Apparently irked by the audacity of some vociferous Ideato constituents in questioning his stewardship in the last ten months of his inauguration to the Green Chambers of the National Assembly, my very dear brother and Rep, Ikenga Imo Ugochinyere has revived his media machinery, with more gusto to shoot down any negative narrative aimed at him or his political games. It is not surprising that my brother is succeeding at that. After all, he is a media creation, so, it would be difficult to beat a man on his home turf, where he cut his teeth and continues to hold sway. But, the truth will always catch up with lies, even if the lies travel on the NASA X-43 jet.
If you watched the Joshua – Ngannou boxing match a few days ago, you would understand why it is said in Igbo that “an old woman does not get old in the dance she knows”. Francis crossed over from the UFC and made a few good dollars and some interesting good ratings among boxing fanatics, hence, he got bolstered to think he would make a good day out of Joshua, who was, adjudged one of the greatest punchers in history. In the same class as Iron Mike Tyson, Cassius Clay, Lennox Lewis, etc. Well, it took less than five minutes for Joshua to put him to sleep in such a way that he “didn’t even feel the punch”. That’s to say, he was apparently knocked unconscious.
My brother and beloved friend, Ugochinyere, is best at the game he is best known for, but being a very intelligent and determined young man, I know that he will learn the art of legislation very well, if he puts his heart to it, and pulls away a little from his known habitat of “business of activism” and media razzmatazz. When he does that, he can definitely get in the same class and earn as much regard as Julius Malema of South Africa and other notable parliamentarians of the present era. For now, my brother is still focusing on winning the media narrative than sitting down to represent the people of Ideato, which is his primary assignment. By this time in June, I will be able to give a proper account of his time in the House and how it has impacted on Ideato people, for now let me correct the many willful misinformation about the inclusion of the repair of the Umuchima Gully Erosion.
His Excellency Distinguished Senator Hope Uzodimma deserves the utmost credit for not only calling the attention of the Federal Government to that road, but following up with the politics and required PR to get that job done. It is good that my brother and my Rep, recognises that the Honourable Minister of Works, His Excellency Dave Umahi is instrumental to the proposed reconstruction of that road with special emphasis on the reclamation of the Umuchima Gully Erosion site. We do not forget that following his inauguration as Minister of Works, one of the first places Engineer Umahi visited was Imo State, where he was hosted by the State governor and I am aware that the Mgbee-Umuchima-Akokwa featured prominently in their discussions, both on and off camera. Before we proceed, we will therefore have to trash the letter written by my brother to President Bola Tinubu as mere attention seeking gimmick, because that letter of appreciation should have been properly routed through our governor. That is, if the letter was even necessary in the first place.
The failure of my big Uncle, political benefactor and former boss, His Excellency Distinguished Senator Owelle Rochas Okorocha to fix the Mgbee-Umuchima-Akokwa road throughout his eight years in charge, within which time, Imo witnessed its highest financial windfall, will continue to be remembered in the annals of governance, as the worst disappointment of a leader, even by Africa’s very poor standard. However, if the discourse is about advocacy for Federal Government’s intervention on that road, you cannot fail to accord him some credit for raising that issue on the floor of the Senate in his four years stint in that Red Chambers.
Sometime in November 2019 or thereabouts, Hon. Pascal Obi mobilised some members of the House of Representatives of the 9th Session to raise alarm on the dilapidation of federal roads in Imo State, with special emphasis on the Mgbee-Umuchima-Akokwa and Orlu-Owerri road. Thankfully, Governor Hope Uzodimma has fixed the Orlu-Owerri side of that road. Even the worst critic of the governor would concede that Craneburg did a great job on that road, and it will stand as an unforgettable and indelible legacy of the Shared Prosperity vision of the governor. Again, if we are going to join my brother, Ugochinyere, in talking about an “advocacy yielding fruits”, then, his own advocacies for that road are the latest in the series of advocacies, including from Yours Sincerely, that led to the eventual capturing of that project in the Appropriation Act of 2024.
Beyond this vaunted advocacy, we must not fail to remind my beloved brother that part of his duties as a Representative of Ndi Ideato is to oversight on legislative actions, especially, as they affect Ndi Ideato, and instead of these sycophantic letters to Tajuddin Abbas, President Tinubu and Benjamin Kalu, we require that he tells us what happened to the supplemental appropriation of over 1.3 Billion Naira voted for the same Umuchima Gully Erosion in late 2023. Has any work been executed on that site with the vote? If it hasn’t, where is that money and which contractor is retained to do that job? If the money was returned to the treasury, if it wasn’t used, then, it shows that my brother and Rep did not do his job well, because he was supposed to follow up, as soon as that supplemental budget was passed, to ensure that work commenced on the site. We can understand that he might have been too busy, cleaning the office of the Chief of Staff, Femi Gbajabiamila and fanning Mr. Tajuddin Abbas and Benji Kalu, that the contractor or some rats in Abuja might have run away with that supplemental appropriation.
I do not also understand why my brother and Rep would begin to complain about the insufficiency of the amount allocated for this project, when work hasn’t commenced, and when by all known records, he is not the spokesman of the construction firm that might have been retained to do the work. Mischievous people would conclude that my brother has a share in the money or is making a case for an upward review of this sum so that he can get a handsome kickback, if not, it is not in his place to say if the sum would be enough or not, but that of the Ministry of Works, when the contractor must have applied for contract variation. My brother is self-satisfied and I don’t think this conclusion might be correct, but he should be careful not to give himself away as seeking such.
Across democracies, responsible legislation is known by work put in by legislators in fighting for the interest of their constituents on the floor of Congress. This is best manifested during budget presentations and defence. Presently, the US government is facing immense pressure from the Congress over some items in the Appropriation Proposals. Individual parliamentarians are deploying different strategies to ensure that projects and expenditures that best benefit their constituents are captured in the Appropriation before it passes. This is what I expected my brother and Rep to do, rather than sing embarrassingly, about purported advocacy for a project that the governor personally ensured its insertion in the budget.
I would have picked up my trumpet to sing the praises of my brother, if all the time he has invested in following Benjamin Kalu around and washing his car for him, had been used to summon heads of relevant agencies and ministries to account for all the approvals regarding Ideato roads and other strategic infrastructure. For instance, what is really happening to our ecological funds and why are they not been utilised to intervene in Ideato where erosion is threatening to wipe out a reasonable number of our population, including in our own Akokwa?
MAY IDEATO THRIVE!
