By Lancelot Obiaku (Chieftain)
Followers of social media commentaries about Imo State politics must have kept abreast with the arguments between a few highly opinionated supporters of the Gov. Hope Uzodimma administration and the opposition apologists over the Governor’s recent Abuja trip.
In yesterday’s exchanges, while the critics of the Governor [who is now back to the state by the way] insisted that he took a lot of time out, his well wishers raised the point that it is not the first time an Imo Governor went on tours outside the state, referencing one of the opposition leaders, Emeka Ihedioha, who had treated himself to numerous overseas trips within his seven-months reign as Governor.
We also read an argument from the side of opposition elements, that the Governor did not officially communicate to hand over to the Deputy Governor to pilot the state’s affairs while he was away.
One thing clearly noticed in the argument of the opposition was the eagerness to fault every action and step of the Governor, as if to say he never does anything right. If not, why would the talk of official communication come up when the Deputy Governor, and other cabinet members, were going about the business of the government while the Imo number was away? This is against the backdrop that the law does not provide that the Governor should hand over to his Deputy when he travels within the country. The Governor would, in keeping with the laws of the land, hand over to his Deputy when he travels outside the country. Sometimes the level of ignorance and mischief the opposition display is alarming.
Nevertheless, the Governor has been communicating his whereabouts. We have severally seen official communication saying the whereabouts of the Governor. This, also knocks off the argument of some foul-mouthed and incorrigible critics, that the Governor kept his whereabouts a secret. Donald Trump communicated most of activities as the U.S President through the social media that has become a mainstream channel of information dissemination, and his successor, Joe Biden, does the same. In like manner, the Governor had communicated his whereabouts through his official social media handles, despite communications from the Commissioner for Information, his SA Media/CPS, and others.
As long as it is within the Governor’s right and the statutes of his office to attend to engagements outside the shores of his state, the argument of the opposition over the Governor’s travels is in the main watery and baseless.
We look forward to a time when the opposition would chase substance rather than shadows.
