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Imo PDP and the Obi Adim solutionBY CHUKWUEMEKA OBASI
As Nigeria’s democracy continues to evolve, the electorate is slowly but steadily beginning to take centrestage. Its voice is beginning to be heard. Its voice is beginning to count and politicians are beginning to take it serious. Power is going back to where it actually belongs – the people.
By 1999, this unfolding change was absolutely unimaginable. The voters counted little or, even nothing. The politicians indulged in selection and not election, making nonsense of the concept of democracy. For twelve good years, the undemocratic culture festered, giving rise to the widespread cynicism.
But in 2011, the tempo changed, especially in Imo State. The masses suddenlyfound their voice and decided to take back their birthright. It was reminiscent of a revolution, though a bloodless one and when its smoke cleared, the masses emerged victorious and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) lost the state.
Since the defeat of Governor Ikedi Ohakim of the PDP in 2011, courtesy of the will of the people, the Imo electorate has continued to evolve from mere spectators to active contributors in the electoral process of the state by insisting that a political culture of the people deciding who should govern them be entrenched. This has so far worked, as the people of the state have vowed not to allow greedy politicians to govern them again.
Ostensibly, leading political parties in the state have keyed into this new direction that emanated from the informed reasoning and resolve of the electorate to support an electoral process that will guarantee victory for credible candidates, irrespective of party affiliations. They also resolved to make sure their votes count, by shopping and lobbying credible young politicians to fly their various party flags in order to outsmart other political parties during the 2015 polls.
In the state chapter of the PDP, the gladiators are battling one another over trivial issues, instead of working for the overall victory of the party in the forthcoming polls. This is even as the battle for the control of the party delegates has been shifted to the seat of power for possible harmonization of interests.
Reflecting on the issues that cost the PDP the governorship of the state in 2011, it is easy to figure out the circumstances, and the scenario now playing out is similar to that of 2011, when gubernatorial aspirants driven by greed and quest for power infested, battered and divided the party for their selfish interests.
I ndeed, t he p resent d ebacle e ngulfing t he PDP in the state is not new. It is similar to what caused the downfall of the party in 2011. It includes knowing the right thing and not always doing it, refusing to consult widely and not fielding generally acceptable candidates that can win elections for the party.
Without mincing words, I can authoritatively say, that if things continue the way they are in the Imo state chapter of the PDP, the incumbent All Progressives Congress (APC) may come out victorious in next year’s polls, as well as deliver its presidential candidate in the forthcoming elections in Imo state.
Against this backdrop, the entry of Amb. Obinna Adim into the gubernatorial fray in Imo State, under the PDP, is heartwarming. It has completely altered political calculations based on the energy it brought into the Imo youths’ quest to occupy Imo State Government House in 2015. Until he declared his intention to succeed Governor Rochas Okorocha, of the APC, very few people thought it was possible for an Imo youth to declare, taking into cognizance the logistics required to execute such a huge project.
As an active player in the President Goodluck Jonathan transformation agenda and 2015 project, Obinna Adim is one man who has feverishly worked for the stability and unity of the party, in order to aid the state chapter of the party come out victorious in the 2015 polls by calling on relevant stakeholders and aspirants to shun personal interests in support of sellable candidates who are capable of leading the party to victory.
Since he came on board, Obinna Adim has never left anybody in doubt where he is coming from. Similarly, his direction and his core objectives have become as crystal as daylight. In the main, he is all about the masses and the youths, coming from that constituency. Or, put differently, Obinna Adim is a movement of the people for the people and by the people. No doubt, this progressive young man is not among the known perennial contestants, who have fallen out of favour with the masses. He is, rather, a first time contestant who has a different background and ideology from other politicians jostling to occupy Imo Government House. Almost all these former claimants always proclaim masses orientation but, in actuality, are elitist. Their campaign structures are populated by the elites or the same politicians and therefore, solely cater for their needs while pretending to be concerned about the people. Unfortunately, this fallacious façade holds ground for a little time and eventually crashes into smithereens like a house built on sandy soil.
Adim does not want such fate. He desires permanence and acceptability and therefore, from the embryonic stage of his campaign, saw the masses as his sole priority. Similarly, he holds, tenaciously, the belief that the masses are the instruments for the translation of that divine ordinance. And, in view of the foregoing, he insists that the people have the power of choice during election. With this mindset, therefore, what usually counts at the end of the day is one’s track record or antecedents. For now, he will always argue, rather than preoccupy himself with do-or-die politics like other aspirants, the opportunity at hand should be judicially utilised to better the lot of the masses and also campaign for a rancour-free electoral process that will see to the emergence of his boss, the president.
From the above explanation, one would conclude that Ambassador Adim is in the gubernatorial race to offer a credible alternative to what is already in place, as well as bring to bear the much needed masses-oriented influence that can only be derived from a Nigerian youth, to guarantee victory for his boss and party at all levels in the forthcoming polls.
His decision to vie for Imo governorship election is essentially because, as an active player in the transformation agenda of the president, it would amount to gross negligence to sit and watch the good works of the administration go unnoticed or unprotected in his home state.
Indeed, Obinna Adim, if allowed to fly the PDP ticket come 2015 will comfortably win Imo State for the PDP and return power back to the people..Youths and women from the 27 local government areas of the state under the auspices Imo Youths and Women ask for Fresh Air in Imo State, in a well attended rally, have unanimously endorsed him as their sole candidate for Imo 2015 gubernatorial elections
.Obasi writes from Owerri.
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