process to ensure the APC won all twenty-seven local government areas, he created a docile, rubber-stamp assembly that exists only to applaud his nefarious intentions. In a state with diverse political loyalties like Imo State, the ruling party somehow “won” all 27 local governments. Not most. All. The result is that there is no oversight in Imo State, only a collection of political sycophants who owe their seats to the Governor’s rigging machinery. This total capture of the state legislature has allowed him to operate without accountability, turning a once-vibrant democracy into a personal fiefdom where the law is whatever Uzodinma says it is on any given day.
To understand the thought process of what we are dealing with here, I take your minds back to the “Omuma Magic” — one of the most disgusting examples of Uzodinma’s penchant for derailing democracy. In a move that would make even Idi Amin blush, the voting register in his own Omuma ward was manipulated to show a 600 percent increase in voters. To see a jump from 6,000 to nearly 50,000 through multiple registrations and fictitious entries—done in obvious cahoots with corrupt INEC officials—reveals the depth of his desperation. He doesn’t just want to win; he wants to erase the very possibility of opposition.
Even more terrifying is how Uzodinma has weaponized insecurity to rewrite political outcomes. He has turned the tragedy of violence in the South East into a strategic tool, allowing non-state actors to run amok in opposition strongholds to justify heavy-handed security interventions during election periods in order to rewrite voting figures in his favour. While the state teeters on the brink of chaos, he permits the barbaric practices at Tiger Base Owerri to continue unchecked. He uses the fear of state-sponsored violence to suppress dissent, routinely brutalizes opposition figures, and ensures that anyone who dares to challenge his authority lives in constant terror.
All the INEC officials involved in this grotesque shitshow should bow their heads in shame. I am struggling to fathom the sheer cognitive deficit required for high-ranking electoral officials to believe that accepting luxury travel from the very governor whose party they are meant to oversee in an election is anything other than a public farce. Their willingness to be used so shamelessly confirms that the commission in Imo State is no longer a neutral arbiter but a compromised extension of the Government House. The officials have been compromised and need to go. They should also be reminded that no amount of holy water in Jerusalem will wash away the stench of their betrayal or absolve them of the divine retribution that surely follows any attempt to derail the wishes of Ndị Imo.
Hope Uzodinma is a dangerous man whose presence in the Government House is an affront to everything Nigeria stands for. He is currently running around President Tinubu, desperate for the federal cover that President Tinubu affords his local atrocities. President Tinubu, restrain this man, because everyone assumes he is doing all these with your blessing. It is time for Mr. President to call Uzodinma to order before he throws Imo State into a level of chaos from which it may never recover. His shameful tenure is almost over, and it is time to cage him before he does more damage.
Nweze, a public affairs analyst, writes from Owerri, Imo state
