A THANK YOU NOTE TO ARCHBISHOP OBINNA

Apart from being a holy Man of God and the leader of the Catholic Church in the entire Owerri Province, Archbishop AJV Obinna is also a respected academic in his own right, an activist and a politically conscious Nigerian. I agree with those who argue that the Archbishop’s position as a clergy does not and should not deprive him of the right to speak on issues of politics and governance in the State and the country at large. After all, our Lord Jesus Christ whom he represents on earth also spoke on issues of governance and politics during His brief earthly ministry. What Christ didn’t do however, is to project one politician over the other or to stand in the Synagogue and campaign for one leader while maligning the other. The Archbishop is obviously a better Bible scholar than myself, so he certainly knows that what the Bible charged all of us to do is to pray for our leaders and as well accord respect to constituted authorities, for none of them would be there, if God did not approve of them.

The Archbishop’s demand that Imo desires a seasoned technocrat and administrator to govern her after Governor Rochas Okorocha is also a very patriotic call and I suppose that the Archbishop will understand that there is none among the crowd of people vying or pretending to be vying for the Imo governorship seat who better qualifies as a seasoned technocrat and administrator than Ugwumba Uche Nwosu. If the Archbishop’s statement is put in more proper perspective, it will be clear that he has no reason to be opposed to Ugwumba Uche Nwosu’s candidature for Imo governorship.

The simple truth is that; if we truly need someone who would take Imo to the next level, that person is Ugwumba Uche Nwosu, if we need a seasoned technocrat and an excellent and tested administrator to run the affairs of our great State from 2019, that individual is no other person than Ugwumba Uche Nwosu. I want to assume that the Archbishop was not properly informed about the rich exposures and antecedents of Ugwumba Uche Nwosu.

Ugwumba Uche Nwosu’s exposure to public service and administration started over 20 years ago as an undergraduate, when he was overwhelmingly elected by his fellow students as the Director of Transport of Imo State University, Owerri. He shone like a million stars among his comrades who were elected the same time with him into the Students Union Government. He was not found wanting in anyway and was actually rated as the best performing official of that SUG regime. He won many awards from students to the extent that when that administration was thrown into some crisis, Uche was not found wanting on any of the issues for which that administration came under fire. He was later to serve as the Secretary of the National Association of Nigerian Students’ Joint Campus Committee and got other opportunities to develop his administrative knowledge.

Immediately after his National Youth Service, Ugwumba Uche Nwosu got the second most important administrative position in one of Africa’s biggest Non Governmental Organizations, the Rochas Foundation. As the Deputy Chief of Staff of that organization, he was involved in the formulation of the organization’s policies, plans and development. You cannot talk about the success of the Rochas Foundation today, without giving some credit to Ugwumba Uche Nwosu. Nwosu had served as national secretary of the Action Alliance (AA), which was at a time, one of Nigeria’s most promising political Parties. He also served at a time as the Director of Finance of the Party. Nwosu had cut his teeth in the private sector, too, before the age of 35. He had modest investments in the real estate and agricultural sectors before coming down with his mentor, Owelle Rochas Okorocha to deploy his wealth of administrative experience to rescue Imo from the pit of dilapidation, corruption, insecurity, poverty, crime, educational backwardness, unimaginable filth, and mind blowing intimidation.

As the deputy Chief of Staff (Operations) to the Imo State Government and Commissioner for Lands, Survey and Urban Development, Ugwumba Uche Nwosu designed the new Owerri, as we have it today. He engineered massive development in the outskirts of Owerri, the State capital and made it possible for the hitherto forgotten satellite cities around Owerri to come to life. He also takes credit for the development of new cities in the State. That Imo is today rated by development experts as the fastest developing State in Nigeria is to a great extent due to Ugwumba Uche Nwosu’s ideas during his time as the Commissioner for Lands, Urban Development and Survey. The massive success which the State has recorded in all areas of governance today would not have been possible without the technocratic contributions of Ugwumba Uche Nwosu.

The Archbishop is also correct to have opined that Imo people cannot afford to have a governor imposed on them. Imo people will vote for their governor come 2019, like they have been doing since 2011. No one is planning and no one can impose any governor on Imo people. The Archbishop’s fears must have been informed by the misinformation sponsored by enemies of the people of Imo State. In reality, Ugwumba Uche Nwosu’s governorship ambition is the only governorship ambition that can truly be said to have been fully inspired by the people of Imo State.