The Metamorphosis Of Udenwa And ACN

Last week, former Governor of Imo State, Chief Achike Udenwa was in the news. This time for a unique reason. The Amaifeke born ex Minister of Commerce And Industry who attended a function organised by his political party- the Action Congress of Nigeria- in Owerri,was reported to have  criticised the Rochas Okorocha Adminstration.

In what appears his first public statement on the Okorocha Adminstration which he contributed immensely to bring to power, the ex governor was furious with the APGA led government for various reasons. He said he is disenchanted with the condition of the local Governments in the State in the present dispensation. He did not stop there. He went further to say  he  is yet to see good governance in the State since Okorocha came to power in 2011.

Udenwa was not economical with words. For the first time in a long while, he spit fire. His quiet mien gave way to a fiery candour which revealed his discontent  how the ship of governance is piloted in the State.

Being a former Governor of the State for eight uniterrupted years devoid of legal distractions, he cannot be said to be a political novice and a new comer to the political terrain in Imo.  Therefore his words cannot be likened to be a mere rambling, but a statement of fact  on issues pertaining to governace and leadership.   

Udenwa  is displeased with the Okorocha Adminstration. And his party’s event last Thursday which was attended by some national officers of the ACN such as the National Chairman, Bisi Akande, offered him a unique opportunity to vent his spleen at the present Adminstration.   He used the event to showcase to the visiting ACN national leadership that he is not just a leader in ACN, but a leader in the State whose political clout  and tentacles is deeply rooted.  He successfully impressed it on Akande and co that having lost the Orlu senatorial ticket to Hope Uzodinma of the PDP does not in any way belittle his political might and size in the State.  

 Udenwa claimed last week that the ACN removed Ikedi Ohakim and the PDP from power in 2011 and expressed hope that come 2015, ACN will capture not only Government House, Owerri, but other seats of government in other South East States.

His statement as widely reported by local tabloids in the State underscores the fact that the political honeymoon with Governor Rochas Okorocha might have ended. In other words, the ex governor and the incumbent are not one page, politically at least for now. And if this is the case, then it implies Okorocha and his APGA will have not only have the PDP to contend with in the next elections, but with a group of fiery politicians in the ACN who are thirtsy for political power.

 However,If what politicians say is really what they mean, then one can conclude that Udenwa has for the second time suffered the pain of political denial or betrayal.  

 And if that is the situation he presently finds himself , then it is pitiable for the ex governor whose report card as  Imo Governor  for eight years can be said to have hit the average mark.

He can be described as a victim of one of the 48 laws of power which says the first step after acquiring political power is to ditch the ladder that took you there. He has been a victim of this law. Twice, he provided the ladder that took his choices to Government House, Owerri.  Twice, he was supposedly  ditched by those he set the ladder for to climb to power. 

Those who have watched Udenwa’s political voyage since 2006 will not dispute the fact that he contributed significantly to the ascension of Ikedi  Ohakim and Rochas Okorocha to power in 2007 and 2011 respectively. 

 Those who have been in Imo State since 2006 and monitored political events in the State since then will agree with me that it has been a tortous political experince for the soft spoken ex Imo Governor whose political life after power has not been rosy. When things feel apart between his humbleself  and Ohakim, Udenwa resorted a strange political alternative. He  entered into a strange political allaince with his ertshwhile political foe, senator Araraume.

This partnership which gave birth to theACN were among other  cumulative factors that put a cog in the wheel of progress for Ikedi Ohakim’s return as governor for the second time in 2011.   

However, there is a  School of Thought that believes that the ex governor is the architect of whatever political misfortune that has come his path after he left office in 2007. The inability to install a successor to take over from him as governor has been severally fingered by political pundits  as the genesis of  his political ordeal after office.

Some say he left the State in political disharmony and was unable to raise a successor. This created a lacuna and the opportunity for the leaderhip ladder of the State to be climbed by either half baked leaders or leaders who have no business navigating the ship of governance. What Imo State have witnessed after Udenwa’s exit from power are unprepapred leaders who  gatecrashed into public office. Whether such leaders lived up to expectation or are living up to the expectation is left for Imolites judge.

After eight years in office which was characterized with considerable achievements, Udenwa can be said to be well placed to render a lecture on life after power. Aside suffering political disappointments and betrayals from those he aided to power, the ex governor is also guilty of his actions. Twice, he was alleged  to have a hand in the botched governorship ambition of Senator Ifeanyi Araraume. We were told stories how he objected to the senator’s governorship ambition in 2006 in preference for Iyke Ibeh, Charles Ugwuh and later Ikedi Ohakim, then governorship candidate of the Progressives Peoples Alliance (PPA) who later won the governorship race.

 In 2011, despite the political realignment with Araraume which gave birth to the Alliance For Good Governance that later metamorphsed into Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), the ex governor in conjuction with the field Marshal of Redemption group,  Dr. Alex Obi, made a volte face at the eleventh hour to support Rochas Okorocha of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA). This move, which came few days to the Supplementary election, put the ACN in disarray  and contributed to its poor showing at the polls. It was a pity that after running a sophisticated campaign that endeared it to the Imo electorate, the ACN fell like a pack of cards at the polls. It was also tagged a Yoruba party desperate to seek into the political landscape of Igboland.

This impression about the party has not changed. And Udenwa and co should focus on erasing this tag on the ACN in the State if it wants to be taken serious as a political party that has the interest of Imolites at heart.  The party also has a task to reposition itself as a virile opposition political party in the State capable of winining elections.  Being in oposition is beyond firing warning shots at the present Adminstration. It is imperative that the likes of Udenwa and other leaders of the party are  seen to have closed their ranks and bury whatever animosity that served as a divisive factor that crumbled the party’s quest to capture political power in the State.

The metamorphosis of ex governor Udenwa and his co travellers in the ACN is a positive political development in the State. it increases the depth of opposition in the State and it is expected that the there will be no eleventh volte faces that has been the undoing of key and principal actors in the party.